Creating Bridges of Hope: Local Church Gets Involved

I'm so excited to share that Matt and Libby, student ministry interns from City Church, will be getting involved with Young Life Texarkana to help us create a bridge for Young Life kids to get plugged into the local church! Having a place for kids to land is so crucial in what we do.

When I bumped into Young Life seven years ago, I was a youth leader and worship leader in my church in a fairly new-to-me town. My pastor recommended that I call Jesse, the local Young Life Area Director, and meet up with him. When Jesse told me about Young Life, it all sounded great, so I went to check it out. Somehow they were able to get the kids that no one else was able to reach. Somehow the farthest-kids-out went to Young Life. Those were the kids I wanted to reach, and our church youth group consisted of two brothers who went to Young Life anyway. So why not check out Young Life and go meet their friends?

So I volunteered to be the guitar player for club for a semester, and my first club is one I'll never forget. As high school kids arrived, their conversations consisted of who did what with their girlfriend or the no good things they were planning to do on the weekend, all while dropping f-bombs at Young Life, right in the middle of someone's living room.

I was shocked and torn. On one hand, I wondered how they could be so disrespectful. On the other hand, I knew the hard-to-reach kids were like this, and somehow they were at Young Life, a Christian event with Christian adults. In a way, I was honored that they showed me who they really were. To be honest when most kids step foot on church property, they have learned to alter their behavior in order to belong. But this is not Christ-living-in-them transformation! This is behavior modification. (Not the goal!)

The night went on with hilarious and messy games, singing that felt like an Irish pub without the alcohol, and at the end every kid sitting on the floor in silence listening to one of their leaders sharing the Gospel.

I had never seen anything like it! What was Young Life's secret?! I mean, how did they get these kids to come and hear about Jesus? I later found out that it was all about the friendships that the leaders had built with the kids outside of that night. It revolutionized how I did ministry.

I started to be more intentional about doing relational style ministry and stayed involved with Young Life at the same time. Our church youth group of two became a bible study of nine, and our events nights went from two to twenty five almost over the course of the semester. These new kids in our church were also Young Life kids, kids without a church home. At least until then.

I am so excited to be working with City Church leaders because of the need that every kid has to get plugged in outside of Young Life. Research shows that every kid needs 5 non-parent adults in their lives to grow into maturity. Every kid needs this network, and City Church is going to help be a part of it. In Young Life, we highly value the local church and desire to see every one of our kids find a church home.