City Lights Fam

Fam, short for family.
Fam, a term of love and respect.
FAM, an acronym for Fellowship And Mission.

The hip-hop community needs Jesus Christ…

… To be given a new way to live life (with Jesus as Lord)
… For the forgiveness of their sins (with Jesus as Saviour)
… All while staying in the hip-hop culture (and we wanna help)

deejays

emcees

breakers

graffiti writers


We have events to help better (or start) your skills in these elements.
We build friendships to help better our lives.
We have fellowship that helps improve (or begin) our faith in Jesus Christ.
We have opportunities for you to bless others.

For more details, check out our socials, podcasts, Christian hip-hop mixtapes, breaking mixes, and more, at:
linktree.com/citylightsfam

co-signs

“Getting together with City Lights has changed my life. Through them I found a group that loves God and that I feel comfortable being open with. No judgements, just honest conversation and support!”
“City Lights keeps me connected to my faith in the context of the hip-hop world we live in.”
“I feel like God blessed me through City Lights by bringing me around the right kind of people who are a positive influence on my life.”
“City Lights provided an honest space to talk about faith, artistry and sexuality – a space vitally important for the discipleship of so many, especially those who feel alienated by the church.”
“City Lights has provided a space for me to see if God can use my passion for poetry and hip-hop to help build his kingdom.”
“Growing up, I was told that hip-hop and Christianity can never come together. This community has been actively and deeply involved with my faith, struggles, and marriage and have showed me that the Bible is still active today, even in the hip-hop community.”
“I found a group of Christians that I can be myself around. City Lights is a positive thing in my life and that’s important.”

what’s so dope about jesus?

God created the world good and wanted people to live in certain ways. Then people disrespected God and were like, “nah, we got this” and started living their own ways. But doing that had the natural consequences of death and disease and overall bad things happening. Now, if God had let that play out, it would have been fair. But cuz God loved his creation, especially people, he decided to forgive. He did this through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For those that believe, they are forgiven and start to follow God’s ways, the ways he wanted people to live from jump. Those ways are good, right and have beneficial things happening, not the least of which is a relationship with God, the one who loves, is sovereign, and good.

God, out of his grace, sent his son, who never sinned and taught the right ways of God, and then died (murdered, really). In that, he took the consequences that we all should get for our sins. He rose again from the dead (cuz not even death could hold him), and then ascended to Heaven, and will one day return. Do you have sins that need to be confessed to him and be forgiven for? Do you have to stop living life your own ways and start following God’s ways through Jesus? (That doesn’t mean giving up being hip-hop either.) Do you want to be free of sinful living (and heart), get right with God, and have a new life in Jesus?

Think about it. If you have good Christians in your life, talk to them about it. Talk with God about it in prayer. Read or listen to the Bible about it all. And if you have any questions or want to follow Jesus, let us know. We’ll be glad to help.

shawn’s story

I been into hip-hop since I was as kid. I grew up in Toronto, which isn’t exactly a hip-hop mecca, especially back in the early nineties when I was growing up. But it was the only music that I ever felt I really got. And it got me. I used to bump Wu-tang, Nas, Snoop, all the greats (whille they were still good!). Something about hip-hop spoke to the inner rebel in me. The anger and frustration I felt, the darkness in my soul somehow felt in tune with the music. Even though the songs I listened to were written by artists removed from me by race, economics, and geography, I felt a connection. Traditionally hip-hop is said to be composed of four “elements”: B-boying, Graffiti, MCing and DJing. Hip-hop culture is all encompassing and I was drawn in by every element. I became an MC but that didn’t stop me from dabbling in the other elements as well. Hip-hop became a way of life and I became a “hip-hop puritan,” but still there was something missing.

I grew up without a father. My mother had a mental illness so I was raised by my grandparents. They had a rough marriage and separated multiple times while I was growing up. I like to say I came from a house that was broken twice over. They did the best they could and gave me all the love in the world. But that wasn’t enough. I chased girls and tried to find love there. Still not enough. There was only one love that could ever satisfy me. Eventually in my late teens I found myself depressed having tried everything that a young person does in an attempt to fill that void we all seem to have in our hearts. My grandmother had been nagging me for years to go to church. She said that is what I needed in my life. I finally got to the point where it was the only thing I had left to try.

Turns out she was right. I went to church and I found something with God and Christ Jesus that I had never felt with anything else. It seemed to fill that void just right. And like the music and culture I loved so much I felt a connection. Now I’m not saying my life was made perfect instantly, but a change occurred when I accepted Christ into my heart and Lord and Savior. A change for the better. And it’s a change that’s still happening. Will be until the day I die. There was a movie that came out back in the day. It was called “The Fifth Element.” I don’t want to spoil the movie but at the end its revealed that the fifth element is Love. After all these years I’m still MCing. Still engrossed by everything hip-hop has to offer. But now I do it with a Fifth Element thrown in the mix. God’s unfathomable and unconditional love that He demonstrated to me by taking my place on the cross for my many, many (did I say many?), sins. God loves me. He loves you. And He’ll give you a new reason to sing, dance, paint and do all the things you were meant to.