Youth for Christ

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Youth for Christ is an international Christian ministry program that promotes youth evangelism and biblical Christianity.

In the early 1940s, during World War II, many young men, mostly ministers and evangelists, were holding large rallies in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. In an effort to coordinate these programs Youth for Christ was founded in 1944. The organization was cofounded by the Rev. Billy Graham and then-evangelist Charles Templeton. Graham was YFC's first full-time staff member. At its inception the president was Chicago pastor Torrey Johnson.

This great movement also eventually gave birth or helped to birth several other ministries: World Vision, Gospel Films, and - of course - the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Youth for Christ (YFC) follows the motto of "Geared to the times, anchored to the Rock" in an attempt to help equip young people to minister to each other. Over the years Youth for Christ has had many types of programs such as; youth rallies, Bible Clubs, teen to teen evangelism, campus ministries and urban ministries. YFC is in over 100 countries.

In 1978, YFC founded the Flevo Festival, a yearly Christian music festival that currently draws about 10,000 participants.

[edit] British Youth For Christ

British Youth For Christ was started in 1946 following a Billy Graham rally in the Midlands. In the sixty years since then it has expanded into its current format. Today BYFC has the aim of "...taking good news relevantly to every young person in Britain...". It seeks to do this through its 'four D approach':
Demonstrate … God’s love
Declare … relevantly the good news about Jesus
Decision … Giving young people the opportunity to accept Christ as their personal Saviour
Disciple … Serve the local Church by providing both evangelistic and discipleship resources

BYFC works with around 200,000 young people each months, from every kind of backgroud and culutre in Britain. To do this it employs 150 full-time workers, and many more volunteers. Main focus areas of BYFC today include:

Local Centres
There are currently 64 YFC Local Centres around Britain, tackling issues youth face today, such as family breakdown, binge drinking, bullying and self-worth. They run activities drop-in youth clubs, school lessons, social-action projects, and detached youthwork on the streets.

yfcone
yfcone is the gap year programme run by YFC which aims to reach youth with youth. They teach young adults how to use their individual gifts in music, sport, leadership, dance, youthwork, and communication to share their faith with their peers, and place volunteers in teams located around Britain.

Resourcing Churches
YFC's Church Resource Department aims to serve the local church, right across the denominations, as it works with children and young people, providing all the necessary resources and support for effective Christian youth work, as well as supporting and nurturing local Youth Workers. It does this by producing resource packs for youth groups (Rock Solid, RS2, Mettle, The Art Of Connecting, and in partnership with other organisations Youth Specialities, Youth Alpha and Youthwork Magazine) and running away breaks (Impact Holidays, Fort Rocky).

Reflex
Reflex is YFC's nationwide initiative helping Young Offenders in custody to build a fresh start. YFC look to invest in young people on the fringe of society, building their self-esteem by encouraging creative reflection and positive expression. They also provide care for ex-offenders, meeting them at the gate after their release and helping them to find a place to live, a job, and a church.