By
Michael Wacht
ARLINGTON — When 14-year-old Brent Foucht, a
member of Fort Caroline United Methodist Church here, saw a skate park
at another area church, he brought the idea back to his own church.
That sparked discussion among the church’s leadership and resulted
in a renewed vision of what the church ought to be.
“It was good for us as a church to wrestle
through this issue,” the Rev. Curran Spottswood, the church’s
pastor, said. “We need to be reminded every once in a while that the
church is not here to serve us, but we’re here to serve the world…to
make disciples and to send them out into the world.”
When Foucht first proposed the idea that Fort
Caroline have a skate park, he found an ally and champion in a very
unexpected place. Ann McCrocklin, a retirement-age member of the
church, took up Foucht’s cause and started meeting with members of
the board of trustees and finance committee, urging them to support
this ministry.
“She [McCrocklin] is the last person in the
world you would think would want to bring skaters into the church,”
Spottswood said. “She wouldn’t give up. She stuck with it until,
if you want to know the truth, they caved in.”
Fort Caroline has a membership of more than 500
people, and a majority of them are retirement age, Spottswood said.
The main argument was over the risk involved in
doing this type of ministry. Spottswood said those opposed to it said
it was too great a liability for the church. Someone could get hurt
and sue the church.
Proponents of the skate park ministry met the
resistance “head-on,” according to Spottswood. They presented
letters from the Florida Conference Risk Management office that
assured the church the conference insurance was “more than adequate”
to cover a skate park.
“The real objection was ‘We don’t want
that sort of thing here. That’s not who we are,’ ” Spottswood
said.
Two board members formally resigned over the
issue and continued to criticize the new ministry, but chose to remain
members of the church, according to Spottswood.
The skate park is now operating at the church
and attracting as many as 40 kids each week. Church members volunteer
to cook hot dogs and prepare as much as 30 gallons of Kool Aid. Others
have trimmed trees and repaired outdoor lights.
The kids participate in a weekly Bible study
toward the end of the skating session. “They sit there quietly and
pay attention,” Spottswood said. “They don’t act the way people
expected them to. They act that way when they get treated like
undesirables.”
Spottswood said skaters act rebellious because
they are made to feel unwelcome at many area businesses and churches.
“They put up signs, ‘No skating.’ Don’t you dare skate here,
we don’t want you,” he said.
Because members of Fort Caroline treat them with
love and respect, the kids respond positively, Spottswood said. “One
young man made a decision for Christ, so we’re very excited about
it.”
The positive response of the kids has affected
the adults. “We are now seeing the beginnings of reconciliation,”
he said. “One person who was against it has seen the light. He’s
seen people come to Christ and realized that’s why we’re here.”
In the three months since the skate park opened,
members have noticed it attracts primarily young men between the ages
of 10 and 18, so they are planning a miniature golf course for the
area around the skate park to provide activities for girls and boys.
“I wish every six months we could have a new
program that would stir the pot and get us talking,” Spottswood
said. “It’s good for us as a church to have this dialogue about
what’s our purpose and why are we here.”
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