As a new believer, I was excited to travel with our college ministry to Pretoria, South Africa for six weeks over the summer. We would be ministering to college students at Pretoria University, as well as visiting the poorer towns outside the city for VBS programs. In order to fulfill the requirements of this trip we had to raise a little over three thousand dollars. I sent out letters and connected with people from my church. Slowly but surely, the funds were arriving to my account. By God’s grace I had raised enough money to make plans to travel with our missions team.
Just before the trip, I had a support meeting with a donor just outside Valdosta, Ga. He and his wife kindly treated me to lunch before my afternoon class. We arrived at a busy diner and took our seats in the middle of the restaurant. The waiter came and began taking our orders. When she got around to me I could tell she was short on patience. I ordered chicken, collard greens, and beets.
We talked about the mission trip for about fifteen minutes. Afterwards the waiter came back with our food. She handed the plates to my supporter and his wife. The next thing I knew, my plate was literally dropped in front of me, and it contained anything but restaurant-quality food. The chicken was inedible, with bones and gelatin dispersed in what closely resembled gruel. The collard greens and beets were thrown in without much consideration. As I looked around the restaurant, it was very clear that I was the only minority there.
In the face of blatant racism, I was at a loss for words. I felt angry, hurt and hopeless. That plate of gruel at the diner served as a painful reality that to some people, I was not welcome in the very town where I attended college simply because of the color of my skin.
God’s Call for Youth Ministers
Sadly, racism is nothing new in our world. In fact we see iterations of it in the biblical narrative itself. Aaron and Miriam question Moses and his wife Zipporah’s marriage because of her ethnicity (Num. 12:1). Jesus engages compassionately with a Samaritan woman, something Jews did not do (John 4:9). Sin has distorted and broken relationships (Gen. 3), giving way to various manners of social strife and chaos.
As students in our youth group may very well experience the brokenness of relationships with respect to racism, it’s vital to speak into those injustices with the hope of the gospel. A pastor I respect said once that the gospel comprehends, commends, and critiques every culture. Therefore, in the face of racism, our call as youth ministers is to uphold the gospel message, teaching the transforming work of grace found in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
While we can feel hopeless when students we love face overt racism (as I did that day in the diner), the gospel gives us tremendous resources to encourage and strengthen us in our present sufferings. Let me offer just three reflections to encourage you and your students in this regard.
Jesus meets us in our pain.
A fellow youth minister shared a story of four Black girls who confided in him about a problem they had faced at their private school. One of their teammates had yelled a racially derogatory word against the girls, causing them to feel shame and even fear. School officials notified the girls’ parents and spoke with both the accuser and the accused. However, the victims felt as if the offending student received only a slap on the wrist, leaving the girls feeling further devalued based on the color of their skin.
Jesus meets our hurting students in their pain to show his long-suffering compassion and great love as they live in a world corrupted by sin. Just as Jesus grieved with those who grieved (John 11:35), so youth ministers must seek to show a similar response. In the case of my friend’s students, four girls were hurting after ugly words had deeply injured their souls. It was important for their youth minister to grieve with them in their pain, and to point them to a God who sees them as image bearers without partiality. It is here and only here that true healing can begin to take root.
The gospel holds the power to break the curse of racism.
As youth ministers we should grieve the heartache of our students when they face the rejection produced by racist ideologies. We might be tempted to take up arms and confront these issues head-on in our ministry talks, one-on-one discipleship, and events. But as much as we want to “fix” the problem of racism, the gospel message itself (not our human attempts) will always be the healing balm to injustice in the world.
The apostle Paul—a multi-ethnic figure in the early church owing to his Jewish heritage and Roman citizenship—writes to a divided Roman church community saying, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16). Paul reminds the Roman church that in spite of their various ethnic backgrounds, the gospel has brought them unity and peace under one beautiful and multi-ethnic family.
As the presence of sin unites us in our death and condemnation, the Spirit unites us in the gift of righteousness and eternal life.
New Jerusalem will be our new reality.
We must strive to point our students to the hope of the new Jerusalem to come. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John speaks to God’s people as they are engulfed in severe persecution under the tyranny of the Roman Empire. John directs this persecuted audience to his beautiful vision, in which believers will see and dwell with God forever. He writes, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands (Rev. 7:9).
In Babylon, we find division and strife leading to chaos. But in heaven—the New Jerusalem—righteousness and goodness will be the social capital, not racism and bigotry. Unity and love will produce life-giving transformation as we behold the face of our beloved Savior Jesus Christ and image him together.
As youth ministers, we may feel at a loss when grappling with a teenager who faces the repercussions of racism. The weight of racism and injustice can be overwhelming, and the proposed worldly solutions lack reason and depth. For me, the pain of that diner experience still lingers in my mind years later. Rather than give into despair, however, I can be encouraged that Jesus identifies with sufferers, and in his victory actively leads his people in spiritual triumph.
May you and your students be strengthened by the good news of the gospel. Amen.
For more encouragement in gospel-centered youth ministry, tune in for Rooted’s Youth Ministry Unscripted podcast.
