Bridging the Gulf: Understanding and Ministering to Hip-Hop Youth

Bridging the Gulf is a book designed for those concerned about urban youth issues. Youth issues now involve unprecedented trends like an increased dropout rate, incarceration rate, and homicide rate. Various fields like education and juvenile justice have had to adapt to these alarming trends. Could the influence of hip-hop culture be blamed? Or is there a fundamental flaw in society causing youth to suffer?

The popularity of hip-hop music has infiltrated all aspects of youth life. Hip-hop culture has changed standards regarding what is appropriate dress and disposition used when attending school, church or interviewing for a job. However, Reverend C. Nickerson Bolden believes that the State of Hip-Hop youths will worsen if society does not begin to address some of these resulting behaviors and unprecedented trends.

Some have called him the Bishop of the Youth due to success in the field of youth ministry. Bolden’s mission is to bridge the cultural gulf. One way in which this gulf can be seen is by mixing youth from the Hip-Hop culture with traditions established by a church-going generation. When the family disintegrates and the male head of household becomes non-existent, another gulf has been established: one of dysfunctional and functional. Bolden’s call is to speak out against these injustices facing urban youths. Most of these youths are powerless to change without society’s attempt to minister and understand.