CCM with Chinese Characteristics? Exploring the Role of Music in Overseas Chinese Evangelical Communities

Music is one of the most dominant artistic media in evangelicalism. Today, prominent theological resources of Chinese Christianity come from evangelicalism. Singing gospel songs together in the weekly Sunday congregation is a common religious practice in evangelical communities worldwide and in protestant church communities in the Chinese sphere and Chinese diaspora. This paper discusses this religious practice, looking into the case of the Netherlands. The author explores the transnational aspect of the Sinicization and dissemination of CCM, and its effect on community building in a culturally and linguistically new environment. Building on a mixed methodology the study seeks to answer the following: What is the role of music in the social cohesion of these church communitas? How do linguistic differences within the community affect the role of hymns singing as a religious practice? How does CCM with Chinese characteristics play a part in the dynamic of “homemaking” for Dutch Chinese?