The New Minority- Helping White Teenagers Adjust to Being Minorities in Youth Ministry Settings

As the United States continues to grow in diversity at some point in the next 20-30 years there will not be a single majority race. My hope is that the church grows in diversity even quicker than that. Because of these changes, the majority will now become a minority. This is commonplace in the ministry I work in. A bridge that needs to be built to the “new minority” helping everyone grow together. Here are my thoughts on helping white middle and high school students adjust to being a minority in youth ministry settings. 

Immediate Shepherding: I would focus on helping them engage and keep coming to them coming to your youth ministry. Do what you can to avoid the one and done. Most of the best solutions are longterm, but if they don’t stay around in the short-term the long-term doesn’t matter. 

Relationships are key: Involve them in a group of two or three really friendly students (with at least one of his own race and one of another race). I would make sure that their group is engaged in activities. Guys often connect best through action, a game or something interactive would be great. Girls seem to engage better in conversations about things they may have in common. 

Active engagement can lead to conversation and shared experience which can build toward a relationship, but that takes time. I would also point them toward the next retreat or longer activity. Often relationships are built more in one retreat than months of attending a weekly program. 

Encourage them to smile and be friendly as he would want people to be friendly to him. A friendly countenance goes along way in any setting where you are the new person. 

Ongoing conversations with and equipping of this white family.
For this, I love the model of teaching the parents to teach their kids through example and words. That way both generations learn and the parents are compelled to model how to live. In most cases, the parent still spends the most time of anyone with their child and has the most influence. 

You could instruct them to do the following: 

Explore their own culture: Ask them questions that help them consider their own culture. I think white people living as the majority culture never consider that they have a culture and so when they look at other cultures they consider the “other” as not “normal” instead of a valuable different culture. 

Some simple cultural questions could be: Tell me about your family? What do you like to do? What is your family's favorite food(s)? Where is your family from? 

Explore what they know about other cultures: Through this, they may find out that they don’t know that much about other cultures or that they know a lot about other cultures, but don’t really know people (deep/safe relationships) of other cultures.

Explore other cultures: 
Learn about other cultures and the beauty and value God sees in each person. 
Make an intentional decision to establish friendships with people from other cultures.
Go to locations where you will meet people of other cultures.
Reflect on your own biases that you may have and assumptions you make about other cultures. 
Ask questions about people’s culture. Hint: The deeper the relationship the deeper the questions that can be asked. 
Study other cultures by exploring documentaries, books, etc. Have conversations with those deeper friends that you are safe to ask questions of. 
Ask people to tell you the story of their life. 

Explore bridge-building: Build relationships across cultures. 
Observe the variety of communication styles and values; don't assume that the majority's way is the right way
Risk making mistakes or being misunderstood. 
Learn to be an ally- a safe person people can ask questions about your culture without being offended. 

 Some Structural Thoughts
A diverse adult and youth welcome team. An immediate introduction to friendly adults and students of both the same and different cultures would be very helpful. A next-level thought would be a “buddy” that could walk them through their first night at your youth ministry.  

Intentional diversity in small groups with leaders who are equipped to understand cultural divides. Students might be processing and need help to bridge divides that may emerge. 

Create intentional activities to have student engage with each other. Middle schoolers, especially middle school boys bond over activities. While older students and even more so older girls can bond over conversations. Having diverse groups do things together will help students engage and build relationships. 
Formal equipping for parents to disciple their kids and teach them how to build bridges across cultures. Bridgebuilding class for Parents?