The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson
Week 3: Chapter 3 — The Gangs
Read Chapter 3 of The Cross and the Switchblade.
Previewing Week 3 of The Cross and the Switchblade
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 13-week guide when you’re ready.
Before Wilkerson can reach the gang members of New York City, he has to understand them — and what he discovers is not the monsters the newspapers described, but lost and desperate young people shaped by forces far beyond their control.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Wilkerson begins to learn the inner world of the gangs — their structure, their codes, their names (like the Mau Maus, the GGIs, the Dragons), and the neighborhoods they control. Why is this kind of 'learning the culture' important for anyone who wants to share the gospel with a group of people different from themselves?
2.The gang members Wilkerson meets are typically teenagers who have grown up in conditions of extreme poverty, broken families, and racial discrimination. How does understanding the social context of someone's sin and brokenness change the way we approach them — without excusing the harmful things they do?
3.Gang membership offered these young people something they desperately needed: belonging, identity, protection, and purpose. In what ways does the church — at its best — offer the same things? Where does the church sometimes fail to provide what people are actually looking for?