Friday’s Youth Club tonight was full to the brim: 59 young people. Loads more new registrations and still they just keep on coming!
The problem is, I am not really sure what it is that we are doing; whether we are doing it right or not, and I am certainly not sure what the secret is. We just put on this club, let them hang out for 2 hours with each other: a tuck shop selling at below shop prices, table tennis, bean bags, sofas and internet, we spend 15 minutes telling them a story usually in the first person from Scripture, during which I never mention Jesus directly by name – always “the Man”, “the Bloke”, “Him”, because I know that if you say its a story about Jesus these streetwise 12-year olds just switch off.
Tonight I spoke about the woman taken in adultery, and linked it to Matthew 7:1 – Judge Not, or you too will be judged. We all like a good stoning, a bit of public humiliation and sanctioned violence. We all like to judge others and turn visciously on the vulnerable. I wanted to know what happened to the man caught with her (avoiding specifically mentioning Adultery – cheating, “doing the dirty” was close enough) probably got off scot-free. “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first rock” – be careful with young people to avoid the word “stoned”.
Too many young people to play the game I was going to spring on them, so it was just the talk. Maybe if numbers drop a little we can get this stuff going. A little upset by the damage to one of our new beanbags – it needs restitching.
But it comes back to this simple issue – what is it that makes Friday’s such a popular club? I simply don’t know. I simply don’t care, I am just happy to do God’s work and to build his kingdom in this community.