When we speak of evangelism in a cross-cultural setting, we often are referring to people of a different nationality or major cultural or religious subgroup. Rarely do we think of a group of people that generate from the same ethnic back ground and social class as our own.

But in today’s world, the modern teenager, especially those raised in homes that are not specifically Christian, can definitely be referred to as a cross-cultural outreach. Just go anywhere you can find unchurched teenagers hanging out, and the parade of tattooed, body pierced, split tongued, shaved, and partially shaved heads will knock your socks off.

It can be intimidating and frightening to be surrounded by people who are making choices to follow practices that are basically pagan in nature against their own bodies, and making those choices at younger and younger ages.

As Christians, especially if we have teenagers of our own, we tend to employ the “circle the wagons” technique to do everything we can to keep this cultural influence out of our homes and away from our own sons and daughters.

We are tempted to refuse to allow our teenagers to go anywhere except church. We carefully monitor their friends to make sure they are “the right kind of people.” We lock the doors and close the windows down tight if any “savages” are spotted in the area.

However, if you have ever watched any old Western movies, you will notice that this technique never works. The “heathens” always break through, and someone, or many someone’s, always get killed.

There might, however be an alternative. If you have teenagers, encourage them to bring friends of all “kinds” home with them. It is probably not wise to let your young people go to their homes, because you do not know what kind of influence or supervision they will be receiving, but if we make our homes places of love and acceptance, the young people will be glad to pile in.

It is amazing in this supposedly Christian nation how many young ones in their late teens have been pretty much cast adrift by their parents. In a society where often both parents have to work to make ends meet, the young people are often raised by strangers in child care, and then television and video games at home.

By the time they are in their late teens, the culture and mores of young people are so vastly different from their parents that the parents are overwhelmed and disengaged from their own sons and daughters. Yet these same sons and daughters who cannot seem to communicate at all with their parents are looking for guidance, love, and acceptance.

They may look strange with tattoos and piercings, they may sound strange with a stud through the center of their tongues, and they may smell strange as they navigate from couch to couch without opportunity for shower or change of clothing.

In the name of Jesus, love them anyway. Some may steal from you, and you may have to close the door on some relationships for they need to learn that actions have consequences. Can you let possessions go for the love of God and let these lost young ones into your home anyway?

Whether you have teens at home or not, there is also another thing you can do. When you are out and about, shopping or whatever, when you see a group of teenagers standing around together, walk up to them, smile, and say, “Hi, how are you doing?” They might look at you like you are an alien being from a planet far, far away.

They also might look surprised for a moment, and then faces light up with a smile as they answer your question. Keep it short, keep it simple, but the next time you see them make it a little longer. Make it a little more personal. If they appear to be a threatening herd (or horde) it is only because they have no or few adults paying attention to them. They band together out of their fear and need for intimacy.

Give them someone better to come to know, none other than the living Lord, Himself. You may be surprised how often you become someone’s surrogate “Mom” or “Dad” and how much influence you can have on a young life.

After you have established relationship with a young person, and have lived out your faith in word and action in front of them, you will have opportunity to invite them to church or invite them to accept Jesus as their Savior.

They are not ready for any kind of organized religion until you give them a glimpse of relationship and the relevance of God in your own life. The main thing when thinking of reaching older teenagers is to remember that they are hungry for love, and one hug at the right time will open the door for hearing a sermon later, not the other way around.

These are just a couple of the things we have done as a family. I’m sure there are many more. The main thing is to realize that young people, who seem to have so little in common with us old fogeys, have the same need for love and for God that we do. They cannot trust us, and our words, until we first show them that we love them in spite of our different appearances.