Heaven is a halfpipe

Scouring the BBC News front page today, the word 'Jesus' surprisingly jumped at me. Don't usually see that, I thought! A few clicks later and I was watching a great video about a 'ramp camp' in the USA, which is spreading the gospel through skate-boarding. It opens with a sticker which said, "Jesus walked on water. What's your best trick?" Genius!

I must admit I usually watch Christian stuff from the other side of the Atlantic with a little scepticism and embarrassment but this initiative is really inspiring - this group is meeting the children where they are at (on the ramps!) and making the Christian faith interesting and relevant for kids who wouldn't usually step inside a church. There are some great testimonies from the kids in the video.

I reckon UK churches might learn something from this sort of scheme - and some probably try and do things . Take a look around your community - especially during this school holiday time - and you'll either see bored kids just hanging around or groups doing things like skateboarding, bike-riding or listening to their ipods together.

Christians shouldn’t be looking to get teenagers into a church building; they should go to where the youth are, and set up sports or music clubs aimed at forming relationships, having fun - with a Christian message woven through it. Going to the people, being relevant, honest and loving: Jesus was pretty good at that!

(Photo credit: SkyB)