A Wrap of a Rap on the Heidelberg Catechism

This is great- thanks so much for the link!

What a great way to bring the HC into a church planting environment- this will surely show up sometime in the next few months in one of our worship services!

Personally, I think that it is important we share the Gospel in as many ways as possible - using rap, hiphop, and R&B if necessary. We have an obligation to reach out to the whole world, no matter their background, age, or musical tastes.

I would, however, offer a couple of cautions about using a video such as this. Every generation has a broad range of interests and tastes - some young people will find this rap just as distasteful as many adults in the congregation. We must be careful to not assume that a specific style of music will reach a certain population.

Also, I would caution against using "gimmicks" to reach the youth. If a church plays a video like this one time in an effort to appeal to a certain subset of the population, but does not consistently reach out to that group, it becomes clear pretty quickly that it was a one-time thing done just because, rather than out of a passion for responding to the needs of that population.

I think that the Heidelberg Catechism in and of itself speaks directly to the needs of young people today. Many have written about the lack of community many of today's youth feel. Many young people feel alone, abandoned, and separated from their families and peers. Social networking sites like Facebook allow us to create huge networks of shallow friendships. In response to that, the Heidelberg Catechism says, "What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own..." I am currently using the Heidelberg as the basis for a Bible Study of almost all graduate students and faculty of Michigan State University - we use the questions of the Catechism to guide our discussions. By doing so, we are encountering the full scope of the Gospel and basic theology. Rather than "teaching" the Catechism, we are using the questions as springboards for our own discussions - only occasionally do we read one of the Catechism's answers verbatim. This has received a strong positive response in our group - I have heard responses from many people saying things like "I had never thought about it that way before!" To which, of course, I inwardly smile, knowing that some great writers had thought of it that way hundreds of years ago. I think that perhaps it is better for us to repackage the Catechism according to the needs of our immediate audience, rather than hoping that a rap about the Catechism might make it more interesting again.

Incidentally, as far as raps about basic theology go, I think this one is much better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RUciHVpCbw&feature=share. The rap by Curtis Allen is partially about the HC but also to a considerable degree about Kevin DeYoung's book about the catechism.

Thanks, Jim, for posting this.  But I must say that it is a sad sign of CRC insularity that you didn't know who CJ Mahaney was (or Curtis Allen at this point) - because the CRC is becoming more and more out of touch with the Reformed re-awakening that has been taking place in the world for the last 20 + years or more.  As the CRC continues to drift toward the mainline churches and irrelevance, there's been a wonderful revival of "New Calvinism" - with the Young, Restless, and Reformed.  But most of that has been happening outside of the declining CRC/RCA matrix.

Hey, Friends! Well, good afternoon. We are getting engaged, for sure, if maybe even a little testy.

Thanks to all the readers and several commentators of this particular blog with music on the HCat. I am delighted that there is interest out there.

Now, to David Watson: This has got to be the first time in probably 30 years that anyone has accused me of being CRC-insular, or even insular in just about any way--let alone someone from my own denominational tribe, if not ethnic background. I suppose it depends a whole lot on what meaning one attaches to "insular."

Without going into particulars, I think it's fair to say that I have been around the block a time or two, inside and far outside the CRC since about 1978 (perhaps before many of our networkers were born). I have worked in evangelical and mainline organizations in Latin America--always in partnership agreements with CRWM--and worked in evangelical and mainline ecumenical relationships in Canada for around 15 years. Enough of personal credentials or someone might accuse me of puffing myself like St. Paul is accused of doing in 2 Corinthians.

To respond more directly to Dave Watson's otherwise largely civil comment about the HCat rap, I will show my cards a bit about the "young, restless and Reformed." I remember a Christianity Today article a couple of years ago that perhaps coined that happy phrase. That was an interesting, informative, yet in its own way an oddly insular article. If I recall correctly, the author highlighted a number of Reformed Baptists, in addition to Mark Driscoll of somewhat different colour, among others, most of whom were, I believer FOUR-point Calvinists. OK, 80% is still an honourable percentage, but who’s counting?

What I thought odd about that article was that the CRC and RCA with more or less proprietary name right, so to speak, were not even mentioned in that article. While I do take some exception to Dave Watson’s allegation that the CRC is sliding (backsliding, some would say!) mainline, I do believe it is fair to say that the Reformed tent is legitimately very wide around the world. For young, restless and Reformed North Americans to think they have a corner on the current market of Reformed faith, life, action, thought and theology would be a remarkably short-sighted perspective to take.

In any case, now I definitely know of C.J. Mahaney and Curtis Allen and those are good things. What’s more, I learn a lot from Kevin De Young and Ted Kluck, even though I take some exception to some of their pretty rigid, though riotously expressed take on the church and Reformed accents in particular.

For now, friends, let’s keep feeling our oats, expressing ourselves with vigour and verve, always remembering that  we should take God pretty seriously and ourselves a whole lot less so—and maybe even take the church a bit less seriously than we do, because I have recently discovered some folks who have gotten their egos confused with their work in churches. That’s not a new thing, but how this happened was new to me.

Dear Hope,

I didn't mean to add to a feeling of being ostracized or left out.

This does happen to be a Christian Reformed Network, so I was assuming most of the participants were CRC.  I was expressing my frustration with the CRC leadership (Rev. Dekker has been prominent in the CRC for a long time) which has been actively leading the CRC toward more cooperation with more mainline/liberal/declining churches (like the United Church in Canada, or the UCC & PCUSA in the US) rather than with the vibrant and yet enthusiastically-Reformed movement. 

You can learn a little about CJ Mahaney here  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Mahaney

God Bless

Dave

Thanks, Jim, for your gracious reply.  Our two messages crossed in cyberspace - while I was finishing up mine - yours must have been travelling through the Network :)

I have also just read your bio - I knew some of your info - I knew Erika in Seminary - but it was of interest to learn more too - 

I am a Westminster Sem (Philadelphia) grad as well as a Calvin Sem grad - a Calvin College (MACS) grad and a Wheaton College (BA) grad - so, like Paul, I have bragging rights  - in both the Evangelical and Reformed worlds.

Whether insular or insulated are the best words to use - maybe not - but I will still lament that the CRC has, in many places, lost part of its "first love" - excitement about "the Reformed faith".  While Colin Hansen - author of Young, Restless, and Reformed - and regular contributor to Christianity Today - is certainly well aware of the CRC/RCA - there is an obvious reason why we don't rate much in his analysis of the "Reformed" "movement" today - We aren't very excited or evangelistic about the "Reformed faith" anymore - not many are "catching" the Reformed "faith" from us - we aren't on the cutting lines - We're "yesterday's news" - so to speak - a moribund denomination.

In the Lamb

Dave

Thanks, Dominee Dan, for your response.  I'll reply more in a moment.  But I think that the following might be on interest:

Can the Reformed Resurgence Fly in Grand Rapids?

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2010/11/16/can-the-reformed-resurgence-fly-in-grand-rapids/?comments#comments

I can concur with your points - being relevant/popular isn't what matters - it's being faithful to the Lord's commands, which include the Great Commission (evangelism) and the Great Commandment (Love God and Neighbor). What I believe is happening is that a desire to be attuned to the latter is eclipsing the former, among other things.

I don't think trying to be in the middle between the mainline denominations and the evangelical denominations is a good place to be.  The CRCNA never joined the NCC (but now we might as well have, being in the WCRC). I think we should be squarely in the Evangelical camp, while maintaining Reformed distinctives to a gracious extent.  I think that most of our Evanglical brothers and sisters in Christ have been more balanced all along on the evangelism/social justice scale that they have been characterized by by others.  I've had a foot in both the Evangelical and Reformed worlds my entire life (stemming from my parents, who were both Evangelical (My dad went to Wheaton College and my mom went to a dispensational Bible School) before they came to Reformed convictions) .  I was born and raised in the CRC (just to ward off suspicions).

The "Reformed Resurgence" churches do appear to be reaching new people - or at least bringing straying young people back to a living relationship with Christ and His Church.  And they are growing the most in urban centers (like Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll) where they are engaged in diaconal work among the poor and the needy.

Keep the faith:)

David Kuyper Watson