Racial Prejudice in Student Ministries

Below is a question I received from a parent who was new to our church and interested in getting their child involved in our student ministries. I tried to answer this question the best that I can, but found it somewhat challenging. The biggest reason I found answering this a challenge is because each circumstance is different and requires a different response. My response is a very general one, but I believe it works.

As a multicultural youth ministry it is vital to respond to parents and families that have experienced racism in the past in a grace filled manner. I do not ever claim that our group is perfect and that will never have rasim happen here. I hope my response instilled confidence that we do the best we can to teach and model gracism (extending grace intentionally to some one of another race), but we cannot control what each student says or does. My hope is that we can be a place where both the offended and offender in a situation can find grace and reconciliation. This does not relieve the offender of their offense, I take racism very seriously as I desire that our youth ministry be a safe environment for all. Hopefully we can extend forgiveness and also teach about gracism and reconcilation.

Another reason I found this particular question to be a good one is that I realize that many peole entering our ministry may be use to a unicultural setting, or at least a unicultural church. Hopefully we can show a families in this situation that because the common ground that we have in Christ all races can worship together and it won't be a disaster. It is a beautiful thing to witness a multicultural chruch moving forward in unity and love. To many new comers it might be a fearful thing. They maight just be waiting for it to blow up, or for some racial conflict to bust out.

Others who enter our ministry may have attended a church where they were the minority, and they may have been tramatized by that situation. Unfortunatly many church are not sensitive to the needs of those out side their own race. If they were we would see more thriving multicultural churches. So as they enter our youth ministry it is our job to build up the confidence of both the parents and the students that we do really love each other and even when their are conflicts they are handled in a manner that extends grace to all. Through doing this we are a living example of the work of reconcilation that Christ has done for us.

Having said all that here is the question. I would love to hear anyones response to my thoughts, or this question.

How would an incident of either insensitivity or outright prejudice toward an ethnic group be handled in your ministry?

Incidents of racial prejudice show up very rarely in our ministry. I credit this to the church as a whole because many of our students have grown up here. Many of our students are friends with people of a variety of cultures and backgrounds and their parents have chosen to come to Bridgeway many for that fact that it is diverse. We also try to teach students how to breakdown barriers and build bridges through Fusion, Common Ground and our small groups. We teach our students to see people through the eyes of Christ. Christ saw all people regardless of color, class, culture or creed with eyes of compassion. So hopefully by being proactive we avoid many such incidents and when an incident occurs or a comment is made our students are prepare to respond.

When an incident of racial insensitivity occurs we take it very seriously. We desire our ministry to be a safe place for all students. Insensitivity and ridicule can cause a sense of unrest among all the student. Knowing that each circumstance is unique there are some basic things that we do to resolve conflict. The first thing is separate the two parties and talk with each individual separately. During this time we can hear each persons story and allow for them to calm down. Once we have clear stories and they are calm we then use the time to teach on what reconciliation looks like in this situation and how future situations like this can be avoided. I then usually challenge both parties to extend grace to the other party and initiate the reconciliation process. As always if something like this were to occur we would file an incident report and send a copy home to the parents of all students who were involved.

Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is when an institution has policies, procedures or teachings that discriminate against another race. If we are unable to identify and address the institutional racism with in our churches and ministries it will be nearly impossible to have a multicultural ministry. It will be difficult to take a hard honest look at who you are as an institution, but if you are willing to do the hard work it will be worth it in the end. Many of the instances of institutional racism are invisible to the race that has established them. So it will take a fresh awareness and a fresh pair of eyes to help week through what is and what is not institutional racism.

Is There Hope for Reconciliation In America's Cities?

I believe the reality of seeing racial reconciliation happen in our countries faces many barriers. One of the greatest barriers in my mind is that the church cannot seem to get it right. If Christ is the ultimate example of reconciliation and has left us on earth as his ambassadors and as a church we still cannot even come close to getting this reconciliation thing right what hope does our country and our cities have? But if the church is the hope of the world and God can do a fresh work of reconciliation in us the world will see us as Christians living what we believe, then there is hope that our cities can become racially reconciled. Without out the reconciliation power of Christ there is no hope, the pull of sin and selfishness is too strong.

American Evangelical Churches Continue to Abandon the Cities

I believe there is a great disconnect between evangelical churches and the inner city. For the most part evangelical churches neglect the inner city. The evidence I have seen of this is obvious in the church that I grew up in. Their building is getting old and they have a place that they can move that is just outside of the city it has ministered in for over 110 years. So they have chosen to leave the downtown neighborhood of that small city and move up on the hill outside of the city where there are not really neighborhoods and there are few visible needs. I believe churches do this mainly because they would rather be comfortable than do the hard work and risk having a church full of needy people. My father is a pastor of a small church in the same city, but different neighborhood. His church is filled with people with needs and extremely under resources, yet this other church is using their resources to get further away from the needs.

Youth Network Meeting

Today was the fourth meeting of our youth leader network. It is incredible to meet together with a variety of people from a variety of churches. At our meeting today there were representatives from a Korean church, a white church (one traditional, one contemporary) an African American Church, and Matt and myself were there from Bridgeway. It has been an encouragement for me to hear from other perspectives and other churches. There seems to be a strong desire among the group to cross all kinds of barriers to carry out ministry. I believe God is desiring to do amazing things in and through this group of youth leaders.

Another Sunday of Multicultural Ministry

It was another great day of worship at Bridgeway. God really showed up! I always enjoy watching the wide variety of people who call Bridgeway home worshiping together. This morning I was particularly moved when Nikki (our worship leader) called the band to leave their instruments and come out on the stage and lift their voices in worship to God. It was an amazing visual to see the whole choir and band out on stage worshiping together with the entire congregation at Bridgeway. So many people of different ages, genders, and races, worshiping the same God. Wow, what a blessings.

Questoins about multicultural ministry

There have been a variety of situations I have found myself in over the past several years where I had questions about multicultural ministry. If you find yourself with questions, I would love to hear them. I cannot promise I can answer them all, but I can post my thoughts and ask some of my friends that are much wiser than I am. I will also share my questions with you so that you can see what I am thinking about and also so I can receive your help.