I’ve been wrestling with this for a while but unsure of how to best get my point across without sounding like a jerk. But, as summer is getting closer and missions trip training and preparation is happening in many places I thought I’d take a stab at this.
I’ve been a youth worker of some sort for over 20 years. In the majority of those years I’ve done some sort of cross cultural missions experience with students. In most of those situations it’s almost always been us going somewhere that a different culture of people need help and my youth groups which have always tended to be filled with white kids “take care of them.”
A major problem I see happening is that our students associate particular people groups and races as always needing help. They classify them as needy and it doesn’t matter where they see them they can’t shake it. This is incredibly unfair and unjust to many people who are actually doing really well but get lumped into the same groups in our students minds.
I always cringe when I feel like the “great white hope” has come into any place and we believe we are making a significant contribution. Sometimes we are but at what cost for that community.
So how do we break this cycle?
Here’s a couple thoughts. Some I’ve done, some that I haven’t.
1. If your church is in an area that draws from one particular ethnic group you’ve got to find some healthy ways of exposure. You can do this by partnering with other more diverse youth groups to do anything from a fun activity to an actual missions project.
2. Before going to a place where your students will be exposed to a particular group and needs make sure to talk about the issues that have made those needs so great and focus on the macro issues affect more than just that group. I realize this sentence was probably not written well so here’s what I mean. If you are going to Haiti you can talk about the history of Haiti and the way that the “system” has made it so difficult for people to break free from the bad cycle. But, then apply that same concept to where you currently live and talk about how there are “systems” here in the US that cause the same problems for people.
3. Do all you can to separate race from need. Similar to #2 above you have to make sure your students understand that there are not any characteristics in any particular people group that cause these things to happen to them. Injustice and systemic problems affect everyone the same way.
4. Have your students do research on people from particular locations where you will be doing work and learn about people who are doing ok. The key here is balance. If you only ever exposure your students to the negative side of any particular area that’s what they will think the whole area is defined by.
Just some simple thoughts by me. I’d love to know what you think.
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I’ve been wrestling with this for a while but unsure of how to best get my point across without sounding like a jerk. But, as summer is getting closer and missions trip training and preparation is happening in many places I thought I’d take a stab at this.
I’ve been a youth worker of some sort for over 20 years. In the majority of those years I’ve done some sort of cross cultural missions experience with students. In most of those situations it’s almost always been us going somewhere that a different culture of people need help and my youth groups which have always tended to be filled with white kids “take care of them.”
A major problem I see happening is that our students associate particular people groups and races as always needing help. They classify them as needy and it doesn’t matter where they see them they can’t shake it. This is incredibly unfair and unjust to many people who are actually doing really well but get lumped into the same groups in our students minds.
I always cringe when I feel like the “great white hope” has come into any place and we believe we are making a significant contribution. Sometimes we are but at what cost for that community.
So how do we break this cycle?
Here’s a couple thoughts. Some I’ve done, some that I haven’t.
1. If your church is in an area that draws from one particular ethnic group you’ve got to find some healthy ways of exposure. You can do this by partnering with other more diverse youth groups to do anything from a fun activity to an actual missions project.
2. Before going to a place where your students will be exposed to a particular group and needs make sure to talk about the issues that have made those needs so great and focus on the macro issues affect more than just that group. I realize this sentence was probably not written well so here’s what I mean. If you are going to Haiti you can talk about the history of Haiti and the way that the “system” has made it so difficult for people to break free from the bad cycle. But, then apply that same concept to where you currently live and talk about how there are “systems” here in the US that cause the same problems for people.
3. Do all you can to separate race from need. Similar to #2 above you have to make sure your students understand that there are not any characteristics in any particular people group that cause these things to happen to them. Injustice and systemic problems affect everyone the same way.
4. Have your students do research on people from particular locations where you will be doing work and learn about people who are doing ok. The key here is balance. If you only ever exposure your students to the negative side of any particular area that’s what they will think the whole area is defined by.
Just some simple thoughts by me. I’d love to know what you think.
Are we unintentionally teaching our students that all minorities need help?
I’ve been wrestling with this for a while but unsure of how to best get my point across without sounding like a jerk. But, as summer is getting closer and missions trip training and preparation is happening in many places I thought I’d take a stab at this.
I’ve been a youth worker of some sort for over 20 years. In the majority of those years I’ve done some sort of cross cultural missions experience with students. In most of those situations it’s almost always been us going somewhere that a different culture of people need help and my youth groups which have always tended to be filled with white kids “take care of them.”
A major problem I see happening is that our students associate particular people groups and races as always needing help. They classify them as needy and it doesn’t matter where they see them they can’t shake it. This is incredibly unfair and unjust to many people who are actually doing really well but get lumped into the same groups in our students minds.
I always cringe when I feel like the “great white hope” has come into any place and we believe we are making a significant contribution. Sometimes we are but at what cost for that community.
So how do we break this cycle?
Here’s a couple thoughts. Some I’ve done, some that I haven’t.
1. If your church is in an area that draws from one particular ethnic group you’ve got to find some healthy ways of exposure. You can do this by partnering with other more diverse youth groups to do anything from a fun activity to an actual missions project.
2. Before going to a place where your students will be exposed to a particular group and needs make sure to talk about the issues that have made those needs so great and focus on the macro issues affect more than just that group. I realize this sentence was probably not written well so here’s what I mean. If you are going to Haiti you can talk about the history of Haiti and the way that the “system” has made it so difficult for people to break free from the bad cycle. But, then apply that same concept to where you currently live and talk about how there are “systems” here in the US that cause the same problems for people.
3. Do all you can to separate race from need. Similar to #2 above you have to make sure your students understand that there are not any characteristics in any particular people group that cause these things to happen to them. Injustice and systemic problems affect everyone the same way.
4. Have your students do research on people from particular locations where you will be doing work and learn about people who are doing ok. The key here is balance. If you only ever exposure your students to the negative side of any particular area that’s what they will think the whole area is defined by.
Just some simple thoughts by me. I’d love to know what you think. Steps of Justice
My friend Phil Cunningham has been leading the charge for a while now in helping Youth Workers think about Justice in new ways. Last year he put together this amazing 30-Day Steps of Justice Prayer guide and today they released a video that helps explain what they are all about. Check it out and you will be changed.
Steps of Justice: October
For the month of October we want to see 1000 people doing justice together. We will go through the Steps Of Justice prayer/action guide and become apart of what God is already doing to see justice for all. Each day we will be posting the justice issue for that day. These will come out of the 30 day Prayer/Action guide. We will also be running the Facebook Group so that throughout the day people can comment on what God has done and shown them throughout their day of doing justice.
Tell your friends, your co-workers, fellow students, your mom and everyone else about this so that we can see 1000 of us doing justice together during the month of October.
There will be more details to come as well as updates and posts on the web at http://www.stepsofjustice.org/
We will begin the month on Oct. 4, which is a Monday. Why then you ask? Well because the book is made up of days, starting with Monday, which is an action day. We will be posting things on the web in the next few weeks to bring more clarity to how we will proceed.
Here is the link to the event so that you can sign up, or you can just sign up here and off we go.
Steps of Justice: My friend Phil Cunningham
Check out www.stepsofjustice.org
I want to tell you about someone that I believe in who is doing something amazing for the world and especially for Youth Ministry.
I met Phil Cunningham in 2001 when he was leading Missions Adventure Summer camp trip for YWAM Seattle. Phil and his family moved to Seattle to actually start the base there.
Phil and I became friends and stayed in contact while I was a Youth Pastor in Los Angeles. We mostly saw each other at National Youth Workers Conventions and then each summer as he became my go to guy to run trips for my youth groups. Over the years Phil has partnered with me in Seattle, Vancouver, Fiji, Costa Rica, Dallas and Cambodia.
Some where in the midst of this we went from friends to great friends and from ministry partners to doing life together. Phil is now one of my regular weekly phone calls, accountability partners and someone I turn to anytime I need encouragement, to bounce an idea off of or just to help me dream big.
Well he has dreamed big and I'm stoked to let people know about it. This last year Phil and I got to hang out at a bunch of the National Youth Workers Conventions and the whole time he told me about this idea that he was having to put more justice related material into peoples hands. He has been working on this project all winter and it is finally launching tomorrow. I'd love to have you go check out www.stepsofjustice.org
The Tagline of this project is "Practical Steps of Justice That can Change the World" I believe that Phil is doing that and that his mission is something worth finding out more about and following along with.
Phil isn't turning this into a business, he's not trying to sell you something to make money. This is a project where his goal it to recoup the costs and hopefully make it sustainable so he can produce another one.
Check him out at: www.twitter.com/philcunningham or www.twitter.com/stepsofjustice
