Reaching the Hop-Hop culture
By Sharon Mager, BCM/D Correspondent
RANDALLSTOWN, Md.—In an effort to be all things to all people, would the Apostle Paul, if he were here in the flesh today, be rapping with the hip-hop cats?
Phil Jackson laughs and says probably not.
“He’d be more like a hip hop intellectual. He would sit down and have conversations with people.” Jackson is the founder and pastor of “The House,” a hip-hop church in Chicago that draws over 500 young people twice a month.
Jackson was one of seven guests at a hip-hop summit sponsored by Colonial Church in partnership with Embrace Baltimore on April 18.
Brendan Saunders, Colonial’s director of youth and young adult ministries, organized the summit in an effort to find new and innovative ways to be relevant in an effort to reach Baltimore’s youth.
The conference began with a challenge from Jackson, who shared a brief history of hip hop, how it is impacting society and how churches are and aren’t reaching these young people. Hip-hop, Jackson explained, is who you are. Rap is what you do.
Other panelists, all hip-hop artists, were: William Branch (aka “The Ambassador;” LaTasha Smith (aka. Sistah Dee); Jonathan Harris; LaVonne Smith (aka. Von Vargas) and David Robinson (aka. Fundamentals). Rob Steinbach also served as a panelist. Steinbach started a church in Baltimore in an African American community in an effort to reach youth and young adults, many involved in the hip-hop scene.
Panelists shared how they were drawn to the music. They laughed, as Saunders played an audio clip of RunDMC and did a little dance across the room with a big smile. Many of the panelists also started their hip-hop journeys listening to that group and other secular artists. When they found Christ, they all did a time of “detoxing” from secular rap, only to find a huge void in their lives.
Harris said he’d walk into a music store and hear a song and be drawn, thinking, ‘well, it won’t hurt to buy one more!’
Then the young followers found Christian rap. In fact, many nodded to Branch, “The Ambassador,” saying it was the music through his Cross Movement group that opened their eyes to the possibilities.
Branch, an internationally known Christian hip hop artist, said he started doing Christian rap when he found that the music began to be a vehicle for a variety of spiritual, though not Christian, philosophies. He’d find 12-year-olds making quick decisions to become Muslims after listening to a rap song that espoused Islamic views.
Sistah Dee agreed, saying she began to hear subtle voodoo influences being interjected in the music.
Saunders said it’s interesting about the spiritual element because African Americans have traditionally been a spiritual people. Like the slaves singing the old spirituals years ago, street-smart teens and young adults have been using rap as a way of expressing themselves today. Rap has become today’s street version of the spirituals.
Jackson pleaded with conference attendees not to pull back on trying to reach the hip-hop community.
Rap music, he said, has been demonized by many. A lot of that, he said, is due to the rap industry, which is driven by money – what sells.
“Most of the rappers you see on TV don’t own that stuff,” Jackson said. “They’re going home to their families and kids and trying to make sense of life like everyone else.”
Teens and young adults are looking for authenticity, Jackson said. Hip hoppers see “Churchianity” instead of Christianity. They’re seeing the works instead of the relationship.
Kids are going to church, learning 25 Bible verses, then leaving and “getting their freak on!” Jackson said.
Jackson told of ministering to kids on their way to or already in jail or dying of AIDS in the hospital. They weep and say why didn’t someone tell me before it was too late, Jackson said. “What will it take for you to be broken?”
Ways churches can reach out to today’s hip hop culture, as suggested by panelists and audience:
1 Open your pocketbooks and give youth programs the funds they need to send kids to teen conferences and other events that will help them grow.
2 Teach kids to minister to kids. Don’t leave it all up to adults.
3 Start mentoring kids at a young age.
4 Get outside of the church walls. You could start as simply as doing a prayer walk.
5 Follow-up at events. Don’t have events just for the sake for having an event. Use it to build relationships then use those relationships to plan events.
6 Provide ways for kids to express themselves. Offer art and music classes. If you’re in a hip-hop community offer D.J. classes. Find out what your community is into. They may be more interested in ballroom dancing. Don’t offer hip-hop related ministry just because it’s clever. Know your “hood.”
7 Parental involvement is crucial. Churches need to be involved in their children’s activities. Churches should include ministry events that incorporate the whole family.
