It's not safe. There are gangs of teenagers waiting to attack you.

A quick google of "teenage crime" gives pages of troubling headlines. The murders committed by teenagers in Warrington and Sunderland recently were sickening. What would cause a young person act in such a way is hard to imagine.

However the sensational reporting of the acts of teenagers is unhelpful and doesn't paint a true picture of the state of things. There's some interesting thoughts about the true stats on teenage crime here. Worth a read to help us remember that in general kids are good.

All of us need to be involved in helping our young people grow up well. As the church we need to be doing as much as we can to build our communities. Next time I meet a group of teenagers out on a Streetlight project (or even popping out for milk) will I treat them as unique people made in the image of God, or assume they are criminals who might attack me? Praying both for the media's handling of these events and for each of us to treat people right are probably good places to start.