Gambling with the kids

Russell came home from youth on Wednesday night really excited. He had organised a night where the kids could come up with an outreach night to their friends, and they have to organise it all themselves (delegation…right on!).

They had a brainstorming session where they all came up with different ideas of what they could do. After throwing a heap up on the board they decided to go with a casino night.

Russell was encouraged as it seemed like the first time the kids were really excited about something. They were all looking forward to it and planning how things would be done, and it was a vibe that we have rarely seen at youth.

They decided each kid would pay a $2 entry which would give them a certain amount of chips that they could use for the duration of the night. The money would go towards the Youth’s sponsor child, Nancy, and you could only buy one round of tips…once their gone, that’s it.

Russell came home all excited and enthused…until he spoke to me. My instant reaction was to irk up and say a straight out ‘no’. ‘You’re the leader, you need to set guidelines and not let the kids do just whatever they feel like’.

We then had a long conversation about the ‘pro’s and con’s’ of the night. In the end, my view was coming from the fact that the culture associated with the word ‘casino’ is a bad culture/environment and that I didn’t think it is something that the youth want to stand for. And, Russell doesn’t want to just conform because people may get offended.

We then had an hour long discussion at small group last night (This is after our 2hr discussion on Gods Perfection – see below – it was a pretty full on night).

If we give the kids macaroni pasta and not chips, would this validate it? If we only played poker, would that be ok? If we didn’t use the word ‘casino’ would that change the whole perception for people?

I thought last night about the fact that, we as a small group could talk about it and nut-it-out for the next 5 hrs and in the end decide that there is nothing wrong with it, but we don’t have that chance or time to explain our reasoning to parents and their kids. The parents have a 10min space of, ‘Mum, I’m going to a casino night at youth, can I have some money…” and their first thought will be the generalisation of what society associates with casinos. We can’t talk and nut-out with the parents our reasoning like we can in small group. The parents get a small 10min window – and I’m afraid that the instant thought they will have is ‘no’ or ‘this isn’t good’.

For the 2nd time in the night, (at small group) we were discussing our thoughts and opinions. How we could word the night…would that make any difference? Could we change the games or instead of having chips have macaroni noodles? Would that make any difference? Considering this is an outreach night for the kids to bring their friends to, is it ok then?

Russell was starting to feel down about it all. The kids had come up with this night on their own and they were all excited about planning and organising it. Now, he is looking like, he is going to have to go back to them and say, ‘no-can-do’ and crush their spirits. Hopefully, no spirits will be crushed, but we are still a little at a loss as to what to do.

Is having a casino night at youth an absolute no-go? What would be a better alternative? Or is there simply none?

We have discussed the ideas of having a talk at the end of the night about the trappings of gambling and about spending our money wisely. We have discussed having different games, not using the word casino, and of canning the night completely.

This is another one of those issues I am interested to hear peoples thoughts on. I already know what I would say/do, but I want to hear other people’s thoughts. Maybe someone out there has had a similar experience in their ministry. Maybe someone has a brilliant solution!! Give them to me! I want to hear them!