F1 Diamond

I belong to a church that is about to celebrate it’s 102nd year anniversary. That’s a very long time. It is full of Godly, kind Christian people. Unfortunately, it’s located in a depressed area of downtown Hamilton, Ontario and the size of the congregation has been shrinking over the past number of years. Many of the parishioners are older and many have recently passed away or are no longer able to make it to church on a regular basis. The minister is wonderful and offers strong Bible-centered sermons in unique and engaging ways but only a few younger people have joined the church.

There are many ideas of how to reach people in our area and ideas of how to grow the congregation. We’ve had movie nights, garage sales, live auctions and are actively involved in many local ministries (Wesley Center, Medical Missions International) and with the local public school.

Some of the ideas to build our church family focus on the type of singing done during the service. Traditionally it has been with a practiced choir and an enormous, impressive organ. Over the past few years there have been ‘worship teams’ that have brought in electric guitars and drums who sang up-beat songs of praise. I personally enjoy both types of worship and feel that both have their place. Some of the old hymns sung with an organ are extremely powerful and I think could draw almost anyone in. Some of the new rock and popular songs can also be very uplifting and seem to energize everyone.

My father has always been suspicious of any type of music that has a beat. I think that goes too far and the judgment on a hymn should be on its lyrics and theme. Is it encouraging people to worship the one and true God, Jesus Christ? If it’s doing that (while being respectful and without being offensive) then I’m okay with it.

But I’m not sure I’d ever have encouraged someone to begin rapping at one of our services. That is until I saw this video:

I’m not a believer in the idea that anything that is new or modern or different is automatically good. But while sometimes change is scary, it’s sometimes a needed and good thing and should be judged on its merits. A few years ago I was introduced to “The Pastor of the Traphouse”, F1 Diamond who is definitely a worker for the Lord. He’s a Rap and Hip Hop artist who loves Jesus and his songs reflect that love.

I can’t see my church having any rap artists coming to lead worship with us soon, but I’m hoping that if they did they’d give our organ a try as well.

- Blog by André van Heerden, Writer, Director (2012: PROPHECY OR PANIC?, 12 BIGGEST LIES)