Young Life is an international Christian youth organization based Colorado Springs, Colorado. Young Life offers week-long Summer camps with the stated goal of evangelizing to teenagers.
The organization was started in Gainesville, Texas in 1941 by Presbyterian minister Jim Rayburn and is currently led by president and CEO Newt Crenshaw.[3] Young Life operates globally using several different organizations with different focuses.[4]
History
In 1941, Presbyterian seminary student Jim Rayburn started Young Life to evangelize to high school students who showed no interest in Christianity. He began hosting a weekly club which featured one or two skits, as well as a simple message about Jesus.[citation needed]
The Young Life website credits the beginning to Clara Frasher, an elderly woman who around 1933 recruited friends to help her pray for teenagers attending Gainesville High School. In 1939, Rayburn who was a young seminarian, started a chapter of the Miracle Book Club. He also worked with local pastor Clyde Kennedy. In the late 1940s at Wheaton College in Illinois, the organization began using both paid staff and volunteers. Per Young Life's website, they have had partnerships with Fuller Theological Seminary, as well as other seminaries.[citation needed]
Young Life operates using the "5 C's" of contact work, club, campaigners, camp, and committee. In the 2021-2022 year, an average of 294,761 teens attended weekly club and an average of 127,709 attended weekly campaigners, and was led by 46,340 volunteer leaders.[6]
Contact work: meeting and befriending teens where they are
Club: weekly large-group meetings
Campaigners: weekly small group "bible studies" for teens wanting to grow in their faith
Camp: overnight weeklong (or weekend) camps at one of Young Life's 26 camps
Committee: parents and community members who oversee and guide Young Life in local areas
Ministry Areas
Young Life operates several different ministries with specific focuses:[7]
Young Life: a ministry for high school-aged students
Wyldlife: a ministry for middle school-aged students
Young Life College: a ministry for college-aged students
Around the World: Young Life's international ministry
Catholic Relations: a ministry for developing staff and volunteers to minister to Catholic teens, equipping practicing Catholics to serve, and working alongside Catholic parishes, schools, and universities.
Young Life maintains summer camps in 18 American states as well as camps in British Columbia, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Scotland, Armenia, and France. Overall, there are 26 camps, with 6 located outside the United States.
In addition to regular summer camps, Young Life operates 6 "adventure" camps which offer campers and their leaders unique outdoor-based experiences. In "Base Camp Adventures", campers stay in yurts or cabins while participating in daily activities whereas "Trail Adventures" allows for campers to participate in backpacking-based camping.[8] Young Life also operates two "discipleship focus" camps, a ten week long work/study program for college students.[9]
According to a 1994 Vancouver Sun newspaper article, out of 350 students attending one particular week-long session at the Malibu Camp in British Columbia, Canada, more than 100 publicly testified during the informal ceremony of "Commitment Night" on the final night saying they had committed their lives to Jesus.[13] One camper said, "You're treated like an adult. There's a lot more freedom here than other Christian camps."[13] Another camper said, "But I'm starting to feel a lot of pressure to become a Christian. I used to just sit there and agree with them, just to get them off my back. But now I'm ticked."[13]
Promotion
In 2025, Young Life partnered with Joe Gibbs Racing to replace He Gets Us as sponsor the No. 19 Toyota Supra driven by Aric Almirola in 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series races. Both JGR co-founder JD Gibbs and team president Dave Alpern were involved with Young Life.[14] Young Life would return the following year with Brent Crews in what's now the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Controversies
Statement of Non-negotiables
In November 2007, Jeff McSwain, the Area Director of Durham and Chapel Hill, along with others, publicly took issue with the organization's presentation of the concept of sin. McSwain's theology emphasizes that “God has a covenant, marriage-like relationship with the world he has created, not a contract relationship that demands obedience prior to acceptance.” McSwain also took issue with Young Life's 2007 “statement of non-negotiables”. He was not satisfied with the wording of the theological principles and felt that they sounded “more Unitarian than Trinitarian by drawing a sharp contrast between the holy God and incarnated Son who ‘actually became sin.’”[15]
Tony Jones felt that Young Life's Statement of “non-negotiables” encouraged telling staffers that “they must not introduce the concept of Jesus and his grace until the students have been sufficiently convinced of their own depravity and been allowed to stew in that depravity (preferably overnight).”.[16] This interpretation is not widely held by YL staff. Eight members of Young Life's staff based in Durham, North Carolina resigned their positions after these “non-negotiables” were announced.[17]
LGBTQ+ policy
Young Life (USA and Canada) allows LGBTQ students to participate in Young Life activities, but does not allow them to volunteer or take leadership roles. In the organization's forms, homosexuality is described as a “lifestyle” which is “clearly not in accord with God's creation purposes.” Conner Mertens, the first active college football player to come out as LGBTQ, was active in the group as a teenager, and planned to work with the group in college, but was not allowed due to his sexuality.[18][19]
Young Life's policy also extends to LGBTQ allies. Local leader Pam Elliott stepped down after being asked to remove a photo from her Facebook page showing her support for the LGBTQ community.[20][21]
In 2020, a social media campaign titled #dobetteryounglife was created to share stories by former Young Life members who were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. [22]
2021 EEOC investigation
As of 2021, Young Life was under investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly failing to protect its employees against sexual misconduct and racial discrimination.[23][2][24] One alleged victim of sexual abuse reported that she informed more than a dozen people about the harassment she faced, being told at one point that it was "God's plan" for her.[25] Her case was dismissed after she received a settlement from Young Life.[25]
A 2021 Business Insider investigation detailed allegations from nine former Young Life members across the United States who said they experienced sexual misconduct by leaders and described what they viewed as systemic failures in the organization’s reporting and accountability processes.[26]
Child Sexual Abuse Investigation
In 2025, multiple young people in Carroll County, Maryland, came forward with allegations of sexual abuse involving a former Young Life leader, Justin Rieger, prompting a criminal investigation by local law enforcement.[27] The Sheriff's office found child sexual abuse material on Rieger's phone but the investigation was concluded after the suicide of Rieger.[28]
↑"Oasis in the high desert". East Oregonian. 13 December 2018. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2022. Young Life camp was once a huge sheep ranch and later a spiritual retreat for followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
↑"Cheering on Aaron". www.younglife.org/relationships/pages/2013/04/cheeringonaaron.aspx. Archived from the original on 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
