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October 11, 2002

Edition

Church News

Skate park helps Jacksonville church re-vision

Photo by Brian Baggs

The calm during Bible study at Fort Caroline United Methodist Church's skate ministry contrasts with the high emotion that marked debate over the ministry's formation. The Rev. Curran Spottswood said the church has benefited from both the ministry and debate-young people have come to Christ and the church has a new vision.
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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