Hip Hop church breaks through stereotypes
Published: Jun. 2, 2014 at 3:05 AM EDT|Updated: Jul. 2, 2014 at 3:05 AM EDT
HUNTERSVILLE, NC (WBTV) - They're calling it a new way to do church. Saturday night, Generation One opened it's doors for the first time in Huntersville.
You won't find a pipe organ, or even sit in a pew. Pastor Quinn Rodger's says Generation One is geared specifically towards reaching a younger and un-churched generation.
"We're trying to reach the un-churched, the de-churched, the folks who have given up on church and are looking for something different," Rodgers said.
The message is the same, but the medium is different. Traditional hymns are traded for DJ's scratching hip-hop beats and spoken word.
"We've taken the hip-hop culture and we've extracted all the negative connotations out of it and we've deposited solid Christian doctrine in there," Rodgers said.
According to a Pew Research study, Americans ages 18 to 29 are considerably less religious than their older counterparts. That's exactly what Generation One hopes to change.
"18 to 40, we can't get those people into church because the traditional stuff isn't working anymore," Juanita Rann-Scott said.
Some walked in skeptical, but left refreshed.
"I'm thinking church and hip hop, lets see how this combination is going to be," Ariel Culbereth said.
"Tonight, we heard something different, the songs were upbeat. They had more flavor," Jamevelyn Robinson said.
Generation One meets every Saturday evening at five p.m. They're located at 8519 Gilead Road in Huntersville.
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