On June 6, Kumran United Methodist Church in Gardena, California hosted "Rise Up," a Christian dance showcase during which multiple Christian dance groups gathered together to perform and show that dancing is an expression of worship to God. This is the third year that the church has hosted this dance showcase event.
God's Image was among the nine teams that participated in Rise Up.
The event featured dance performances from: Kumran Kids, Seeds of Worship Juniors, Kumran Youth Ministry (KYM) Dance Team, Seeds of Worship, God's Image LA, Impact, Canons, Sodium Dance Company, and V3 Dance. Two of the performances (Kumran Kids and KYM Dance Team) comprised of dancers from the church, which started three years ago as the church hosted its first Rise Up event. Other performance teams were separately organized parachurch dance ministries.
"When I came to this church and as I got to know the students, God gave me the heart for dance ministry," said Pastor Einston Han, the youth pastor at Kumran United Methodist Church, explaining how Rise Up originally began. "I wanted my students to use dancing for the glory of God."
"My biggest hope in this generation is to see the arts redeemed for God's glory, where dancers, musicians, and artists bring God glory in today's culture, and ultimately bring the Gospel to the world through their art, such as dance," he said about the purpose of Rise Up.
Han added that dancing can be a way of worship and witness because "worship is whatever actions we do as a believer of God in a worthy manner that brings Him glory."
Seed of Worship Juniors was among the nine teams that participated in Rise Up.
Over the span of two hours, these nine teams performed either with the intention to bring worship to God or to bring the message of the gospel to the audience. The dance performances spoke of Christian narratives through bodily movements and edified the believers as they saw that dancing as an art could be a creative way to glorify God.
Eddie Moon, the team leader of V3 Dance, shared similar sentiments as Han regarding dance as a form of art to bring glory to God.
V3 was among the nine teams that participated in Rise Up.
"V3 Dance started as a Christian dance team in midst of the competitive dancing world where the Christian message is so rare to find. We, as a team, want to be the hope for the upcoming dance teams that consist of Christian members," he said.
Moon also stated how they practically try to be worshippers and witnesses in the culture of dancing. "We only use Christian music that point to God and not secular music that glorify other worldly things. We are selective with our members - we want the members of this team to know the gospel and represent Christ and V3 with our lives. We point back to God in everything we do or else it is meaningless."
Those who attended the event responded positively, and one attendee said that worship was "ongoing through the event."
"It was heartwarming to see everyone, believers and nonbelievers, gathered and enjoying the show altogether," said one attendee. "And worship wasn't just ritualistic, but it was ongoing through the event, even when we weren't actually singing along with the band," she continued. "When we were watching every team, one by one, performing on stage, people were worshipping."
Some 270 people were present at Rise Up to share in the time of worship of God through dance and music. The committee is expecting to hold another event for next year.
Joo Heon Lee is a student volunteer writer from the University of California, Irvine.
