Taking the idea of ‘being all things to all people’ is the Crossover Church found in Tampa, Florida.
They started off with a small group of people who were, ” burned out with “organized religion” – tired of the politics, the tradition, and the masks people hid behind at many churches. They saw the needs of people on the streets that weren’t being met, and they wanted to do something about it”.
They have a focus on their Sunday events, and this week well known hip hop artist and Pastor, “minister Corey Red from the Bronx, NY will be in both services bringing the word. ” – “Rawsrvnt will also be in the house bringing a different twist on our worship from his latest album “In Rare Form”
After a change of leadership in 2002 they adopted the Purpose Driven principles, and have as their vision statement, “To relevantly introduce the truth of Christ to the Hip-Hop Culture as we develop worship, purpose, unity, and leadership in their lives.”
Their ongoing vision revolves around new facilties and more services. “We’ll also be adding our Saturday night service in 2005, and we plan to eventually add another service on Thursday’s that will specifically be for High School students”.
I don’t know whether Perth has enough people involved in the hip hop culture to have a church focused on them. But if you look at most churches, I wonder how effective we are being at reaching the more ‘edgy’ cultural groups.
They have a number of resources they are flogging and state, ” We believe that God has called us to impact this culture worldwide.”