Anybody's teens have experience with Young Life?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
My HS freshman DD's friends have been encouraging her to join a Christian youth group called Young Life. It is a national organization and I am not familiar with it at all. I went on their website and am not totally clear on what this involves for kids. The local leaders appear to be college-aged adults who live at home; they host sleepovers and social events in their homes or take the kids on outings. A couple of DD's friends have gotten very involved very fast, in just the last 5 weeks - they went from going to an event to being something called Campaigners who are very intense. DD says her friends have told her that Young Life is mostly a lot of social activities, not a lot of preaching or intense religious content, although again, we are 5 weeks in.
We are members of a liberal mainline Protestant denomination that is not evangelical/born again, with a message of love and acceptance, and DD has been baptized and is currently studying for confirmation. The Young Life website says it is non-denominational and accepting of various Christian perspectives. I am wary of "nondenominational" youth groups due to my own experiences with Christian fellowship turning into a pressure situation in the nondenominational-Christian fellowship group that I became involved with in college. It started out as "hey, come eat pizza and hang out with fun people," but I was pressured to do a lot with them very quickly, urged to recruit friends, and told that I needed to accept Jesus as my savior to really be Christian. Even though I was baptized and confirmed and very active in my own church, it was like none of that meant anything and I was continually pushed to take things further. The leaders were missionaries from Campus Crusade for Christ doing outreach on campus. I had some wonderful friends who were part of this group, but overall it made me uncomfortable and although my involvement was only a few months, the group made it very hard to walk away. 25 years later they are still trying to get me to send them money for campus ministries. I want DD to have friends of various religious beliefs (or nonbeliefs) and for her to accept others having different/more conservative beliefs. Our denomination is very "live and let live" and our family is too. However, I don't want her to be evangelized, pressured, told she is sinning (or that her gay friend is sinning), or told that our variety of Christian is not really Christian, nor do I want her being asked to recruit other kids. I also know nothing about the adults running it. I was told the leaders come to school events and pick the kids up for coffee or ice cream outings after school, and I'm not sure I want adults I don't know driving her around. I'm a pretty free-range parent who wants my kids to go out and live their lives, but for some reason this is making my alarm bells go off. I guess my main question is whether Young Life is mainly social events and fun with a little prayer and positive messaging (which I am fine with), or whether it is typically a more intense evangelical religious experience (which I'm not)? Do they truly accept more liberal varieties of Christianity in their members? Thanks for any insight. I know I'm overthinking but she's 14 and does not need any more pressure in her life right now. |
Anonymous
| It was super popular where I grew up. Totally weird and encompassing. Cultish. But that was in the 90s, so hopefully some people have more info re: today. |
Anonymous
| I went to a fundraising dinner once with friends who are active in it. It wasn’t preachy or weird. I grew up a Methodist and was comfortable. |
Anonymous
| I'm ok with my kids visiting and spending time with just about any religious group. They've been to Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, New Thought, Jewish, many different Protestant, ....even Hare Krishna services. But I draw the line at anything Southern Baptisty. I grew up in that cult and don't want my kids associated with that type of hate. And unfortunately, when I was in school, young life was exactly that. I would find out more, OP. Maybe it's different now. |
Anonymous
|
It’s pretty low key Christian to be honest. Young life is a tight organization that is across the country but I wouldn’t classify it as
Cultish. Also, not all the learners are college kids who live at home. Many are recent grads or college age that were involved as high schoolers. They are held to a high standard so you don’t have to worry about them being a bad influence. My teen enjoyed having a mentor like person only a few years older. I say let your child try and if she hates it, not harm no foul. |
Anonymous
It was like this in the 80's too! |
Anonymous
+1. I grew up Catholic in the South and was “recruited” and this was my experience— 25 years ago. As with PPs, no idea today. And it being in the South lent itsself to pushing the fanatic brand of God and Guns Christianity. So the DMV is likely different. But in general, hard sells and “campaigners” pushing for new members a month in by a social or religious social group would be a red flag to be that they want your kids money, or soul, or both. And I’m a great believer in mom intuition. If you think something is off, it’s usually because something is off. Are they associated with a specific church or campus? There has to be an adult somewhere supervising college kids. Maybe start there? |
Anonymous
|
Young Life has been around for decades. It is generally upbeat and not especially cult-like; most of the kids who attend in high school move on and don’t have any ongoing connection to YL. They have some nice camps, including a beautiful facility in Saranac Lake. I went to YL in high school decades ago and recall being asked to join a more intense weekly Bible study group in my senior year, after I’d been going to YL two years. I wasn’t up for that, and declined, and then just stopped going to the weekly meetings, which were mostly social sing-alongs, altogether. One of the youth leaders made one attempt to get me to return, but left me alone when I said I had too much on my plate.
My recollection is that the types of kids who got involved in YL varied a lot from school to school. At some area schools it was mostly band/theatre kids, while at others there were a lot more athletes/cheerleaders. That was probably a reflection of its decentralized structure. |
Anonymous
|
My neighbor is not religious at all now -- she may have grown up Catholic, but I'm just assuming that because of her birthplace -- and her daughter was involved in YL in high school. My neighbor thought it was good for her daughter. The YL kids didn't drink, according to my neighbor, and I don't think the wool was over her eyes because her other child did drink and party in high school.
|
Anonymous
| I was in YL in HS (MoCo public school). It’s not a cult. It is a non-denominational Christian org. No one should be telling your DC they aren’t a Christian. It’s mainstream Christianity, no strange denominations or interpretations of the bible. Campaigners is the Bible Study for people who want to be nore involved and have a deeper understanding of the bible. It was very accepting of all makes and models of kids - popular and less so. I got involved my freshman year and stayed involved thru my senior year, but went to college out of atate so did not go on to join in college. I’ve been to their Lake Champion property and somewhere in VA too. I found it to be a wonderful organization and I think of those days very fondly. |
Anonymous
| I did it/ loved it. So great to have another set of friends during the teen years. I always knew if I needed it I could go to one of my YL friends . |
Anonymous
| All I know is that their Malibu camp location in British Columbia is in one of the most beautiful places in the world. If your kid is going to do a camp, send them there. |
Anonymous
I dabbled with Young Life in the 70's. It was mostly a social group with weekly meetings at various homes and events like meeting up at a pizza place etc. There was a weekend at the beach. We were encouraged to accept Jesus as our personal savior, but there was no pressure. I found it a very low key, down to earth, fun group to hang out with. I realize this is ancient history but thought I would share anyway! |
Anonymous
This, back in the 80s in the midwest. |
Anonymous
|
OP here...Thanks everyone for your thoughtful responses. I'll see if I can find out more about who is running it. DD is already asking to go to a weekly meeting this Weds and a coffeehouse on Friday but I told her I need more info on what is involved with the meetings. She doesn't know anyone in it besides these three other girls who are her close friends of several years, two of whom were already invited to be in Campaigners after going to a couple of meetings. The parents of the 3 friends are enthused about YL, but they all belong to more conservative churches and I don't feel comfortable asking them for the lowdown. Also, they are only a few weeks in themselves. I do like that the kids can just have fun socializing without pressure to drink, but DD was also telling me her friends said "there are lots of nice boys in it" and "lots of people meet their future husband in Young Life." She's working me hard on the "no alcohol" angle....
19:07 PP - I don't think it is affiliated with any particular church or campus. It seems like each local school district has its own chapter, but the local chapter gets together with neighboring chapters for larger events. |