If you’re following the news about Kanye West’s conversion to Christianity, you’ve likely heard something about the crusade-style, musical events he’s currently holding across the U.S.
The gatherings, known as the Sunday Service, have attracted thousands of attendees, and have sparked the interest and curiosity of many on the outside who aren’t sure whether they’re an evangelistic outreach, a music concert, or a church service.
Some of the events entirely consist of singing songs of praise, others have included the preaching of ministers such as Adam Tyson, senior pastor of Placerita Bible Church.
Speaking with Jeff Durbin of Apologia Studios, Pastor Tyson explained his take on the Sunday Service events:
We did tell Kanye that the Sunday Service is not a church. That a church requires an elder team, and standing on the gospel, and practising the ordinances, and possibly even church discipline.
So, I told him to think of it as a concert, think of it as a testimony, think of it as a crusade, think of it as an evangelistic event, think of it as a worship event, and you share your testimony, and somebody maybe preaches the gospel.
So, at this point, I think that it’s just kind of like taking on the feel of a crusade, but it just keeps changing, because Kanye is creative, and he doesn’t stay in the same space for a long time.
In September, during an interview on The View, Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian said the services were initially an intimate meeting for friends and family.
“He has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ,” she explained. “People are always asking, what are you worshipping and what is this? It is a Christian service, like a musical ministry.”
“It started off healing for him, and now it’s become something that he just really wants to share for everybody else,” she added.
Last Sunday, on October 27, the entire Sunday Service was filmed for the first time at Inglewood’s The Forum venue in Los Angeles. The full service can be viewed below:
