This week I am traveling in Sweden. I have a friend who leads a youth ministry in Malmo, near Copenhagen. Yesterday, while walking around town, I wanted to ask him if he wanted to get something to eat and decided to try it in Swedish. Instead of using the word “something,” I asked if he wanted chocolate to eat. He gave me an odd look and said, You want to get some chocolate? (Fortunately, he speaks fluent English.) While I have made worse errors in my life, it reminded me of the challenge of cross-cultural communication.

In most cases, the teenagers you minister to don’t speak another language. (I guess it may seem like they do, at times.) But there are cultural differences that influence your teenager and may make communication difficult at times. Sometimes what teenagers hear is not what we are trying to say. Understanding the words is not usually the problem. Understanding the context sometimes is.

Youth ministry means hearing teenagers, even when they are saying things that are hard to hear. Their language may define “love” through a provocative MTV filter. It may include a definition of “family” may be something caustic and angry. For some, the word “Jesus” may be equated with rules or may have little meaning at all.

So, how do we communicate cross-culturally with teenagers? We listen well. We teach with more than words. We depend on God’s Spirit to translate His Word into their hearts.