by Eliza Moore, Communication major
Growing up in South Carolina, I have been around religion and the church my whole life. I attended church services weekly, usually supplemented with a youth group or other various activities. While I did not necessarily have a bad experience with the church, what drew me more to Christianity was a non-profit ministry organization called Young Life. I was drawn to Young Life from an early age and started attending in early middle school. I enjoyed that it was catered to my age and was more focused on events. From the music to the message, all of it was more simplistic and I was able to grasp what Jesus actually meant for me personally. The way messages were shared was more applicable to my life and was spoken in a way that made sense to me as a middle schooler. Each week, Young Life’s main event “club” has a short talk at the end about the story from the Bible. At the end of each club, a leader stands up and gives a “talk” which is essentially a brief message about a story in the Bible. They are written in simplistic terms so anyone is able to understand what the leader is trying to convey. At this age, I often left church confused and quite honestly found it boring. Young Life club was vastly different from anything I had experienced in a church service. Club talks helped me understand what the Bible said about Christianity because they were always spoken in terms I could understand and comprehend. They were also spoken by college-aged leaders that I felt more comfortable listening to than my older male preacher. I felt like I could be myself around them because they weren’t as far from my stage of life, and could empathize with things I was going through. They were inviting, approachable, and welcoming. I was always included and invited into what they were speaking about, something vastly different from what I experienced as a youth in the church.
I additionally became involved because it was inclusive and anyone from my school was able to attend. I became even more involved in high school, as I was continually welcomed into this community. I served at a camp for a summer and was active in the events. This helped develop a relationship-driven version of religion in my life because I had people surrounding me and guiding me into what I was searching for in religion: purpose. In a quest to find a sense of meaning in my life, I have found that a relational approach has been the most consequential in giving me a sense of purpose. In the church I heard about a distant God that did not have much involvement in my personal life. Young Life described Jesus as a person who pursued me and wanted to befriend me. This changed my entire view of religion.
The “relational approach” of Young Life is essentially to meet kids where they are. Whether this is in a lunchroom, or at a sporting event, Young Life leaders were present in the same places I was. Young Life provided me with people that pushed me to discover what my purpose was, and created environments where I could discuss and delve into my purpose with others.
My leaders were greatly involved in my life and served a large role in my personal faith. They came to my track meets, planned fun events for me, and went out of their way to spend time with me. This form of “religion” stood out to me compared to what I had experienced in the church because it was relationally driven. My experiences with the church were primarily hearing a sermon or message then leaving. This form of ritual communication didn’t stick with me throughout the week. I often left what I heard in church inside the building, making my religion defined to a Sunday. It boxed my narrow view of religion into one day a week. Young Life offered me friends that wanted to walk alongside me throughout the entire week, as I was told about a God who was not just present on Sundays.
This could be viewed as a “subcultural” as it is distinct from but related to the dominant cultural practices of Christianity. While Young Life is separate from the institutional church, it serves a supporting role in creating a subcultural space specifically for the youth.
Because of my positive experiences with Young Life in high school, I am now a volunteer leader at a local high school. My motivation behind becoming a leader is to show high schoolers the care and intention my leaders showed me, and hope to show them a less rigid Christianity than what is pushed in so many churches. With a team of other college leaders, I help plan, promote, and facilitate weekly events while building relationships with high schoolers within the school.
The most impactful element of being a volunteer leader thus far has been taking some of my high school friends to camp. Each year, Young Life camps across the nation host a week-long camp experience for high schoolers and middle schoolers to attend. While camp has many fun activities and games, the purpose of camp is to share the story of the gospel over the course of a week. This is executed through daily “clubs” that end with a message, each sequentially going through a section of the gospel story as the week goes on. I have found this approach to Christianity different from others because it introduces kids to the story of the Gospel while still showing them that life as a Christian can still be fun and exciting. Young Life camp is also leader-centered. The leaders run daily “cabin time” discussions after the “talks” that help answer kid’s questions and guide them through what the speaker talks about. The leader also guides activities and games, while building relationships with the kids in their cabin. My experience as a leader at camp was impactful because I feel like I was able to build deeper relationships with my high school friends and carry those relationships into their lives at home as well. Typically, religious-affiliated summer camps hire counselors that befriend campers throughout the summer, then go home to a different place. I have found Young Life camp to be effective because leaders continue to be a part of a camper’s high school experience after the week of camp is over. I was able to hear about the lives of certain kids, then continue to be invested in their life when we got home.
Young Life has a mission to explain the gospel story in terms that students will understand. While this is accomplished in how the speakers communicate, it is also accomplished through creating an environment that high schoolers feel comfortable in. I think Young Life’s approach to religion is different from most religious institutions because it involves having fun and doing things catered to what they enjoy. It doesn’t just push a particular agenda; it invites kids into an exciting and inviting atmosphere. I have found great value in how Young Life has emphasized relationships in how it approaches Christianity.
I spoke with some consistent attendants of Pickens High Young Life, the high school where I lead. I asked them why they were drawn to Young Life and why they kept coming back. The consistent theme that arose from these conversations was that they were drawn relational aspect of Young Life. One student said she attends regularly because has been able to “form relationships with people I can’t find anywhere else; they have become my family.” Another high schooler said she is drawn to Young Life because it is “a place I feel comfortable, I never feel too embarrassed to participate.” I think these statements emphasize the relational approach Young Life has to religion. It is structured around building a sense of community within the school.
I have found many Christian non-profits to be useful in coming alongside the church by accomplishing a mission for a specific audience. The relational approach of Young Life to accomplish their “mission” has shaped my view of religion and what role I want it to play in my life. While Young Life has not pushed me away from the institutional church, it has helped me to better understand what Christianity means to my personal faith and provided me with a sense of community within my school. I was given the space to have fun and be myself as well as the space to be vulnerable with other people from my school. Because Young Life had such a large impact on my life, I became a leader to show other high schoolers that religion isn’t necessarily a rigid, monotonous practice that I experienced in the church I attended. I now consider my approach to religion relational because of the influence Young Life has had on my life. Its subcultural space serves a unique purpose because it places value on how youth are able to connect and grow with each other in a quest for purpose.
