Younglife?

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I went to their website and their statement of faith seems quite orthodox. Actually, more than broad evangelical. It sounds Calvinist. Given their flair and design choice I would not be surprised if they are New Calvinists.

Article III
"God made man and woman in His image that He might have fellowship with us. Being estranged from God by our disobedience, we are, as sinful people, incapable of a right relationship to God apart from divine grace."

Article VI says the Holy Spirit causes regeneration as well. It is very short, read it for yourself.


Obviously, having an orthodox statement does not make you orthodox, but it is helpful.

Note: their website says they have volunteers, staff, and affiliate with Protestants and Roman Catholics. That is a bit of a red flag.
 
I went to their website and their statement of faith seems quite orthodox. Actually, more than broad evangelical. It sounds Calvinist. Given their flair and design choice I would not be surprised if they are New Calvinists.

Article III
"God made man and woman in His image that He might have fellowship with us. Being estranged from God by our disobedience, we are, as sinful people, incapable of a right relationship to God apart from divine grace."

Article VI says the Holy Spirit causes regeneration as well. It is very short, read it for yourself.


Obviously, having an orthodox statement does not make you orthodox, but it is helpful.

Note: their website says they have volunteers, staff, and affiliate with Protestants and Roman Catholics. That is a bit of a red flag.
I went to the About page and couldn't find anything earlier at all. Maybe it was the mobile site or something.
 
They're okay. Our church partnered with them in the past. This was a few years ago, so I don't know what they are like now.
 
They're okay. Our church partnered with them in the past. This was a few years ago, so I don't know what they are like now.
Okay. I ask because I met someone involved with them recently in the inner city and their speech sounded woke i.e. "White theology", etc.
 
Okay. I ask because I met someone involved with them recently in the inner city and their speech sounded woke i.e. "White theology", etc.

That can't be avoided. It deals with young people, so they are going to sound "woke." It's basically the Gospel Coalition for young people.
 
I can't speak about Young Life specifically, but approximately one-third of the police narratives on my juvenile criminal cases start out with a variation of "Respondent and __________________ left a Young Life meeting and then _____________________. . . ."
 
That can't be avoided. It deals with young people, so they are going to sound "woke." It's basically the Gospel Coalition for young people.
I can't speak about Young Life specifically, but approximately one-third of the police narratives on my juvenile criminal cases start out with a variation of "Respondent and __________________ left a Young Life meeting and then _____________________. . . ."
Very, very unfortunate.
 
I can't speak about Young Life specifically, but approximately one-third of the police narratives on my juvenile criminal cases start out with a variation of "Respondent and __________________ left a Young Life meeting and then _____________________. . . ."
This reminds me of my high school. A lot of non-christian kids went to young life to hang out. They'd even go to summer camps. Not really surprising given that the purpose of the ministry is to reach out to unchurched youth.
 
Just glanced at their page. It clearly states that one of the missions of the church is social justice. It also says that the Holy Spirit "persuades" people to believe. That language seems to soften effectual calling. An Arminian could affirm that the HS "persuades".
But what is your interest in them? Their statement of faith speaks as though they were a church, but they are a para-church organization. What have we to do with institutions of men that would take on themselves the work of the church without actually being the church?
 
Young Life is broadly evangelical. What flavor of evangelical you get will depends on the local leaders and the churches they are most aligned with. The overall vibe of their programs tends to fall somewhere between that of a typical evangelical-church youth group and that of a campus fellowship. Like the youth group, Young Life tends to run fun, outreach-oriented large group activities that introduce kids to Christianity but are not so heavy on teaching that they scare off the marginally interested—so don't expect teaching that's strong enough to take over from what the church should be doing. Like the college fellowship, Young Life also tends to provide outlets for personal discipleship as leaders meet with kids in smaller groups or one-on-one.

I have not encountered anything to suggest that as an organization they have supplanted the gospel with a social gospel agenda, but I would guess that might be happening in some localities. Generally, they tend to be conservative. You would certainly find some leaders to be Calvinist, and in some cases very strong theologically, but you shouldn't expect this to be the case consistently throughout the organization. Again, much depends on the local leaders.

Young Life has a long reach, making it an appealing organization to partner with for an outreach-minded church, but you need to examine the local workers and be aware that it falls short of everything a church needs to do to instruct its young people and incorporate them into the family of Christ. Think of it more as an outreach organization than as a discipleship/teaching one.
 
The impression I've had of it is it's kind of like a club with camp-like activities mixed with evangelism. Perhaps a place to keep kids out of trouble with an opportunity to hear the gospel.

That's what it is in a nutshell. They partnered with our church, but I didn't have too much experience with them. It is a parachurch ministry first. At the risk of sounding business-oriented, you might pick up a few new visitors in your church, but as in all parachurch ministries, they aren't there to help the church grow (at least not primarily).

It will keep kids out of trouble, and there are certainly worse options, but the positive impact on the local church membership is very limited.
 
I can't speak about Young Life specifically, but approximately one-third of the police narratives on my juvenile criminal cases start out with a variation of "Respondent and __________________ left a Young Life meeting and then _____________________. . . ."

I know YL can get flack for kids leaving YL meetings then going to parties, etc. But keep in mind it's intentionally for UNBELIEVERS, to have mentoring relationships that show focused care for real kids' lives in need of Christ and his grace. So of course there are going to be kids doing dumb stuff. The issue should be whether or not student leaders or staff are the ones getting in trouble.

A lot of pastors, elders, and congregants in my PCA church and presbytery seem to have been part of YL at some point and often credit it with playing a major role in their lives. Parachurch ministries often do great good by having flexibility a local congregation does not easily possess.
 
Young Life was founded by Jim Rayburn, an evangelical Presbyterian, over 30 years before the PCA was formed. I'm not sure if he was part of a mainline denomination or what, (his younger brother Robert was the first president of Covenant Seminary) but he attended Dallas Seminary. I think part of the idea may have been that kids weren't hearing the gospel in the liberalizing mainline churches. Back then, it was more rare to find a kid who had no church background at all. Of course, that has now changed.
 
Maybe things haven't changed so much. The wiki on Young Life links an article from Stevie Nicks where she says she met Lindsey Buckingham at a Young Life event, "which was a religious meeting that simply got you out of the house on Wednesday nights." That would have been around 1966.
 
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Maybe things haven't changed so much. The wiki on Young Life links an article from Stevie Nicks where she says she met Lindsey Buckingham at a Young Life event, "which was a religious meeting that simply got you out of the house on Wednesday nights." That would have been around 1960.

Well that at least was a good thing. :)
 
Since they are associated with cocaine rather than Christ, I’m not so sure about that.


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I hear you, though I love Fleetwood Mac's songs. If I had a daughter I was going to name her Rhiannon.
 
It seems that broad evangelicalism absorbs the worst of the culture and capitulates. I wonder how many of these in the org are orthodox on sexuality.
Sure, "well they aren't heavy on doctrine" yet, repentance should be more heavily preached if it isn't.
 
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