It's all about being out there in the world of kids, building relationships of authentic friendship. These relationships don’t happen overnight—they take time, patience, trust, and consistency.

So Young Life leaders log many hours with students—right where they are, just as they are. Leaders faithfully attend football games and band concerts, mingle with teens at the mall, and chill with students at the coffee shop. We listen to their stories and learn what’s important to them because we genuinely care about their joys, triumphs, heartaches, and setbacks. 

We believe in the power of presence. Kids’ lives are dramatically impacted when caring adults come alongside them, sharing God’s love with them. Because their leader believes in them, they begin to see that their lives have great worth, meaning, and purpose.

This is the first step of a lifelong journey; the choices they make today, based upon God’s love for them, will impact future decisions … careers chosen, marriages formed, and families raised... all ripples from that time when a Young Life leader reached out and entered their world.

WHO IS YOUNG LIFE FOR?

Everyone is welcome in Young Life! Our programs are custom-made for kids throughout their adolescent years. Here in the Mid-Valley South, Young Life is the name of our organization and is also the term we use for our program with high school students. We call our middle school program WyldLife.

We refer to our ministry to kids with disabilities as Capernaum and to our work with teen moms as YoungLives. 

A TIME-TESTED APPROACH

Young Life began with a few simple ideas about sharing the truth of God’s love with adolescents. Those simple ideas have become time-tested methods for reaching out to students in friendship and hope.