Subscribe to the NetworkThe Urban Suburban Crossover
Ever wonder why the majority of Sunday morning church services across the globe are the most segregated time. Sad but true and our youth groups are mirroring the same reflections of big church.
In our society and especially the area where I live, 98% of our students attend diverse schools, live in diverse neighborhoods, and participate in diverse athletics and clubs. A few years ago we noticed many of our students hung out in mixed groups within their schools. Although, our students hung out in diverse groups; they never invited those friends to youth group.
We are having to re-access the reasons why our youth group looks the way it does. We are examining the words we use, the music we play and the jokes we tell. We discovered sometimes the jokes were using were only relatable to the community we were serving. We were not exposing our students to different genres of music, although many of them listen to more than just hip hop, so we found.
I think it’s good to look at events and music that your students would relate to but it’s good to challenge them and expose them to other things.
If we had a glimpse of Heaven I think many of us would be surprised to see there is NO Black side, Asian side, Hispanic side or White side. For many of us this would be a dramatic change. At what times to you socialize with others outside your race? If we seldom crossover as Youth Ministers or Pastors, how do we expect our congregation or our youth to crossover?
Look for ways to promote diversity in your group.
To fix this mindset we have chosen to become a Bridge. We began to expose our students to different and diverse conferences, concerts, events and projects. We began to look for events and projects that would promote diversity. We have started collaborating with other youth groups and churches on projects. We have created a network of youth leaders that is diverse. In doing this it felt very comfortable to us, it’s who we not something we are trying to make ourselves become. If we let down our barriers we would discover we can learn a lot from others.
Ask yourself has your community changed?
There have been several studies that show how our communities will change drastically over the next 50 years. Is the church being prepared for that change? If the church continues on without any regard to our changing world we may become ineffective and lose in a changing world. Check out these projected stats:
Nation’s Changing Makeup
|
Racial/ethic groups |
2005 |
2050 |
|
Foreign born |
12% |
19% |
|
White |
67% |
47% |
|
Hispanic |
14% |
29% |
|
Black |
13% |
13% |
|
Asian |
5% |
9% |
|
|
|
|
|
Note: *=Non-Hispanic |
|
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Adjust your strategy
Don’t get me wrong you are going to reach the blueprint you are called to reach but our communities, schools and neighborhoods are changing, our world is changing. If we the church are going to survive this change, we need to rethink the way we do church and our strategy will need to adjust. We may need a new blueprint; the one we created 10 years ago may not be relevant anymore.
We have thousands of churches that are hosting satellite venues within various areas of their cities and states. Having the same blueprint will not work for all communities and definitely not for all youth groups. Our goal as youth leaders shouldn’t be to only reach the students in our youth groups. We must equip and send our students to reach others in their schools, neighborhoods and communities via friendship evangelism. The world does not look just like them. Students can do it, we have seen them go clear across the world on mission trips and reach hundreds and sometimes thousands. How are we preparing them for the challenge of reaching their schools and neighborhoods?
It is not changing who you are but it’s about reaching those God has placed in your community for you to reach. Sometimes that requires a change in strategy!
