Skateboards meet spirituality

Skateboards meet spirituality. Peter McCracken, Rev. Christine Piper and Thor Stewart have joined together to start up a Tuesday-night youth ministry based on skateboarding. Melissa Di Costanzo

Where signs warding off skateboarders once hung, a new movement to blend skating culture with Christianity is taking root.

Tonight, Christian rock music will blare from the speakers as kids take advantage of the only place in town they can skateboard indoors. When their boards hit the ramps, they will be taking part in a new iteration of a global Christian movement called Fresh Expressions that is making the teachings of the Anglican church accessible to people who haven’t felt a connection to the traditional church.

This new skateboard ministry, which will happen every Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., is a collaboration between a local teen who was looking for a space to skate in the winter, and a church that has switched from opposing skateboarders to welcoming them.

Last spring, skateboarders broke into the church’s hall and damaged folding tables they used as makeshift ramps.

“There was a misunderstanding,” said Rev. Christine Piper. “The youth understood they were free to come in and use the church, and that wasn’t the case. There was a little bit of distress over that.”

When the skateboarding continued, the church put up signs telling skateboarders they weren’t welcome at St. James.

Then, Piper attended a workshop, where she learned about ideas for reaching people who don’t come to church. A video about Fresh Expressions, including a clip of a youth skateboarding group, caught Piper’s eye.

“They were working together to create an expression of religion with their skateboards,” she said. “It was very, very interesting.”

Soon after, a member of the church congregation, Peter McCracken, approached Piper with the idea of offering kids a space to skateboard at the church.

“I saw those signs, and I thought, that’s exactly what we don’t need to be doing,” McCracken said. “We need to be welcoming these kids in.”

With the congregation aging, McCracken said he saw skateboarding as a way to show youth there is room for them in the church.

He enlisted the help of Thor Stewart, a Perth and District Collegiate Institute student and avid skateboarder who runs a skate shop, Fisheye, at his parents’ store, the Running Goat. Before the idea could take off, the pair needed the approval of the parish council.

“I was expecting some resistance from the parish council,” McCracken said. “When they saw it in the light of an opportunity rather than a more negative light, they saw that there was a potential to welcome kids into the church.”

“They were all very open and interested,” Piper said. “We could see clearly that youth were seeing our church as a place to come skateboard, and we didn’t have a problem with that. We said ‘Let’s learn from this. Let’s turn this into a learning opportunity for them (youth) and the church.’”

After all, Piper said, Christianity is all about reconciliation and moving forward.

While Piper sees the skateboard ministry as an opportunity to reach youth who may not otherwise set foot in a church, she said youth shouldn’t expect “heavy duty stuff” if they come out to the Tuesday-night sessions.

“We’re trying to meet them where they’re at,” she said, noting that Christian music and videos will be playing, literature will be available and she will be there supervising, but it is up to the youth themselves to show an interest in the religious aspect if they choose.

Beyond the Christian-based message, the skateboard ministry will be a boon for kids looking to extend their skating season after the ramps at Conlon Farm have come down for the season.

“In past years you just put the skateboard away for the winter,” Stewart said. “If we get a lot of kids skating all winter, that’s fun. And we can have ministry outreach, fellowship and mentoring each other.”

Stewart and McCracken constructed a couple of ramps and are seeking donations of wood in order to build more.

Youth who wish to participate must have consent forms signed by their parents. Forms will be available at the Good Shepherd Hall at the Anglican church (Drummond and Harvey streets) or they can be picked up any time at the Running Goat (74 Foster St.). Youth must bring their own skateboards and helmets. The skateboard ministry will run every Tuesday until Dec. 15, and “phase two” in the new year will be based on feedback received over the next two months.