Young Life

John, Anna, Hannah Grace, and Jack Gayle

We have been missionaries to a foreign culture for the past decade as volunteers and/or staff in several cities. This culture has adopted its own language, its own style of dress, and its own customs and value systems - and it is actually located in our very own city! This culture has been either inoculated with the Gospel which leads them to question its relevance or they have not heard the Good News and question its credibility. Gripped with the uncertainty of our times, many live in fear, anger, confusion and apathy. The group of individuals I am referring to, of course, is high school students.

In Young Life, we see ourselves as “Christ’s ambassadors, sent to share Christ, with the lost high school world.” We GO as His ambassadors to wherever high school students can be found - the high school cafeteria, football games, dance recitals, honors assemblies, etc… We believe that is where Christ has SENT us to shine forth His hope, His love, and His glory. We go because we believe, “Every kid has a right to hear the Good News about Jesus Christ…” Not just the nice kids, the preppy kids, the affluent kids, but also the drop outs, the addicts, the ugly, the angry, and the hopeless. “How can they believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how can they hear unless someone proclaims Him? And who will go tell them, unless [they are] SENT?” (Rom 10:15-17 J.B. Phillips) As caring Christian adults, we invest in relationships with high school students with the hope that we can build a bridge of friendship, and eventually cross it with the Gospel.

High School students. That is our mission field. We prayerfully seek and train leaders who have a passion for Jesus and a passion for high school students. We invite interested community members to volunteer as well – either as volunteer leaders or as committee members who help guide and provide the funds for ministry. We are a non-profit organization that depends on the prayer and financial support of the local community. If any of this stirs your heart, consider giving us a call to see how you might get involved locally.

My wife and I are beginning our fourth year here in Wilmington. We are enjoying getting established in relationships in ministry and with friends in the community. Our children, Hannah Grace and Jack, provide lots of love, laughter, and relief from the demands of ministry. We are also expecting another little one in November! Thank you Jesus! We are extremely grateful for the support and prayers of Christ Community. We hope to see more adolescents joining the ranks as we work side by side for the same goal. Blessings!

The question has been asked to me a hundred times: by high school kids, by my family, even by my insurance agent as she read over the form that listed my employer. “What exactly is Young Life?” Young Life is a Christian outreach organization aimed at disinterested high school students through evangelical and discipleship ministry, but that’s not usually how I answer the question. Young Life is a ministry, made up mostly of volunteers, that goes into the mission field of the high schools because we believe that every student needs the love of Christ. Scripture tells us about four men who use every means possible to bring their paralyzed friend face to face with Jesus. We believe in meeting kids in their paralyzed state of experimentation, and empty searches for confidence and fulfillment. We meet them on their turf (school lunches, basketball games, soccer practices, etc). We build personal relationships with the kids by earning their trust and getting to know what goes on in their worlds. Through our consistency, attentiveness and compassion, through our words, and through our shared lives, we bring them to Jesus Christ.

If you were to ask a high school student what Young Life is he might answer that our weekly meetings are crazy or that our summer camp is unmatched, but what he would most likely tell you is that his relationship with his Young Life leader revealed a truth that has altered his life. Hopefully, he would tell you that along with movie nights and basketball games, and walks around the Loop, his leader boldly speaks about Jesus and teaches and equips him to walk with Christ. Young Life hopes to be a link between churches and kids who are disinterested in them. We understand that while Young Life is present in high school, church will be around for the rest of their lives. We hope to teach them to pray, to read the bible on their own and enjoy it, and to understand the importance of fellowship. We hope to walk with kids as a vessel used by God through their trying high school years and when those years are over we hope that it will not be us who altered their lives so much but Christ. That is what Young Life is: using every means that we have to bring high school kids face to face with Jesus Christ so that He will transform their lives in a way that lasts not just until they graduate but forever.

I have often been very encouraged by the support and care that has been provided to me through Christ Community Church! Thank you all so much for your prayers.