The winter retreats we have attended with other churches and ministries have revealed to Jenny and to me that every year we come back with our ever-increasing group of grounded kids who are hungry for the truth, and every year we come back to see that last year's cool youth pastor has moved on and the group with one personality last year has a new personality this year.

 

That awakening marked a turning point for us. We resolved that kids who come to know their identity, don't rely on their leaders to be image conscious - they rely on them to be real and to be there as they grow up.

 

Jenny and I had a unique situation. I worked at our local high school teaching the same students that my wife taught in kindergarten years ago. We began with a relationship and started a youth group that was not bound by church walls, but was supported by a church with a vision for ministering to kids in a way that met the kids' needs.

 

We met in our home to start with and invited any kid to hear about the truth of their identity in Christ. The teens who came created a foundation of believers who could stand with each other at school regardless of their denomination. They reached out, and together we built a community of believers.

 

To start with, the Evangelical Free Church of Burlington brought us on staff to be youth leaders and encouraged our perspective of outreach to our local community. The training we received through Exchanged Life Ministries was exactly what we needed to bring to these kids. Last year, after we had established this youth outreach, we became an independent ministry primarily supported by our church and by others with a heart for reaching today's teens.

 

We don't play youth games or entertain the kids for the sake of bringing them together. We come together to learn about "Christ as their life" and use games and object lessons to set up messages that apply to them.

 

At the same time, I make myself available to these teens to minister to their needs at the high school as they need it. Because I am there, they don't have to wait until a week later to deal with their questions, issues and situations. At the same time, Jenny has made herself available to counsel children, teen girls, and women, while handing all the organizational aspects of the ministry.

 

In this way they have leaders there who are visibly surrendered to living Christ as their lives by faith.

 

If your church is searching for how to reach teens in your community-

contact us - speak to those who support us - listen to those we've ministered to. 

We can help.