The EDGE honors students in their literacy program in a local school gym in Grand Rapids on May 30th. They connect with their community through literacy and work skills programs. Photo courtesy of Tisa Herbert
To some, hip-hop music may be the last thing they expect to hear at a church service. At The EDGE Urban Church, however, hip-hop is integral to their ministry to reach the city of Grand Rapids. From their worship services to discipleship through music, hip hop beats are like the heartbeat of the church.
“Hip-hop culture is so pervasive,” said Tisa Herbert, who serves at The EDGE in their community programming. “It's all throughout media and entertainment but has its roots in inner city and marginalized people. So, that's our target demographic.”
When someone visits The EDGE’s weekend gatherings, Herbert said they are greeted with upbeat hip-hop music. The worship mixes rap, spoken word poetry and hip-hop, featuring artists like KB and Lecrae.
Herbert said they also use original music from artists raised in the church, recording songs in their in-house studio with state-of-the-art equipment.
“We use skills development for discipleship,” Herbert said. “That is a theme throughout everything that we do. I think that's why a lot of churches don't feel relevant, especially for young people — because it's not impacting any part of their life outside of what they know about Bible stories.”
The EDGE teaches dance classes at their church building in February 2024. The EDGE uses skills development and the arts as discipleship tools. Photo courtesy of Tisa Herbert
Troy Evans, a former gang leader who encountered Jesus in Detroit after his release from prison, started The EDGE with a job skills program in 2008, according to his website.
Herbert said Evans was ministering at his grandfather’s church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when tragedy struck. His nephew was killed just down the block, becoming a victim of gang violence and sparking a realization for Evans.
“We need a church that these young gang members are going to feel comfortable walking into,” Herbert said. “A church that is going to reach them, draw them in and be a place where they can hang out and thrive but also be surrounded by loving Christians who feel important to them and accept them exactly as they are. They don't have to take off their hat or change their shoes or anything like that.”
As he renovated The EDGE’s future church building, Herbert said Evans poured into a group of local 16-year-olds by teaching them construction skills.
“In order to get these cats [people] together, they just started to teach them skills,” Herbert said. “Church planting 101– you have a space that needs to be redone to use it. So, there's a couple of old heads that taught them how to use tools and to renovate this space. The church came out of that.”
Herbert said the young church had a unique culture that bonded together quickly.
An EDGE member partners with a local school to teach literacy classes. The EDGE is located in a neighborhood that is about 75% Spanish-speaking. Photo courtesy of Tisa Herbert
“Picture a Saturday night session with walls with graffiti all over them, like, packed into this storefront building,” Herbert said. “When The EDGE first started, [we had] super energetic hip-hop worship and this ex-gang leader from the street with a really energetic sermon. Then afterwards, everyone just hangs out. Everyone's 16 to 25, and some rap battles or dance battles break out afterward. That's the vibe that we've always been fighting to maintain.”
The demographic culture on the south side of Grand Rapids is unique as well. The EDGE is located in Roosevelt Park, an immigrant community that Herbert said is about 75% Spanish-speaking.
“We were the only English-speaking church, because we moved in right when the other English-speaking church shut down,” Herbert said. “It's a very young neighborhood, and so to reach the young people, there is a huge need for the job skills programs and especially, literacy intervention. The neighborhood that we've been in the last decade is like a first stop for immigrants, but it's historically been high gang activity.”
Herbert said they attempt to mirror their community in their congregation.
“One of the beautiful, unique things about our church is it's very multi-ethnic and intentionally so,” Herbert said. “We make sure that the staff is always really diverse. All of what we are as a family can be celebrated, accepted and appreciated.”
Herbert said The EDGE desires to welcome everyone, especially given the difficult upbringings of their members.
“The biggest thing is keeping that atmosphere feeling like a family, because when you have so many misfits and people who don't fit into their own family, they're surrounded by negative influences,” Herbert said. “People have experienced a lot of rejection and abandonment and things like that. The EDGE feels more like ‘Grandma's house,’ where you come in and you take your hair down.”
Herbert said it is common for the congregation to stick around for hours after the service ends, sharing meals and fellowship freely.
The EDGE’s mission statement from their website is, “Bring ‘em in, Sit ‘em down, Build ‘em up and Send ‘em out.”
Herbert said The EDGE emphasizes sending out church leaders, building a mindset to raise up young leaders and sending them to minister elsewhere.
“Another metaphor that we use a lot is an airport,” Herbert said. “The EDGE feels like the terminal. You can see all sorts of crazy people up in here at all different stages of life. But it is like, ‘Touchdown, get refueled, get equipped before God sends you out.’”
Herbert said The EDGE hosts around 100 people on a given Sunday, but that is not what she looks at to measure their potential.
“It's not about the numbers that are in your building,” Herbert said. “It's all about the impact that you can't necessarily see.”
Margaret Fipps is a junior Journalism student at Cedarville University and the editor-in-chief of Cedars Magazine. As a journalist, she wants to revive beautiful writing with a purpose: to engage communities in conversations with each other. Also, as a former pastor's kid, she deeply cares for the church and loves seeing Jesus proclaimed through His bride.
