In this podcast, Jason Cook – editor for The Gospel Coalition and Pastor at Fellowship Memphis – and I discuss race and racial diversity within Youth Ministry. Youth Ministry presents a unique opportunity to not only address race in the church, but also to be an avenue for pursuing racial diversity. Teenagers today are growing up in a more diverse and globalized society than ever. The high value of diversity amongst this generation means it is incredibly important that we as Youth Ministers, leaders, and parents, show how the Gospel transcends racial boundaries and moves us towards unity with those racially different from us. Doing so requires both a biblical theology of race and the Gospel, and being aware of how the Gospel is contextualized in our specific churches. The more culturally aware we are of ourselves, the more equipped we will be to reach those culturally different from ourselves.
Jason Cook is an African-American pastor in Memphis, and I am a half-Korean, half-White Youth Pastor in a predominantly Asian-American church in San Francisco. As a result, our discussion stems from personally wrestling with race ourselves in a diverse set of contexts.