Participant Observation: Youth Group

The Youth Group

Of Grace Union Church

Starr Heger

The youth group of Grace Union Church meets every Sunday morning for service and every Friday night for Youth Hangout. The group, led by Bob, a married man in his early thirties, consists of kids in seventh through twelfth grade. The youth center has two large rooms: a game room and sanctuary. These rooms are used solely for youth group. The game room is a large L-shaped room containing video arcade games, a Wii, Xbox, ping pong, pool, carpet ball, air hockey, seating and a café area. The adjacent sanctuary is a large square with portable chairs, a stage for the band, and an area behind the seating for the media equipment.

I’ve attended several Hangout nights and noticed the boys outnumber the girls substantially. There may be two to four girls and twelve to twenty boys. The girls are sixteen and older and spend their time talking quietly. The boys are usually pre-driving age with a few exceptions. Among the boys, there is a lot of competition over jumps and tricks. They yell encouragement to one another and compare “war wounds.” It’s cool to have the bloodiest cut or the biggest bruise. The kids seem to have a lot of fun, returning every week and bringing their friends.

The chocolate milk game wasn’t as gross, but was very messy. Four teams of two players line up on opposite sides of a table. One team member pours chocolate syrup and milk into their partner’s mouth. The partner has to mix the ingredients in his mouth and spit it into a cup without using his hands. This is repeated until the cup is full, then the pouring partner has to hold the cup up to his partner’s mouth to drink. The first team to finish wins. The kids that competed in this game were a sticky mess when finished.

For the condiment game, the players just had to drink a whole bottle of whichever condiment Bob gave them: ketchup, mustard, relish or mayo. The first to finish wins.

I noticed that the same boys compete every week....