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Young Life

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Young Life Logo

Young Life is a non-profit, evangelical Christian youth organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Jim Rayburn started the organization on Oct. 16 1941 in Dallas TX. Young Life operates and supervises many different branches of ministry, including:

  • Young Life, which is geared towards high school students
  • Wyldlife, which focuses on middle school students
  • Young Life Capernaum, which focuses towards mentally and physically handicapped youths
  • Young Life Military, which focuses on children of active military personnel
  • YoungLives, for middle and high school girls that are pregnant or raising children on their own
  • College Life which ministers to college students and also trains college students to be leaders

Young Life also offers college students and adults opportunities to participate through volunteering at either a Young Life camp or a local Young Life club.

Young Life is an organization designed for youths who are not a member of a church, ministering through its widespread use of comedy, music and pop culture references to lighten the mood and promote a comfortable atmosphere.

Young Life Camp

Swimming campers at Young Life's Wildhorse Canyon camp (now Washington Family Ranch).

Young Life maintains camps in 14 American states as well as three camps in British Columbia, Canada and camps in the Dominican Republic and South America.[1] Referred to as "The Best Week of Your Life," these camps are well attended and incoporate Christian messages based on the grace of God into an environment stressing fun and safety, with many secular activities mixed in to include non-Christians. Although the camps vary in activity type and location, many camps include a waterfront or lake, hiking, mountain climbing, mountain biking, ropes courses and many other activities. These camps are attended by students from around the world, and are staffed by a mix of full-time Young Life employees and student, young adult and adult volunteer, with the average camper to staff ratio being about 5:1. Young Life camps introduce and reinforce the essential beliefs of Christianity to Christians and non-Christians alike with the aid of comedy and pop culture.

List of Young Life camps by location

Young Life Club

Young Life Club is a club for high school or college students and their leaders, and serves both as an opportunity to relax and spend time with friends and to learn about Christianity. There are more than 700 Young Life Clubs worldwide.

Criticism and Controversy

In 2008, Jeff McSwain, the Area Director of Durham and Chapel Hill, along with others, was fired after taking issue with the organization's "sin talks." McSwain's theology emphasizes that "God has a covenant, marriage-like relationship with the world he has created, not a contract relationship that demands obedience prior to acceptance [as in that of Young Life]." This statement alludes Young Life's Calvinism [2]. Tony Jones (theologian) describes Young Life’s Statement of “non-negotiatables” as telling staffers that “they must not introduce the concept of Jesus and his grace until the students have been sufficiently convinced of their own depravity and been allowed to stew in that depravity" [3].

References

  1. ^ "Find Young Life". Younglife.org. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
  2. ^ "Gospel Talk". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
  3. ^ "Something is Wrong at Young Life". Patheos. Retrieved 2011-12-12.

Further reading

  • Cailliet, Emile; Young Life (1963)
  • Meridith, Char; It's a Sin to Bore a Kid: The Story of Young Life (1977) ISBN 0-8499-0043-3
  • Miller, John; Back to the Basics about the early years of Young Life including a lot of Rayburn's life.
  • Rayburn, Jim III; From Bondage To Liberty – Dance, Children, Dance a biography by his son (2000) ISBN 0-9673897-4-7
  • Rayburn, Jim: The Diaries of Jim Rayburn (2008) Rayburn's personal journals, edited and annotated by Kit Sublett Morningstar Press and Whitecaps Media ISBN 978-0-9758577-7-9
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