Ute? What's A Ute?

"Did you say 'ute?' What's a 'ute?'"

That was the question that Fred Gwynne asked in the movie "My Cousin Vinny" when he couldn't understand Joe Pesci's New York accent.

When Joe Pesci said "ute", he really meant "youth."

My dusty, well-worn Webster's Dictionary defines "ute" ... er ... "youth" ... as "the time of life marked by growth and development; the period between childhood and maturity."

Webster apparently wasn't Peruvian.

Here in the land of the Incas, "youth" appears to refer to anyone who isn't married, whether they are 18 years old or 58.

We have begun a couple of different ute/youth services here in Lima, and each time we do it we discover that folks who aren't "utes", age-wise, attempt to be part of the service. Their justification is that until they are married, they are still part of the "ute" in the church, even if they are closer to retirement age than high school.

I'm serious. We've had people in their 50s who want to be part of our "ute" service. I've seen the same thing in lots of other churches in Lima, too.

We have diplomatically explained to these folks that "ute" means students at Flamingo Road Church, and we also have started a new small group for singles who, according to our FRC-Lima definition, no longer are "utes."

It's a little comical on one hand, but this is also a sensitive area for some people, and we truly cherish our older singles at FRC-Lima, and we want to accommodate them as best we can.

The moral of the story: be like Fred Gwynne. Ask "What's a ute?" in whatever country in which you are located, so as not to assume certain age parameters, or to hurt anyone's feelings, or in any other way damage your ministry.