Church gives local teens place to go after school
by Henrieta Paukov – May 2012 – The Anglican
WHEN David Edney tells the young people who gather in the basement of St. Paul, Lindsay, to “Write your own history,” he is not asking them to sit down with pen and paper. He is telling them that they have the ability to break the negative cycles in their lives.
“A lot of these kids come from homes where Dad’s a drunk or a drug user, or mom’s a user, and the cousin’s doing this and that,” says Mr. Edney, who is the youth pastor at the church. “And they are in this cycle: Dad uses because his Dad used and now there is an expectation in this young man’s or woman’s life that they are going to use because that is just how it is. And we tell them: ‘Hey, you don’t have to be in this cycle; you can break this cycle.’”
Mr. Edney and a group of volunteers at St. Paul’s are committed to equipping the kids with the necessary tools, including “God and his word.” They have transformed the basement into a youth centre that welcomes 30 to 40 kids, aged 10 to 18, on Tuesday nights. Programming starts right after school and runs until about 9 p.m. Kids can play games or do their homework; there’s a youth service, as well as free dinner.
“We have a couple—Paul and Phyllis Carpenter—who run our kitchen,” says Mr. Edney. “They have become surrogate grandparents to these kids. They give them amazing meals that a lot of us were raised on and that a lot of these kids don’t have the opportunity to have, like a home-cooked roast beef meal.”
Youth pastor David Edney, seated left, and young people relax in the basement of St. Paul, Lindsay. On Tuesday evenings, the teens play games or do homework, listen to a youth sermon and enjoy a hot meal. PHOTO BY MICHAEL HUDSON
Thursday nights, young people gather for worship practice and Sunday mornings for a youth service. “Our Sunday worship is off to a great start and just growing deeper in God’s word,” says Mr. Edney. “We don’t tell cute Bible stories; we discuss the reality of life and the reality of Jesus, and how he changes your life and who you are.”
News about the program, which is officially called Bottom Line, has spread simply by word of mouth. “And I think just being in the community,” adds Mr. Edney. “We play ball hockey in our parking lot every Friday and people can see that kids hang out there and they wonder what’s going on.” Most importantly, he believes that the youth centre fulfils a deep need for the kids. “Jesus is showing up and changing their lives and they want more of it and their friends want it,” he says.
Young people from the community help themselves to dinner at St. Paul, Lindsay. PHOTO BY MICHAEL HUDSON
Mr. Edney and the other youth workers have more plans for the program. Starting in July, St. Paul’s youth centre will be open as a drop-in centre on Friday afternoons and evenings. “Kids can come and play the Xbox and just chill,” he says. “It’s a safe place where they can hang out.”
They are also thinking about developing a cooking program and planting a community garden near the church.
Mr. Edney says that through gardening, the kids will learn about responsibility, work ethic, and care, “because when we tell them that we can break cycles, they say that’s good, but show me.”
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