On the Arts: Worship at the Margins: Revival and Freedom
Ralph Basui Watkins
Ralph Basui Watkins (M.F.A., D.Min., Ph.D.) is Peachtree Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.
RIM was different than any church I had experienced during my thirty-year career as a pastor and professor. Something that I simply called “real” or “authentic.”
Worshipers raise their hands in praise at Real Inspiration Ministries worship service, 2024.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
—Philippians 4:4
Real Inspiration Ministries (RIM) is a fifteen-year-old church that began as a worshiping community started by Bishop Sonya Williams. Bishop Williams and her wife, First Lady Regina Williams, birthed this worshiping community because there was no place in traditional African American churches for our LGBTQ+ siblings. The church was formed through Ball Culture, which forges communities in the LGBTQ community where persons are welcomed and loved. They support each other and celebrate in times of pageantry, party, and a unique form of worship. It is a place of belonging for our LGBTQ siblings.
RIM was the center of my sabbatical work in 2023, when together we created a documentary about the church and I did a series of photographic portraits. During my sabbatical I worshiped at RIM as I used my camera to tell their story. The church welcomed my wife and me over the last few years, and now they trusted a cisgender, heterosexual male to tell it.
Although I knew Bishop Williams, First Lady Regina, and the congregation before my sabbatical work, their trust meant a great deal. I went in as an arts-based teacher and left as a revived Christian. I have served as an executive pastor of large, traditional / mainline African American churches for most of my ministerial career. Those churches welcomed me and my family, and I loved serving those communities, but they didn’t have what I found at RIM.
Bishop Sonya Williams looks on as First Lady Regina dances in a praise moment as they hold hands, 2024.
RIM was different than any church I had experienced during my thirty-year career as a pastor and professor. They had something that I simply called “real” or “authentic.” This may sound trite, but it is true. In the name of the church REAL is where they start, and they are real. One example of their realness is how they worship. There is something about a people worshiping who have been rejected by the church and yet still love God and birth a church that affirms who they are in the image of God.
There is something that isn’t held hostage to tradition, or liturgies, or pomp and circumstance at RIM. In the course of my career, I have spent more time planning worship than I have worshiping. I have been guilty at times being more concerned with order in worship and the order of worship than actually worshiping. There have been times in my career where the ways of worship got in the way of worship. I was more concerned with the traditions of my faith practice than I was with the authenticity of the faith I was practicing.
Couple stands in worship responding to the singing of Rev. Gerald Campbell, 2024.
Samoria Hale’s song gets so good she turns the mic sideways, 2024.
RIM is not held hostage to liturgy. They are free to worship God, and God is the focus. They have liturgy, they have order in worship, but they haven’t lost the focus of worship and that focus is God. They are open to God; they are focused on God; they serve a God who unites liberation, Jesus, and justice. There is a freedom, an agility, and a clear focus on developing mature disciples of Jesus Christ. Their worship experience is about making a significant difference in the lives of worshipers. They don’t have to beg people to come to worship because they know when they get there they will not leave like the way they came.
The freedom in worship at RIM isn’t the pentecostal nature or the demonstrative nature of their worship; it is freedom. They are responding to God and the people who come needing God. They are clear that they are here for one purpose and one purpose only and that is for worship to make a difference in the lives of the worshipers, so that as they worship they feel that they are in touch with God. Worship actually makes a difference, and for that they aren’t afraid to do different, be different, and change.
Tia Garett leads the congregation in worship, hands up, 2024.
Resistance to change has held me and so many traditional churches hostage. We refuse God’s call to us to change in order to serve the present age. RIM is change. They are life. They are my teacher, and at RIM my faith has been revived and invigorated. God has called us not to save the church or to make sure our liturgies, song selections, confessions, prayers, and sermons are “correct,” but rather we are called to the faith. We are called to a faith that is real, relevant, and life changing. We are called to worship that matters, worship that people run to participate in because it makes a difference. I thank God for all God has shown me and taught me at RIM. I will be there next Sunday.
Worshiper prays in worship as her spouse supports her, 2024.
