I took the senior youth group ice skating last night. There were eight of us which was small in comparison to events in the past but it was a great night to build relationship with the youth in my congregation. Taking on this new job and returning to weekly leadership at youth group, has been a good reminder that it takes a lot of time, trust and honesty to build a healthy youth community. This particular group has had quite the year full of many transitions (leaders coming and leaving) along with some internal drama and conflict.
Who knew that ice skating would turn into a teaching moment.
To make a long story short we ran into a bit of challenging time with a group of teens who showed up at the ice rink, drunk. They were so drunk that they could barely skate straight nearly banging and crashing into people as they made there way around the ice. One of them threw up all over the ice. The language they were using was very foul and there were no adults around. Only three young staff. When we arrived I found out that it was a teen-only skate but I managed to convince the cashier that I needed to skate with my group. This drunk group of teens became quite the problem and we ended up leaving early and sneaking out a back door in order to stay safe.
It made me sad that young teenagers were that drunk. What is going (or not going) on in their lives to lead them to this point? Are they just bored? Is there home life so tough that they turn to alcohol? Is it just a stage?
The evening ended up providing us with an opportunity to discuss alcohol, bullying, youth violence and drugs. The evening took our group to a new level.
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