People are open but the Church is being held back by 'really bad PR', says Guvna B

(Photo: Unsplash/Tom Ramalho)

MOBO Award winning rapper and broadcaster Guvna B is on a mission to present people with a more accurate picture of the Church than "people in robes singing 'Kumbaya, My Lord'".

He stars in a new six-part documentary series, 'Is God Dead? Stories of Faith with Guvna B', to be aired on TBN across December.

Produced by Alpha UK, the series follows Guvna B and co-presenter Josh Walton as they travel around the UK exploring stories of faith and asking the big questions of whether the Church, Christianity and God are still relevant in today's Britain.

Each episode will explore an area where the Church is making a practical difference in people's lives, and will tell the diverse stories of Christians up and down the country.

At an exclusive screening, the rapper sat before an audience to discuss his intentions behind making the series and what he took away from it.

"Over the last 18 months to two years, a lot of conversations I have had with people are conversations about exploring," he said.

"Everyone is exploring spirituality, they seem a lot more open."

But one area of weakness he sees is the "really bad PR" surrounding Christianity.

"When people think about Christianity, they just think of people in robes singing 'Kumbaya, My Lord'.

"There are just so many different facets and I wanted to explore that."

The aim of the series is to change people's perceptions of the church.

Guvna B and Josh Walton at the Giant's Causeway, where they filmed an episode on prayer.(Photo: Alpha UK)

Sharing what he learnt during the making of the series, Guvna B said: "There are parts of the Church I haven't always been comfortable with.

"We did an episode on healing where we went up to Wales to meet a lady called Chloe who has completed a PhD in healing.

"I have learnt to believe again in things that I have always been quite pessimistic about."

He continued: "I struggle when things are solely faith-driven, I need there to be a bit of science behind it.

"There are so many people who do really interesting things outside of the four walls of the Church that inspire me, I've learnt a lot".

But the rapper also went on to share how church did not "prepare him for pain" or for those times when life did not go exactly as he wanted it to.

"It made it seem as though when people become Christian, life is just perfect. I got really confused.

"I think this generation do not necessarily want perfection, I think they want something that is real so that is what we wanted to offer," he said.

Filmed during the summer months, themes and topics covered in the series include social action, mental health, prayer, healing and forgiveness.

Racial injustice was also touched on in the series and Guvna B expressed why he felt this was essential to cover.

"I think it is important to challenge the Church if I feel like they have fallen short and could do more work in an area," he said.

"In the last eighteen months a lot of organisations, people and brands have been looking at themselves and I don't think the Church should be exempt from that process," he said.

Alpha UK's ambition in producing the series is to capture the imaginations of people who have never engaged with or seen any relevance of the Church.

Guvna B's hope for the series is that he and the team are able to "reflect a holistic view of the Church".

"If people look at that and decide that is not for me, great. But I at least would like them to have an accurate picture of what the Church looks like and I think if we do that then we have done our job," he said.