Refined Undignified (RU) is a Christian contemporary dance group based at Caronport, SK that went to the U.K. as one of our summer GAP teams.
They spent four weeks in London, performing hip hop and break dancing at local schools and other venues. Miriam McSpadden, team member, shares the impact the trip had on her: "The RU team uses an hour long hip hop and break dancing program to create a medium between the youth and the message of Jesus Christ's love and forgiveness. In previous months, London has really been under spiritual attack. Gang activity has escalated and few young people trust church or Christianity. We, as a team, got to work first hand with many of these troubled youth.
I think some of my greatest highlights from the trip came from just seeing the transformation that took place in people's lives. One example came from the youth at Twynholm Baptist Church. At the first performance many of the boys were laughing and scoffing at us the whole time. This challenged but also tested us and our commitment to becoming undignified, to even humiliate ourselves in the eyes of the world as long as we glorified God. Over the next few weeks we continually hung out and got to know these youth. We played football (soccer), went to BBQ's or finally even went camping with them. By the time we left, we could completely see the transformation in these boys. They had gone from laughing and scoffing to having tears in their eyes as they said goodbye to the team. It was amazing to me to see how we, an amateur dance team from a small town in Canada, could be used by God to have such an impact in people's lives.
After our program, I personally had countless young men and women completely open up to me about serious issues that they faced in their lives. Some of these issues included rape, drug use, alcoholism, and even witnessing several friends get stabbed to death by gang members. Through every situation, Jesus' love was visibly able to heal and/or at least provide a peace to each person. The last weekend proved to be a truly blessed ending to our trip. Through God's grace, we had been invited to perform at Creation Fest in Devon, England with countless other Christian artists from around the world. It was so encouraging and humbling once again when after our shows countless teens and adults came to us and said that our show had changed their lives. Wow, it still blows my mind."
