Not Your Mama's Church - Christianity Today

Stephen Jean-Marie was born in the West Indies, never knew his father, experienced physical abuse, was kicked out of his home, started selling drugs, and at one point held a gun in his hand, intending to kill himself.

“Cue,” as he’s known, is also a talented rapper who by the early 1990s was a rising artist with a hit song, a Virgin Records contract, and performing before crowds as large as 60,000.

“I was living large but feeling empty. I started praying to God,” he says. A friend invited him to church, where he received Christ, grew in his faith, but became disillusioned, seeing how few African-American churches were reaching his generation.

Another friend invited him to NewSong (www.newsong.net), a church in Irvine, California. “It’s real,” the friend said. “It’s about reaching the next generation.” Indeed, the average age is 28. They meet in rented facilities, but that doesn’t seem to discourage any of the 2,000 worshipers.

Cue was so impressed that he joined the staff there. Today Cue, 39, is director of a community development corporation focused on Crenshaw, an African-American section of L.A.

An African-Asian-American church

The most unusual dimension of this story is that the church is primarily Asian-American. Senior Pastor David Gibbons, 42, has a Korea-born mother and Irish-American father. While the Asian population is the largest at NewSong, “the white, Hispanic and African-American crowd is growing every year,” says Gibbons. “We’re committed to being a church that represents the beauty, mystery, and diversity found in God.”

NewSong, launched in 1994, was inspired by Psalm 40. “It became clear what the ‘new song’ was to be for us,” Gibbons says, “a multi-ethnic movement that reaches the next generation through planting churches and focusing on the next generation of leadership.”

The church’s ministry in Crenshaw, called The Shaw, focuses on Sports, Health, the Arts, and Worship. It is part of NewSong’s JAC (Justice, Advocacy, and Compassion) ministry paradigm. Cue’s ministry has also aided a second site for NewSong, which was started in Crenshaw under the leadership of Site Pastor Adam Edgerly, 40, an African American.

“Diversity is not just about being politically correct,” Edgerly says. “It’s about reflecting the very heart of God. We want to lead a renaissance of community transformation among the under-resourced. We’re also passionate about addressing local and global concerns of justice, advocacy, and the poor.”

Perhaps the church’s most replicable feature is its urban-suburban synergy. “We’re intentional about not franchising a church like ours,” says Gibbons, “but in learning what the conversation starters are in the target community, typically issues of compassion and justice that show you’re authentic. We need to go as Jesus would.”

Where did this vision come from? “As a kid, my best friends were African-American or Caucasian,” says Gibbons. “I wondered why churches were so segregated. Further, I saw how most churches I knew weren’t connecting with my friends. I began to sense a call to reach the emerging global village.”

People at NewSong like to describe themselves by saying, “We ain’t your mama’s church.” Translated, the truth of God may not change, but each generation may need a different conversation starter about spiritual matters. The good news, as Gibbons sees it, is that a rising generation of ethnic leaders is available to reach those neglected communities. “They’ve got the gifts,” he says. “They just need the encouragement.”