Ethnodoxology consists of three Greek words:

• έθνος (ethnos) – people group, nation
• δόξα (doxa)        – glory, splendour
• λόγος (logos)     – word, teaching

Definition:

• Ethnodoxology is a theological and anthropological framework guiding all cultures to worship God using their unique artistic expressions

How to put ethnodoxology into practice?

The manual 'Creating Local Arts Together' (CLAT) uses seven stages to implement ethnodoxology. Here they are a bit simplyfied:

1. Learn to know a community and its arts
2. Identify ways particular artistic genres can meet particular community kingdom goals
3. Spark creativity in these genres by local practitioners
4. Encourage community members to improve the new creations
5. Integrate and celebrate the new works and plan for continuing creativity

What are the benefits of this approach?

Ethnodoxology can increase the effectiveness of church planting efforts, discipleship and spiritual formation, evangelism and short-term mission outreach, and helping people respond to injustice and trauma.

Being culturally sensitive, cross cultural workers should be learners when they live in a foreign country, in a foreign culture and a foreign language. Because they usually have a high education and a lot of experience in their profession, it is quite difficult and challenging for them to learn again like a child...

Rather than teaching western arts, we want to encourage and facilitate local believers to use their own traditional art forms suiteble for worshiping God. So instead of being teachers, we suggest that foreign artists take the role of Arts Consultants or Arts Advocate. Of course it could also be an insider who takes up this role.

The Arts Consultant's primary job is encouraging others to make new artistic things that help the Kingdom goals. An Arts Advocate's posture toward a community is one of learning, dialoguing, facilitating and encouraging. His fists step is to learn about a communities artistic genres and to analize them.