Different Instruments

One of my favorite quotes about leadership in a multicultural context is by Dr. Geert Hofstede. Dr. Hofstede is a social psychologist who’s seminal work Cultures & Organizations, Software of the mind posits that cultures can be measured in six dimensions. About leadership, in a multicultural context, Hofstede writes,

Learning to become an effective leader is like learning to play music: Besides talent, it demands persistence and the opportunity to practice. Effective monocultural leaders have learned to play one instrument; they often have proven themselves by a strong drive and quick and firm opinions. Leading in a multicultural and diverse environment is like playing several instruments. It partly calls for different attitudes and skills, restraint in passing judgment and the ability to recognize that familiar tunes may have to be played differently. The very qualities that make someone an effective monocultural leader may make her or him less qualified for a multicultural environment.((Mary L. Connerley and Paul B. Pedersen, Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment: Developing Awareness, Knowledge and Skill (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005), ix, Google Books.))

If we desire to reach teenagers from different cultures with the gospel we should realize that we may have to do things a bit differently. According to Mark DeYmaz, approximately 93% of the churches in the United States are monoethnic.((Mark DeYmaz, Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church (San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, 2007), 4, Kindle.)) To make teens from other cultures (or subcultures) feel welcome in our churches we have to decide whether to lead the same way we have traditionally lead (play that same instrument) or if we will do things a little different (learn to play another instrument).

An acquaintance of mine, Mac, was the worship and youth pastor at a large, multicultural church in Texas. During their morning worship services, they had a combination of Latino and Anglos and Mac would use popular music from Hillsongs as well as gospel fusion styles from Israel Houghton. On Wednesday nights for youth service, the demographics changed and he had a significant number of African-American teenagers. Mac changed his “instrument” and would offer “spoken word” style worship and music from Lecrae.((Tony Gryskieiwcz, More Than Pizza: Youth Ministry Beyond Our Culture And Ethnicity. (Self-Pub., CreateSpace, 2018).)) Mac had learned that to effectively lead to reach teens across cultures he had to develop intercultural competence, that is the ability to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds.((Jane Jackson, Introducing Language And Intercultural Communication. (New York, NY: Routledge, 2014), 39.))

Are we trying to reach teenagers from different cultures and ethnicities only to expect them to “fit” into our concept of church and listen to us play the canjo or are we willing to “become all things to all men”? Are we willing to what we must to more effectively lead for change?

Sometimes, in youth ministry, we can take this a bit too far. I was recently at a youth leader training conference where one of the other speakers advocated that to reach teenagers one had to dress and talk like teenagers and to play secular music while they enter the service to “set the mood.”

A few things about that… I’m a 50+ year-old man. No one wants to see me in skinny jeans, much less skinny jeans with holes in the knees. If we try to be the bee’s knees and talk the jive that all the cool cats do, we will come across as fake. Teens are extremely adept at spotting fakes! Teenagers do not need us to look and sound cool or to be their best friends,  they need us to be their teachers and guides. Teens are looking for adults who can point them to Jesus.

How about you? Can you switch “instruments” as the need arises?  What can you do to develop intercultural competence so you can effectively reach teens from different cultures (or subcultures)? What functional structure changes can you institute to make your youth service more relevant and welcoming to all ethnos of teens?