Young Life

They set up a booth on the only road to exit our middle school, so it's busy at pickup!...and they bring donuts. Kids are darting in front of cars to get donuts. They are literally teaching it's ok to take candy from strangers. on a busy road. ...dangerous! AND they've been asked to stop this at another nearby school, so they should know better..but apparently it's a winning tactic. Some of the donuts are seriously the size of a frisbee. This is nutzo behaviour. It's luring and predatory. I've let the cops know, this is not acceptable.

This nonprofit is hurtful and manipulative. As someone connected to a member of the staff, I have witnessed this individual have their faith questioned by other staff members, unrightfully so. I have also witnessed them feel discouraged, shamed, guilted, and essentially scammed.

Im here to debunk these 1 star reviews about young life being a cult. I am currently part of Young Life Gregory Portland, and I used to believe that Young Life was pretty much what these reviews said they were, and then I decided to be a little open minded and try it out for myself. I was surprised. They were all really welcoming, and have helped on my faith journey. We have really deep discussion about God, and has helped me open up about problems. Other reviews are kind of false. They don't harass you to come back, I wasn't able to go for a few months because school and everything, and they asked me two months if i was doing alright. They did not manipulate my social groups, I have the same friends that I had before young life. (i have more friends now) One review says we are against catholics, but (I don't know about other groups) my group is actually majority catholic. The leader is not Catholic, but we have nothing against Catholics. The same review talks about how expensive the camps are, ($100 which is less than how much the camps actually are) The real price is around $400 which is extremely reasonable. Some camps are in the thousands so this is relatively cheap. From someone who was extremely suspicious of Young Life in the past, it's not a cult and I'm not brainwashed. They also mention how the leaders were often young college age adults. It's called young life for a reason. Young people are the leaders. It's in the name. If anything was iffy about the organization I would have stood up and left the building right away. God bless y'all.

This is not to comment on the mission of Young Life rather, their actions as stewards of the lands they manage. YL is attempting to secure a precedent setting permit to discharge treated wastewater into a pristine river in Texas. They have less damaging options that all other camps in the area utilize yet they persist in their efforts to get a pass on pollution. If they are true stewards of His creation they will do whatever it takes to protect the environment they benefit from. The entire community is against their efforts but YL seems unwilling to budge or communicate. The action of Young Life does not seem to align with Christian values.

I am so sorry to read some of the comments posted here that bash this organization. So many angry comments made without one lick of support, many outright wrong. I've been around this outreach to teens for decades and can offer some corrections. For these and many more reasons, YoungLife has become one of the largest teen outreaches on the planet - active all throughout the U.S. and in over 110 foreign countries. It seems that many, many folks are thrilled with the organization and how they do business.

1. Many school districts welcome YoungLife leaders into their schools because of the incredibly positive influence those caring individuals have for teens. I have seen a letter from a local school principal lauding the presence of YL leaders in his lunchroom. The Area Director of the local outreach ALWAYS meets with the principal, gets the rules they are to follow (which always include no proselytizing on campus) and goes over those rules with all the leaders. They are a rule-following bunch. Believe me, those leaders are watched closely by administrators. But by far the majority of school districts do NOT allow YoungLife leaders or any other outside group into the schools. If leaders are seeing kids in the parking lot before or after school it is because the district has said that it is OK. They don't spend time trying to figure out ways around the rules.
2. YL is not trying to seduce teens into participating. There is never pressure to hang out with YL leaders or pressure to attend any YL event. In fact, most teens world-wide make their way to YoungLife events because they are invited by their friends who are loving their involvement in YL.
3. Every YL area has a staff person who is easily contacted and is ready and willing to meet and explain exactly what YL is about. Sadly some parents never take the time to check them out, especially those who write angrily about them
4. YL leaders don't specialize in telling teens how awful they are, rather they spend their time in the weekly meeting having tons of safe fun (no drugs, alcohol, or peer pressure to do those kinds of things) and do talk about the person of Jesus. It is their aim to make sure that every teen can make his/her own decision about Jesus based on good knowledge of what the Bible says about him. there is NEVER pressure for a kids to believe anything.
5. As a charity, YoungLife enjoys one of the highest ratings possible for their financial dealing (see Charity Navigator on the web).
6. Participation in YL has no bounds except that teens show respect for the leaders and other teens involved. That doesn't mean that they have to agree with the subject of Jesus, just that they respect others as valuable people.
7. For any camp attendance, the parents of every teen who attends is provided with a very complete form that asks permission to use their child's image in public advertising for YL only. The parents can say yes or no. As all organizations for teens, YL pays tremendous attention to every safety for the kids involved and always communicates with the parents.

This organization has been a positive life experience for my son. While some may have experienced the organization years ago (bday), I have not seen anything negative about the organization, the kids active with the organization or the leaders of the organization. In fact, my son's group has leaders consisting of a Dad, a Mom (another family) and a helper who are present at all activities. This is a great way for kids with good values (or are looking to have a positive influence in their life) find that group. It's a mix of all types of kids who wouldn't have had a chance to get to know each other due to the cliques in high school. This organization helped my son grow into the fine young man he is today. He heads off for college in the Fall and I can only hope there is a Young Life chapter on campus.

I don't understand the bad views? really I have never even heard of Young Life until college. At my LUTHERAN school, there is a Young Life for college kids and I sa a flyer and decided to go with my friend. No one was manipulative or tried to diobolically persuade us to join. We chose on our own. When we got there, everone was really nice and kind. None of them tried to tell us to "hate gays" or whatever some of these people are claiming... Most of the leaders were my age or a couple years older. The student were very involved and sometimes got to do there own service and talked about their own personal experiences with God. Every word said to me has encouraged love and positivity. The community is a kinf group of individuals who just want to get together, sing songs, and appreciate their religion. I don't know who these people are claiming it's "radical" and "hateful". Maybe their Young Life group just sucks. I have noticed though, that most people making the complaints are parents, not the actual teens/children/college students that experience it for themselves. I don't know. However, I can tell you for a fact that not all of the Young LIfe groups are as evil as some of the angry parents claim them to be. Please don't be too quick too judge a whole organization on a few negative perspectives. If, however, your religious group is encouraging hateful ideals and such, I would not blame you to remove yourself and your child from the environment- in fact I would encourage it. If you have read the Bible, Jesus said that the most important thing was to love your neighbors and he said that you should even love your enemy. Hate is the opposite of what Christians are supposed to represent. I am giving my experience with Young LIfe four stars, because it was a little awkward in the beginning trying to make new friends because both me and my friend are shy. Also, I think it would've been more fun if we played more games like my youth group in high school. I don't care if I'm a "legal adult" I want to play freeze tag and make friends. Overall though, I really felt a greater appreciation for the universe and a better connection to my religion, and whenever I am having a bad day, everyone is always so happy there, and it makes me happy to.

This organization finds it way into middle and high school and seeks out kids. School boards should forbid them from contact with minors. Please don't support this organization. Keep your kids away from this organization.

Young Life is a self-serving non-profit whose main goal at the end of the day is to peddle co-ed summer camp registrations and recruit new donors to perpetuate the Young Life camping network. They offer no physical charitable benefits to the community. They use college-aged kids to infiltrate the network of cliques at local high schools and use their seniority to recruit new members (in blatant disregard for separation of church and state).

I am a parent and a participant. I attend a women's retreat at a Young Life facility once a year. I am impressed by the compassion and servant attitude that comes from these kids. This organization is trying to reach our youth for Christ. There is nothing wrong with that. Their passion for their faith is what drives them. Praise God that there is an organization promoting something positive and that teaches our youth values.

I went to Wyld Life camp the summer after my 6th grade year and it forever changed my life. For the first time it sunk in that I could have a personal relationship with God. I had an amazing week, and SO much fun that I will never forget. I will also never forget the love,joy, and concern that the leaders had for each and every camper. I stayed involved with YoungLife all through High School as well. YoungLife presents the gospel in a nonthreatening and non-forceful way in which every kid can understand. They just put the gospel out there in a clear way, and it's up to the kids to choose what they want to do with it. I am so thankful to God that he made YoungLife something that I had the opportunity to be a part of.

It’s Sunday afternoon and my step-daughter just returned from a young life weekend camp trip, and I’m not happy. First of all, I just assumed this organization was part of the school, because she brought home the information from school---I thought. There was some kind of permission slip I signed weeks ago, but those things get signed so fast in the morning, I can’t say I paid attention. So the trip was reintroduced on Thursday and I checked the website [lakechampion.younglife.org] in advanced of the trip on Thursday night. But obviously not closely enough. I just kind of did a cursory review of the location, the facilities, but didn’t read about them in depth, because I’m still assuming this is a school sanctioned trip. Because of the cursory nature of my review, I HAD NO IDEA this organization had anything to do with religion!!!. Now I freely admit, that’s my fault and I take responsibility for not reading the website closely.
 
My first real clue that religion was involved came when my step daughter called me today before the return trip to say how much fun she had and that at one point there was a discussion about “how God can change your life”. Antennas immediately went up now --- WHAT? Back to the website ---this time the parent organization website, not the lakechampion local site--, and now I’m paying attention. So the website says:
 

Young Life brings the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of adolescents with an approach that is respectful of who kids are and hopeful about who they can be.  

Also this excerpt, from http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/february/1.13.html:
Following a November statement outlining the “Non-negotiables of Young Life’s Gospel Proclamation,” YL's eight-page Non-Negotiables statement requires a sequence for gospel presentations that closely resembles Campus Crusade for Christ's Four Spiritual Laws. Talks must begin with the person of Jesus Christ, "the overarching theme of all our talks." From there, evangelists should explain the reality and consequences of sin before presenting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Talks end with an invitation to believe, become a disciple of Jesus, and publicly proclaim one's faith.

Immediately I want to know, who are these YoungLife people and what is their history?? I notice they’re global and have been around since the 40s. That means there is some substantial money behind them. Where do they get their money? Who are the present and past characters on their board of directors and what are their individual histories? All these questions pop into my mind. So, now I’m aware I should have launched a research project behind this organization and I have neither the time or inclination to do this. My knowledge of the self-serving history of Christian proselytizing and it’s often damaging, global impact leaves me extremely uneasy. And if that weren’t enough, these contemporary Christian fundamentalists are a truly scary and dangerous bunch and I want no part of them.
 
I’m particularly outraged since this “batch” of students that attended the camp is mostly immigrant, mostly children of color and a significant percentage have Islamic background. Even though I didn’t complete my homework, I feel deceived. I probably would not feel so if there had been a direct one sentence, bold highlighted, large font declaration of younglife’s organizational intent on the form they sent home for signature. The young lady who was my step daughter’s contact for the organization said there was a brochure that accompanied the waiver, release, but I don’t remember it. In any case, this information was sent home some weeks in advance of the trip so there is that disconnect between the information delivery and the actual trip---enough time to forget. Bottom line, this entire experience leaves me extremely disturbed and wary. I’m especially distressed that they have manipulated the mentality of the young person so that now, when we parents have to come back with a sharp counter analysis, of course the adolescent only remembers how much fun she just had. This is insidious and underhanded. I will be following up with the school, as many of the other parents I can contact and if necessary we will launch an internet advisory warning other unsuspecting parents.
 
Finally, I notice all the reviews on this page are glowing with the exception of mine and another mother who submitted her evaluation a few days prior to mine. It’s obvious that you get all the kids to write in. We’ll see if we can get some more parents who have been equally blindsided to weigh in on the discussion.

Young Life is an evangelical fundamentalist Christian organization that seeks out children when they are out of their parent's view. They send college aged kids to your child's school, lure them with donuts before school in the parking lot, or lurk around after school while they are at sports practice. They tell the kids they are going to be in the gutter soon: drinking, druggin;, wanton sex OR they are going to find Jesus (via emotional manipulation and group dynamics). No other choice. YL realizes they are in violation of many Supreme Court rulings prohibiting religious proselytizing on public school grounds, so they clandestinely pull the parking lot/sports practice deal. Creepers. YL caused the biggest rift in our relationship with our teen we had ever experienced before or since.

My nieces are involved with Young Life and frankly, if they were my children i would forbid it. My problem with the group is that they sell themselves as non-denominational, yet they are brainwashing and converting those girls make no doubt about it. They are not a youth group - they are a Protestant bible study group. We are Catholic, we have a faith yet they like to go to YL because they have a very active youth group, they plan weekend trips, take them skiing and even to Disneyland (from Seattle!). Of course, the kids want to go! Example, I was asking my 16 yr old niece Hailey about YL, and at one point I said you are Catholic, and she snapped back, I'm a Christian! I said true, Catholics are Xtians. She shook her head and stormed off (she is a teenager after all). It upset me that these people are obviously telling her that Catholics are not Xtians, why such animosity against her own religion? Example2, They have YL on Weds night and a rotating movie night at various member homes on Saturday. Hailey's mom asked her to offer their home for movie night. Hailey said no, you cant. "Why?" You just can't you don't go to their church, they don't know you, they wont let you. Meanwhile, all her YL friends are always at the house after school, weekends, at non-YL times, when the parents don't mind. So why, if this is truly non-denominational, are non-Protestants parents not allowed to be involved in YL activities? I could site several examples that individually do not sound like such a big deal, but when viewed in totality, it paints a very clear picture. My Bro&Sis-in-law are complacent about it, figuring its better to associate with Protestants than thugs or stoners. Perhaps, but it is not harmless. They are pushing their Protestant agenda on impressionable kids. Overall, I think it is a great organization for Protestants. However, I do not approve of the way they market themselves as non-denominational when that is clearly not the case. if they want to evangelize they should be honest about it. But then, I am sure their membership would drop markedly as many religious families would not want their kids going to Protestant bible study. Be honest! What a great example of Xtianity, Charlatans in non-denominational clothing!

It has helped to change my life for the better by finding christ, but having fun with my friends while doing it.

Young Life is such a great mentoring program! My kids have had such positive experiences with house-building trips to Mexico, working camps and hanging out with older people who genuinely care about them. My kids love YL so much that they talk about it all the time and now their friends are enjoying the relationships and mentoring experience. My oldest son is now a leader and is giving back to the community.

My son attended a YL camp for the first time this summer. He had outgrown the typical sunday school program at our church and this has opened a new door for him and his friends. I really feel it is important for him to have a strong circle of support as he becomes a young man and starts to make important life decisons. The experience we have had with YL Organization and it's volunteers is nothing but positive!

Both of my children joined Younglife while in High School and absolutely love it. The leaders are awesome and helped my children understand how god can be a bigger part of their life. They went to summer camp and had 'The best week of their life". The next summer my daughter volunteered a week of her summer for "Work Week" and my son volunteered 4 weeks as part of a "work crew". They both plan to do it again. My kids have accepted God into their life and have plans to stay involved in Younglife during college to help other kids find god.

I am a high school student and currently active in young life. Actually, I am about to go to club (and drag my newbie boyfriend with me!) right now! I absolutely LOVE this organization. The leaders are awesome, the camps are a blast, and the whole experience is so stabilizing in mine and a lot of my friends lives. I've seen the tears of lives changed for the better because of this program and I fully support Young Life.

Young Life is an amazing organization from the inside out. The atmosphere of beloning and value that is placed on each individual is priceless.

i went there rockbrige camp i love bibe all my life about jesus christ bibe leadership cub overnght about love god and jesus readings his life in pages of bible of brave man of jesus