I volunteered at a YL camp in college. It is basically a cult but like every cult, it comes with community and good times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is scary to me in that so many people seem to not recognize the signs of or the harms of an organization like this that absolutely fits the definition of a cult.
It has become very important to me to help educate parents, especially, to the signs of “indue influence “ on children.
Not only is the doctrine harmful but the coercive control and indoctrination in and of itself is harmful.

What are your credentials?

What are yours? and what does it matter?

Anonymous wrote:This thread is scary to me in that so many people seem to not recognize the signs of or the harms of an organization like this that absolutely fits the definition of a cult.
It has become very important to me to help educate parents, especially, to the signs of “indue influence “ on children.
Not only is the doctrine harmful but the coercive control and indoctrination in and of itself is harmful.

What are your credentials?

I had exposure to them through my job. It is a very wealthy organization, too wealthy in my opinion. Staff is very entitled. Not a fan.

I did younglife as a teen and college student and while I have great memories from it, I would proceed with caution with my own kids or at least set major boundaries around it.

I love that it gives kids an exposure to a Christian environment especially with the alcohol and drug peer pressure, but at least in my experience, there were a lot of immature adults involved in the program, especially some of the women. I did YoungLife in the Deep South in 2 different cities and I never saw anything homophobic or mysogonistic, but did see some instances of adults playing favorites and being way too open emotionally about their issues with teens. For me now as an adult I cannot imagine talking about my deepest darkest mental health issues with 16 year olds and frankly think it’s inappropriate.

I do credit YL as being instrumental in my own faith formation but also know that there are tons of churches that encourage more parent involvement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a cult. We would not allow our kids to go to YL. They recruit through kids.

Perhaps you're right and it is a cult. But don't be surprised if people from Young Life come on this forum to insult you for saying Young Life is a cult.

The YL youth recruiters are brainwashed drones seeking more members on line and IRL. Protect your kids.

My DH fell into YL when he was messed up in his 20s. It messed him up more.

This thread is scary to me in that so many people seem to not recognize the signs of or the harms of an organization like this that absolutely fits the definition of a cult.
It has become very important to me to help educate parents, especially, to the signs of “indue influence “ on children.
Not only is the doctrine harmful but the coercive control and indoctrination in and of itself is harmful.

Young Life in high school is harmless, IME. There were weekly meetings in peoples homes with refreshments, prayers and lots of singing. I liked to go as my family did not belong to a church. Some kids did pray to be reborn or whatever the term is, but there was no pressure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had friends who did this in college and it was horribly misogynistic with a lot of weird sexual tension - they all hooked up with each other a lot and not a single one of them turned out to be a particularly successful adult..

Sorry not college, I meant high school. There was a different but similar organization in college. I honestly had no idea Young Life was still around.

The college version is Campus Crusades for Christ.

This thread is super interesting because I have never heard Young Life referred to as a cult at all.
I had friends who attended YL in high school and liked it but my parents didnt want me to because it wasn’t connected with any church at all and they preferred that we just did youth group at our own church. I didn’t find that my friends who did it turned out cult-y or particularly off the deep end fanatics or anything. They definitely taught following Jesus and love one another with a side of “don’t engage in activity that tempts your brother or sister” and I guess that could come off judgy or misogynistic if you didn’t already think that way, but you’d kind of have to work hard to interpret that as a cult.

The college version was actually called Navigators. I think it's still around. They thrive on proselytizing non stop and because kids are in college, alone and vulnerable, they have amazing success in recruitment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had friends who did this in college and it was horribly misogynistic with a lot of weird sexual tension - they all hooked up with each other a lot and not a single one of them turned out to be a particularly successful adult..

Sorry not college, I meant high school. There was a different but similar organization in college. I honestly had no idea Young Life was still around.

The college version is Campus Crusades for Christ.

This thread is super interesting because I have never heard Young Life referred to as a cult at all.
I had friends who attended YL in high school and liked it but my parents didnt want me to because it wasn’t connected with any church at all and they preferred that we just did youth group at our own church. I didn’t find that my friends who did it turned out cult-y or particularly off the deep end fanatics or anything. They definitely taught following Jesus and love one another with a side of “don’t engage in activity that tempts your brother or sister” and I guess that could come off judgy or misogynistic if you didn’t already think that way, but you’d kind of have to work hard to interpret that as a cult.

Since you’re already Christian, you probably know the spectrum of types of Christians and churches. I think Young Life depends a bit on where you are as far as how conservative it is, though it always seems to be on the more traditional/conservative side.

Like others have pointed out, it’s a bunch of teenagers doing teenager things so don’t expect a bunch of angels. It’s kind of like any other social club, so it ends up cliquey. I was in the marching band and sharing stories with friends who did Young Life the antics weren’t that different. 😂

I would say though that you should always be cautious of what adults you send your kids off with, religious or not. Talk to the leaders, linger a bit, come early to pick up. If you get a bad vibe trust your gut. And have conversations with your kids about what’s going on and personal safety.

I was actually stalked and bullied all throughout high school by Young Life members. I watched a number of my friends get lost in this weird love bombing group. Frankly, it was a little scary. But that is evangelism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a cult. We would not allow our kids to go to YL. They recruit through kids.

Perhaps you're right and it is a cult. But don't be surprised if people from Young Life come on this forum to insult you for saying Young Life is a cult.

I not the poster you are referring to.

However it sounds like you are threatening them?

So I will say this loud and clear not only is YL a cult it is hypocritical racist crap that hates women. Fixed it for you,

Please see the Passion City thread where a poster was insulted repeatedly for suggesting that a non-denominational church could be a cult.

That poster suggested that being non-denominational makes a church a cult which is just false. They offered no evidence why that particular church was a cult.

Why not name the church - Passion City. I know of no denominational Church that is a cult. If someone does, please provide evidence.

Anonymous wrote:I had friends who did this in college and it was horribly misogynistic with a lot of weird sexual tension - they all hooked up with each other a lot and not a single one of them turned out to be a particularly successful adult..

Sorry not college, I meant high school. There was a different but similar organization in college. I honestly had no idea Young Life was still around.