wfn.org | Friday night cafes offer teens safe place from drinking

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Dec. 1, 1998	Contact: Linda Green(615)742-5470 Nashville, Tenn.
{706}  

NOTE: This story may be used as a sidebar to UMNS #705.

By Shanta M. Bryant*

Harstaad, NORWAY -- United Methodist churches in Norway and Sweden are
providing teens with a drug and alcohol free environment with creation
of Friday night cafes. 

These cafes are attempting to be positive forces that help keep youth
from succumbing to alcohol and drug abuse.

Svante Mjones, the pastor of a church in Lindome, Sweden, shared with
participants attending a youth conference on drugs and alcohol in Norway
on Nov. 21, that his church's late-night cafe called "The Net," has
become a safe haven that keeps teens away from drinking. 

The cafe allows teenagers to socialize and mingle without the pressure
of drinking alcohol in order to have a good time, Mjones said.  Open
every Friday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., the cafe averages an attendance of
150 young people. 

The Swedish church provides entertainment such as live Christian and
contemporary rock bands
and dance groups, and teens can play billiards, mini-golf and watch
television. Teens coming to
the cafe drink coffee, eat hotdogs and various desserts.

Adult chaperones are members of the church who work in teams to staff
the cafe and alternate
every fourth week of the month. 

Although the cafe is located in the church, church members make sure the
atmosphere is
comfortable and non-threatening for teens, particularly teenagers who
have never been in a
church. "I don't preach to them," said Mjones. "I participate by being
there."

Mjones said church leaders have teamed up with the local police and
residents in the community
to maintain a safe and secure environment.

Before teens can enter the church, they are required to submit to an
alcohol test. The tests show
whether the teens have been drinking.  If positive, they are not allowed
to enter the cafe. 

In Norway, the cafe at the local church in Larvik has been in operation
for only several weeks. 
Marik Synoue Pedersen Klinkestanv, an adult chaperone at the Norwegian
church, indicated that
the church also offers food and games to young people.  The cafe
currently serves youth from the church but Klinkestanv, hopes it will
expand to involve more youth from the community.  

#  #  #

* Bryant is the program director of Communications and associate editor
of Christian
Social Action magazine.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/