When First Presbyterian
Church, Fayetteville, began a basketball program as a community
outreach in 2005, the desire was to provide a safe environment
in which neighborhood youth could have fun and experience and
practice healthful relationships.
Within a few months, attendance grew from ten per day to as
many as thirty. The core group of twenty youth grew to seventy
in the first eighteen months of the program. The age of participants
ranges from 12 to 28. Some walk long distances in all kinds
of weather to get to the church. Church members have become
involved by preparing snacks, and some have even prepared meals
for as many as thirty teenagers during school holidays.
The gym is open two hours a day, three afternoons a week.
Unlocked doors, lights, and word of mouth have been the only
advertising. Though there is adult supervision, the teenagers
are required to govern themselves. They pick their own teams
each day and call their own fouls and rule infractions. Pastor
Todd Jenkins says, “This isn’t an ordinary basketball
league. It is a place where teenagers can play and safely express
themselves. It is also a place where participants learn how
to function as a community, how to compete with integrity. Players
are required to respect themselves, one another, the game of
basketball, and the property. We hope this will give them social
tools to use in all their interpersonal relationships.”
Church members hope to create opportunities to become more involved
in the lives of these young people.
The Presbytery of Middle Tennessee has 93 churches and 19,389
members. NaCoMe Conference Center, Monroe Harding Children’s
Home, Nations Ministry Center, and Martha O’Bryan Center
are within its bounds. |
