Had to say, my daughter and her friend had a HORRIBLE experience at a youth fellowship last night, and for a first time experience of this "Church" I have a bad feeling about this place.
There was a youth event that seemed to have community outreach bringing in kids around the area for a volleyball, basketball, and other competitions. Sounded like a great event on paper and when dropping off my teen and her friends, we were properly greeted by a couple of Youth group leaders so off to a great start.
What is severely disappointing is getting a call from my daughter that she wanted to get pick up because it was not going good. Here's the issue:
I would think that in a church, especially in sanctuary, it would be a safe place for a teen to sit in peace. That was not the case as there were some kids doing actions similar to cyberbullying: taking pictures of them and laughing. THIS WAS IN the chapel/sanctuary during service (post-worship). This made my daughter's friend highly uncomfortable. Her parent was called to pick her up as well and when I arrived I had to make sure someone knew about this experience.
First off, I was shocked that I had a call from my child being uncomfortable at church and experiencing what they did. I engaged a youth leader by the name of Joel who expressed a canned apology and deflected immediately to that it was most likely a casual person doing those actions, which is fair to assume. I would have to agree because there are two types of people there: Action Church members and non-members, so logically it would seem a 50/50 chance that it was a non-member. I explained the situation and told him this was unacceptable, disappointing, and to escalate this to his leadership, as well as have his radar on making sure the fellowship going on was valid. Thank you for listening to my concerns and your empathy Joel.
My overall thoughts to you Action Church, was that you were understaffed for this event and lost control. I heard a quick summary of the content of your messaging during service and maybe next time don't drill down that SINs are temptations from the devil (while it's happening during your service); but why you are all brought together today, in fellowship and what would be acceptable and not acceptable behavior. Lead by example, talk about fellowship in Christ should be inclusive, welcoming to all, leading with love, and to hurt other people in that body would be the SIN. Truly disappointing overall.
This will not be a Church that I look to for my family. Next time you do an event like this, staff up.
Overall...Do better. What these children of mine experienced last night should have never happened in a Church environment. Your Church should be a safe place for all. read more