Ministering to The Hipster/Hip Hop Generation

[Mark H. Stevens, Th.D]

We focus on the wrong thing sometimes. I know Christians with dreadlocks, long hair, and nose rings. And none of them belong to traditional churches! Why? Because they are not accepted! If Jesus accepted them, who are you to say, “You cannot be a Christian with a dread-locks!” I have a friend that used to be a Hell’s Angel biker, he is now a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He ministers primarily to other bikers. He still has long hair, tattooed arms, and yes he still rides a bike! The difference is that he has a new heart and renewed mind! God delivered him from drugs, sex, and alcohol! He doesn’t curse anymore! He reads the Word daily! And he prays more than many of my black suited fellow preachers. Unfortunately he would not accepted in many traditional churches. Jesus chose fisherman, zealots, prostitutes, lepers and tax collectors as disciples! These were not the cream of Israel’s spiritual crop! God doesn’t judge the outward appearance…He judges the heart.

There was a Judge in the Old Testament named Jephtah. He was the eighth judge of Israel (Judg 10:6-12:7;

1 Sam 12:11; Heb 11:32). Jephthah was The son of a harlot, his brothers drove him from the paternal home. He made a name for himself by his prowess and gathered about him a band of men without employment, like David's men (1 Sam 22:2). He was a God-fearing man, with a high sense of justice and of the sacredness of vows made to God. At the time of his expulsion by his brothers, Israel had been for many years under bondage to the Ammonites. We have a generation of Jephtah’s today! Young people look different, yes they do! But they also have a hunger for God without all of the religious trappings our generation put up with. Most young people today WANT to do ministry. They want to visit the sick and feed the hungry…But they don’t want to be in church 7 days a week doing nothing.

Today’s generation is fast paced and hungry for truth. I teach Theology, Apologetics, and Evangelism in a local Bible Institute. The Hip Hop, Hipster, Post Gen X students are eager to hit the street and practice what they learn, while the older students just want to get through another semester and get their Certificate of completion. I took 13 students out on the street instead of having a regular evangelism class. The young Hip-Hop saints were like sharks in water. I purposely took them in an area were Muslims congregate! All of the Apologetics training was being put to the test. The point I am making is this, the young saints are more comfortable around sinners because the older ones have been in seclusion. The younger saints wear the baggy jeans and football jerseys yet love Jesus as much as the older ones. The young Hip-Hoppers are needed in our churches! They like Jephtah know how to fight, but we reject them just as he was rejected.

I was one of the rejected ones in my family too. Like Jephtah I was born out of wedlock. Jepthah could do something his snooty family could not do...that is fight the enemy without fear. Our youth today are fearless too, they just need to be saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.
(I Samuel 16:7)

M. Hamilton Stevens, Th.D.