Although Knowles-Carter has talked about her prayers to God and has worked with pastors on projects, such as helping those affected by Hurricane Harvey in and around her hometown of Houston in August 2017, she has also been criticized by some Christians for her provocative performances.

A San Francisco church will host a “Beyoncé Mass,” featuring songs from the pop star that congregation members will be invited to sing along to, and one of its pastors is insisting that the event goes hand in hand with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“I know there are people who will say using Beyoncé is just a cheap way of trying to get people in the church,” the Rev. Jude Harmon, director of innovative ministries for Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal Church, told SFGate on Tuesday.

“But Jesus used very provocative images in the stories he would tell to incite people to ask hard questions about their own religious assumptions. He regularly provoked. We’re following in the way of Jesus.”

Harmon, who is also the founder of Vince, a weekly contemporary worship service project espousing progressive theology, insisted that Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s music “opens a window into the lives of the marginalized and forgotten — particularly black females.”

He pointed out that 2018 has seen “so much conversation about the role of women and communities of color, we felt a need to lift up the voices that the church has traditionally suppressed.”

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