Soooo, one of the constant questions that I get from pastors is, “how do you connect with young people these days?” It is often a dilemma that plagues those ministers (generally older) who have to “break the ice” and begin a process of engagement. Ministers have asked me about how I would dress when I hit the streets, what kind of language do you use, etc, etc; all designed to achieve a comfortable environment when speaking to youth at the street-level.
My answer is always the same: be yourself. Don’t go out and buy trendy clothes of the day, don’t go and purchase CDs of rap artists (unless you like their music) in order to “understand the language”, and for God’s sake don’t physically walk in a way different from your normal gait. What young people (in general) detest is “fakeness”, or hypocrisy or duplicity. If you are going to do this work, be real with young people. Sometimes I wore a collar, sometimes I didn’t – it depended on what I was doing that day. And I speak in my own voice, being comfortable in my own skin.
So if you’re going to engage, engage as you. Genuineness responds to genuineness. And that’s real talk…