A field-survey indicated that gesture forms used in Protestant Church liturgy
arc not identified with the general culture among Kankana-ey, Northern Philippines.
Based on an open-system approach to communication, the project identified two
categories of gestures, ceremonial and spontaneous, within which eighteen gestures
were compared between their use in Sunday church services and the general culture.
In a sample of respondents, quantified data was obtained through in-depth
interviews and photo-elicitation conducted in four selected congregations, within two
denominations: the Episcopal Church and the Assemblies of God. These
denominations represent two end points in the Protestant Church liturgical spectrum
and results indicate that a difference exists in the forms used in both categories of
gestures by both denominations between church and culture.Two reasons are offered to account for this difference in findings between
gestures used in the liturgy and their use in culture: the slow pace adopted by
Protestant missions to contextualize the church in the Philippines; and a "culture of
dependence" that still existed in Protestant churches after independence from their
parent body. Further research is needed to determine the level of contextualization on
other forms of communication in the church such as preaching, teaching, counselling.The study findings indicate: that an emphasis on contextualization by
Protestant misions at church planting level will help to avoid possible conflict
between liturgical church forms and culture; that local church bodies must continually
adapt forms of communication to the cultural context where they are located, while
avoiding blandness, or the alienation of followers who are used to particular forms
