Information Related to "Questions and Answers - Jul/Sep 2003"
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Question: Why is it so hard to get accepted into a group of my own peers even at church activities? At every activity I have attended for youth for the past year I have felt like an outsider. I hear that we should not have "cliques," but I notice that church teens and the school teens are not much different in that aspect.
Answer: Feeling like you do not belong or are left out of events and activities is truly a frustrating feeling. While some people are content to have very few friends and spend much of their time alone, most of us desire friends and want to be included in what's happening. We like to be included in the conversation and the "action" of whatever is occurring. At our United Youth Camps we make a point of including everyone in dorm life and activities. Our counselors do a wonderful job of getting each dorm to "blend" as a unit and live that week of camp as a true team and "family away from home." If you have not attended one of our camps, we heartily recommend you do so.
This one-week experience at camp has helped many young people make wonderful friendships with peers as well as adults in the Church that last a lifetime. The Bible has a lot to say about the benefit of friendships such as, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24) and that friends can help us up when we're down and vice versa (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
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