The solution for a proactive, unified Church in Los Angeles and beyond is already in place, rap artist Propaganda (Jason Petty) told Together LA off stage at the recent Catalyst West conference at Mariners Church in Irvine.

“The beauty of Los Angeles is how many amazing things various churches are already doing,” Propaganda said. “Often times we have this idea that we have to invent the solution for the city, but there is a lot of people already in the trenches somewhere.”

The practical approach or “practical unity,” as he puts it, for Christian leaders is to look for programs such as social services, outreaches, and serving the community that are already ongoing rather than to set-up new programs.

“Participating in what’s already happening is a great way as a church that we can do more things,” Propaganda said. He said he believes that it’s important to have a perspective on “who’s already doing what.” One church or leader should not strive to be the “hub of the city,” he said, “That’s never happened where one church is the hub of the city. The geography [alone] doesn’t allow for that.”

Propaganda on “Uncommon Fellowship” at Catalyst West.

Described by “I Am Second,” under the testimonial ministry’s video of him, as an “underground rap artist” who “grew up a fish out of water” in a Hispanic neighborhood, he is considered a poet and artist “in the midst an alpha male urban environment” early in his career. At Catalyst West, he was a perfect candidate to discuss “Uncommon Fellowship,” the conference’s theme.

To see the beauty of the Church, often times, “you need to know what you are looking for,” he told TLA. “Beauty is something we’ve denigrated to being something very surface. When you are looking for just surface things you might miss it. You might miss the beauty of what’s happening somewhere.

“When she (the Church) is doing her job, when she is actually functioning the way she should, it’s a very quiet, behind the scenes, calm, and steady revelation. Just the process and business of saving souls. There’s no newspaper clipping, there’s no push notification when someone becomes a believer … when a marriage is saved. You have to know what you are looking for.

“Like my pastor says, ‘We don’t want to be known for the outpourings of gospel living, we want to be known for just gospel living. [For example,] it’s not in any paperwork that we serve at the battered women’s shelter. That’s just what we do because we are gospel-centered people. You see this sort of thing happening in L.A. all the time.”

He concludes, pointing out that in the Spirit of God, “There’s no marketing campaign. I’m just going to quietly and calmly love my neighbor, and to me, that’s beautiful.”

Editor’s Note: This article originally published at TogetherLA.net- a website developed for the Together LA movement to get churches working together to Encourage and Equip the ordinary believer to be light in the city, and to Confront injustice.  Content on the site is created and curated by the One Ten Pictures team.  The video was filmed at Catalyst West in April, 2017.