As you have heard, we had a special first semester of ministry as the number of students who engaged with YFC programming doubled from the previous year. So what happens now? This semester our focus is to ensure each lost teen is in a one-on-one, Christ-sharing relationship.
One of Youth For Christ’s original taglines is “For Every Kid… One At A Time.” Transformation moves at the speed of relationships. Relationships are intentional, personal, and take time. Evangelism is more than just an information transfer, it is introducing someone to Jesus and walking with Him together.
At the heart of our mission are Ministry Leaders. These are the volunteers that go deep with kids, learning their stories and sharing God’s story. These are folks like DeAnthony who spends a couple of hours a week with a group of boys who live in a group home setting.
It had been 3 weeks since DeAnthony had seen his small group of boys because Covid had made the rounds. When that much time goes by the positive influence and godly encouragement are missed and anything can have happened.
When DeAnthony was let back in they picked up where they left off, sharing the highs and lows from the last three weeks. Unfortunately, one kid shared about attempting to hurt himself, being revived by CPR, and being thankful that he was still alive. A lot had happened.
DeAnthony pulled the kid aside for a one-on-one and talked through what had led him to that point. Even though this young person has his whole life in front of him he was suffering from a lack of hope for life. This moment between DeAnthony and a kid is our mission playing out in real time. DeAnthony won the right to hear the truth of a kid’s struggle and was invited to speak God’s life and truth into it.
As DeAnthony told me, “The ultimate hope is Jesus and I let him know about it. He can have hope in that relationship with Christ and it starts with believing in Jesus. He wanted that and knew there was something he needed. So yeah, he accepted Christ!”
The problems of life do not always miraculously disappear when a kid accepts Christ. But surely we have experienced this truth in our own lives, that God’s power gives us everything we need for a godly life as we now get to participate in His nature and promises (2 Peter 1:3-4). In short, everything changes, forever.
Ministry Leaders (volunteers) spend 1-2 hours a week focusing on a few kids who need to know Jesus. At the beginning of the school year, there were about 40 ministry leaders serving with Youth For Christ. Today there are 69 with 20 more in the process of being cleared and trained. This is great progress as it means we can effectively move more lost kids from the sidelines of programming into these deeper spaces of relationship and intentional evangelism.
Our goal for this school year is ambitious. Would God unleash 100 caring adults into Christ-sharing relationships? We’re close!
This is what is next: more DeAnthonys serving in the right spaces to walk kids into the hope of Jesus. Would you pray for more Ministry Leaders right now? You can also help by sharing the opportunity and jumping in yourself at yfcnow.org.
Let’s do it for every kid, one at a time,
Jameson
P.S. What does it look like to be a ministry leader? See at yfcnow.org/go.
1-2 hours a week
Share Christ with a kid
Every kid needs a mentor. Is that you? Yes! We'll screen, train, and place you with a team to meet teens and share Christ. God wants to share His hope and life with a kid, through you!