No, it’s not ok to use a dead animal for your games.

Yep, you read that right, and no, I can’t believe I had to say it either. However, early last week a post surfaced on a very popular youth ministry Facebook group called ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Octopus’.

Accompanying the post was a picture of a teenage boy holding up a large – and clearly dead – octopus.

Part of me wanted to laugh, but it was a very small part of me. It’s like a joke that sounds funny when you first hear it, but then you start to really think about it and realise that it is not funny at all.

At the time of writing, the post has received over 250 likes, and around 120 comments – including from group moderators – who were on the whole very positive. One user said they played ‘squidbee’ – ultimate frisbee with a dead squid. Another said they played games with a severed cow tongue, and then – unbelievably – one other said they play sports with ‘a dead baby shark.’

Over 250 likes! Someone tell me I’m not crazy?!?

I think this is absolutely not ok. I’m a youth worker in the UK, and I’m pretty sure that this kind of use of a dead animal would be boarder-line illegal here. If I played a game like this with young people, it would be newsworthy, and probably cost the reputation of my youth work charity, and likely my job.

There are several red flags for me:

Some young people would be traumatised by the reducing of an intelligent animal for entertainment. Would we do this, for instance, with a dead cat? Why not? What’s the difference? Octopuses are immensely intelligent, emotive, and personable creatures after all.

Veganism and vegetarianism are growing at a huge rate among teenagers too – with over 25% of 18-year-olds recently reporting they won’t touch meat. So, there’s a quarter of young people that we’ve just written off for a cheap laugh.

Then there are very real health concerns with bacteria and sanitation, which – considering the fears around the pandemic – is a responsible thing to think about right now.

But above all my issue is about stewardship, as such use of animals comes with the implicit suggestion that God’s creatures are in place purely for our entertainment and domination. This sort of ‘game’ actually sends a powerful theological message to young people about a whole range of care for creation and dignity issues.

There were, in the original post’s thread, some dissenting voices asking for the reasoning behind these games. They were rebuffed pretty hard for a range of odd reasons like ‘it’s not cruelty if the animal is already dead.’ The “biblical defences”, however, were clutching at straws at best. One person said this:

“One scriptural support for this approach is the methodology Jesus used to connect with His audience: he spoke of fishing to fishermen, farming to farmers, and money to those interested in taxes. He made an effort to relate to them.

Paul said, “I become all things to all men that I might by all means save some”.

It just so happens that our target audience is teens or young adults. This means relating to them through fun, social activities.”

Moving past the bonkers assumption that ‘dead octopuses’ are to ‘teenagers’ as ‘farming’ is to ‘farmers’ this is absolutely not what Paul meant in 1 Cor. 9. In the very next chapter Paul unpacked exactly what this looks like, and it was largely about being full of grace, patience and communicating clearly. It’s not about indiscriminately immersing yourself in another’s culture or becoming just like a teenager to reach teenagers – and it’s certainly not suggesting you shouldn’t have boundaries when doing so. I mean, think about it, does this mean you should become a murderer to reach murderers? So where does using dead animals for entertainment come in?

Yes, I’m all about using fun, social activities, but there’s nothing in the Bible that would make me think I need to be unscrupulous in those activities. There’s plenty of fun, creative options without pulling out a dead animal.

I’m very concerned about the original post – and the amount of support it received. I think this demonstrates a cruel, abusive, and misguided approach to youth ministry as ‘entertainment at all costs’. It might make some fun memories for the kids that come, but because there’s no end to youth work creativity, doing something that is so over the line is totally unnecessary.

This, to me, represents a mob-mentality of youth ministry. You might pull a hundred kids into a room with edgy, borderline-sociopathic, games like this. However, I’ve worked with young people for a long time, and I’m guessing for every young person that gets a kick out of this, they’ll be half-a-dozen who are disgusted, hurt, or just confused – and they won’t come back. At that point, the numbers just don’t matter, because you’re actively pushing more away than pulling in, and are excluding a huge variety of young people in doing so.

I always wonder if people who pursue mob-mentality attractional youth work have ever spoken to any ‘ex-youth-group-kids’ – those who left, never came back, and grew up – and asked them what it was about youth ministry that pushed them away? It’s rarely ever the gospel – and it’s nearly always the hyped-up, inauthentic, dishonest, and frenzied traits of our projects.

Let’s do better.

Photo by Janayara Machado on Unsplash