Moving Beyond Stereotypes

It is easy to live by stereotypes. If you wear those clothes, live in that neighborhood, have those friends, or talk with a certain accent, then I have a label for you and it helps me to manage the flood of people and information in my life.

But the problem with stereotypes is that it makes ministry much harder.

Why you ask?

Simple . . . if I work by labeling people, then when I see you I don’t see your specific personality, situation and abilities. I see the label. Every can of soup is different, but when we are at the store the label is all we see.

This is hampers ministry and evangelism in particular. We cease to see those who God brings into our lives as people who are on a unique journey through life. And when we fail to see them this way, we miss the intersections that allow us to be Jesus to them in an authentic way.

The interesting thing is that labels can be helpful as long as we don’t rely on them as complete sets of information. They provide a framework for us to dive in and share our faith intentionally. That is why I love Krish Kandiah’s article “Missing Generation – reaching 20’s and 30’s.”

In this article Krish gives us a framework for the dynamics and realities of 20’s and 30’s today, but he does so with specific examples. His approach pulls you in and challenges you to think about the 20’s and 30’s in your life and how you might use what you have learned to reach them.

Participate: As you read Krish’s article, identify one person in this age group and pray about what God might have you do to reach out to them with the Gospel.

Engage: Ask God to show you where you are settling for stereotypes instead of investing in people and then search Scripture for insight into how you can move beyond these labels in your ministry.

Own: Take one of the stereotypes that you identified in the engagement step and as you struggle to move beyond that label share your journey with your peers.