Young Life

[Anonymous]

My brother’s family, Catholic background, have their teens involved with Young Life. They go to camps and weekly groups. They don’t seem evangelical. Does anyone have experience with this group?

[Anonymous]

Yes, we have good friends heavily involved. Frankly it seems like a good org to me. We went to a fundraising dinner once at it seemed like they have done a lot of good in our community, esp for young AA males.

[Anonymous]

There is now a young life Catholic initiative. It's really just a way for teen CCD to not be so horribly boring for the kids. I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

[Anonymous]

I was actually just wondering this. We are Catholic (though somewhat lapsed, still religious) and college aged DD has always been interested and drawn to the community that Young Life seems to create. She only knows mainline Protestants in it, though, and no Catholics, so she isn't sure whether or not it would be an accepting group for her.

[Anonymous]

I was very grateful for the Young Life chapter at Langley High School when my teens were there. Gave them a fun group of friends who enjoyed fun activities. The Christians had a small spin-off group called Campaigners (I think).

[Anonymous]

Wonderful organization - really teaches kids to solidify their faith. Gives them a great group to hang out with and a way to share the Gospel with their friends.

What are your particular concerns as a Catholic, OP?

[Anonymous]

When I attended a Young Life event as a high schooler, the people were very warm and accepting. And it was very clear that they wanted me to have warm feelings about Jesus and to accept him into my heart!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wonderful organization - really teaches kids to solidify their faith. Gives them a great group to hang out with and a way to share the Gospel with their friends.

What are your particular concerns as a Catholic, OP?

I'm wondering if it's evangelical, really conservative or cult-like. It's not their background.

[Anonymous]

My teen, who was raised Catholic, LOVES Young Life. It’s a supportive, fun environment for teens to talk about God and Jesus and their faith...as well as other things too of course.

[Anonymous]

PP I have a perhaps more unique experience with YL although this was when I was a teen so perhaps grain of salt as it was ~2002.

As liberals and (self described) intellectuals, my parents were horrified when I joined YL as a teen but didn't keep me from doing it. It's evangelical and I went to the weekly meet ups and camp. I loved it. It was fun! We sang, had a ton of laughs, it was good clean fun and my friends were there. I dated a bit and it was always v innocent dating--getting coffee boys, making out at camp in secret and then running back to cabins, etc. However, it's born again and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior in front of everyone. People often asked you if you were saved and asked about your redemption story.

I am an atheist married to a jew and this sort of seems funny to me now. My long term takeaway is mixed--no harm done as a teen, so ok cool. But it was evangelical and preachy and I wonder if I was not straight or "normal" in the way they perceived if I would have gotten the right message. Also as a woman there was a lot of talking about chastity which I find to be really really problematic. There was shame around sex before marriage etc which I would never want to pass on to my kids.

So that's my two cents--if you already believe stuff like that then I bet you'd love it for your kid. But if you're more liberal/woke like my parents were, they were sort of rightly horrified.

[Anonymous]

My only experience is with relatives who run a group. Not my cup of tea and not suitable for my Catholic kids. This particular group is evangelical and creationist, so really not a good fit for Catholics. Not sure if all YL groups are the same though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wonderful organization - really teaches kids to solidify their faith. Gives them a great group to hang out with and a way to share the Gospel with their friends.

What are your particular concerns as a Catholic, OP?

I'm wondering if it's evangelical, really conservative or cult-like. It's not their background.

Cult-like is a fairly pejorative term, don't you think, pp? Do you think some fans obsession with sports teams is "cult-like?"

I would say that Young Life is definitely evangelical in that the kids are encouraged to share their love of Christ with their friends. I, personally, think that's a good thing. "Really conservative?" In what way? You are using labels here that have ambiguous meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP I have a perhaps more unique experience with YL although this was when I was a teen so perhaps grain of salt as it was ~2002.

As liberals and (self described) intellectuals, my parents were horrified when I joined YL as a teen but didn't keep me from doing it. It's evangelical and I went to the weekly meet ups and camp. I loved it. It was fun! We sang, had a ton of laughs, it was good clean fun and my friends were there. I dated a bit and it was always v innocent dating--getting coffee boys, making out at camp in secret and then running back to cabins, etc. However, it's born again and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior in front of everyone. People often asked you if you were saved and asked about your redemption story.

I am an atheist married to a jew and this sort of seems funny to me now. My long term takeaway is mixed--no harm done as a teen, so ok cool. But it was evangelical and preachy and I wonder if I was not straight or "normal" in the way they perceived if I would have gotten the right message. Also as a woman there was a lot of talking about chastity which I find to be really really problematic. There was shame around sex before marriage etc which I would never want to pass on to my kids.

So that's my two cents--if you already believe stuff like that then I bet you'd love it for your kid. But if you're more liberal/woke like my parents were, they were sort of rightly horrified.

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and now identify as an atheist- what changed? I'm genuinely curious to here more of your faith journey (I apologize if that seems to much like asking your redemption story.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wonderful organization - really teaches kids to solidify their faith. Gives them a great group to hang out with and a way to share the Gospel with their friends.

What are your particular concerns as a Catholic, OP?

I'm wondering if it's evangelical, really conservative or cult-like. It's not their background.

Cult-like is a fairly pejorative term, don't you think, pp? Do you think some fans obsession with sports teams is "cult-like?"

I would say that Young Life is definitely evangelical in that the kids are encouraged to share their love of Christ with their friends. I, personally, think that's a good thing. "Really conservative?" In what way? You are using labels here that have ambiguous meaning.

Unfortunately, there are cults, Christian and otherwise. Often times it starts with something simple like bible study. Cults particularly target young people. There are studies that confirm particular cult traits such as rigid group think, controlling leaders etc.

There are groups out there with the “pray the gay away” beliefs.

Given that Young Life doesn’t seem to follow a more established group such as Methodist, episcopal etc tradition, with a belief structure that you could easily research I wanted to inwuire

[Anonymous]

It's hard for me to put my finger on what bothers me about YL as apposed to my own church's youth group. It seems like Young Life capitalizes on adolescent hormones to lure kids in to their events. They have late night parties and play stupid games that have nothing to do with God or Jesus. My DD went to one where teen girls were bouncing on balloons to pop them with all the boys on one side wide eyed at the scene. Some of the games are innocent of course, but the encouragement of flirt and flaunt is not what I'm looking for in a teen Christian education program.

While of course YL will not likely admit it-- they probably preach delaying sex until marriage, the activities (lock-ins, for example) put kids in an impossible position. Plus there's the whole, "hellfire and brimstone" teaching. We don't go for fear based evangelism either.