Young Life Partnership

Our Mission

Reach out to adolescent youth so that we may share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith.

Our Approach

The Northminster Young Life partnership is modeling our approach after that which has been successfully used by Young Life since 1940 to reach disinterested and unchurched kids with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The partnership is using a relational and friendship style of evangelism to reach every kid. Leaders spend many hours entering the world of the adolescent, “winning the right to be heard” with the most alienated kids. The partnership is hosting a Young Life Club at Northminster and is leveraging the camping programs of both Young Life and the Presbyterian Church. Through the Club activities and the camping programs, we seek to introduce kids to Jesus Christ, help them grow in their faith, and plug them into a local church.

In summary the Northminster Young Life partnership is:

  • Praying for young people.
  • Going where the kids are.
  • Building personal relationships with them.
  • Winning the right to be heard.
  • Providing experiences that are fun, adventurous, and life changing.
  • Sharing our lives and the Good News of Jesus Christ with adolescents.
  • Inviting them to personally respond to this Good News.
  • Loving them regardless of their response.
  • Helping young people develop the skills, assets, and attitudes to reach their full God-given potential.
  • Helping kids and their families live connected to the Body of Christ by being an active member of a local Church — not necessarily Northminster

Our Components

Christ

Christ is our model and the cornerstone of everything that the Northminster Young Life Partnership does.

Contact Work

Daring to enter the world of adolescents, adult leaders are meeting kids on “their turf” at sporting events, school activities, fast food restaurants, and malls. It is on “their turf” that our leaders begin to build genuine relationships with kids – one by one.

WyldLife Club

Wyldlife club is a weekly Young Life style meeting tailored to the Jr. High School audience. In many respects it mirrors the traditional Young Life High School Club. Wyldlife club is full of “controlled chaos,” humor, singing, and games. It is designed to reach both churched and disinterested unchurched kids who have no idea who Jesus Christ is. The key difference in the meetings is that the gospel message presented is usually about 5 minutes shorter than a typical Young Life club. The Wyldlife proclamation of the gospel typically last 10 minutes instead of the High School norm of 15 (this is done to more appropriately minister to the shorter attention span most Jr. Highers have!).

Young Life Club

A weekly meeting that is filled with humor, singing, games, and a brief message about God in simple terms that unchurched and disinterested kids can understand. Club has been referred to as “controlled chaos”, but we see it as an unparalleled opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Campaigners

Weekly Bible studies where kids can ask real questions and hear honest answers about their struggles, their fears, and who God is.

Camp

More than 60,000 kids experience the “best week of their lives” at one of Young Life’s 25 national properties each year. Camp is designed to provides kids with fun, adventure, challenges, and a chance to consider a personal relationship with God.

Committee Structure

Committee is the backbone of local Young Life ministry and the Northminster Young Life Partnership. These adults are committed to the joint youth ministries in the local area and support the ministry by praying for the community, providing the resources, and caring for the people who work directly with kids.

Northminster is actively involved with the ministry of Young Life in San Diego through the participation of the Northminster Youth Ministries Committee members. Young Life is also actively involved with the Northminster Young Life Partnership through the active participation of the Young Life Area Director for the San Diego City North with the Northminster

Youth Mission Team

The Northminster Youth Mission Team is working across all Northminster Session standing committees to:

  • Develop the NPC/Young Life partnership into a primary community outreach for NPC.
  • Manage resources allocated by the Session in support of the NPC/Young Life partnership.
  • Optimize the NPC investment in youth ministry.
  • Overcome obstacles to effective youth ministry.
  • Inform, negotiate, obtain approval for, and report on activities of the committee to the standing committees and Session as appropriate.
  • Work to make Presbytery of San Diego resources available to Young Life.
  • Report to the Session via the NPC Executive Committee.
  • Work with the NPC Youth Intern and the Young Life Intern to provide administrative support and guidance as required.

The Northminster Youth Ministries Committee is working with the Young Life San Diego City North Area Committee to:

  • Develop the NPC/Young Life partnership into a bridge between Young Life, NPC and other organizations (e.g., churches, schools, businesses) in the San Diego City North area.
  • Overcome obstacles to effective youth ministry.
  • Manage any resources, which may be allocated by Young Life in support of the NPC/Young Life partnership.
  • Participate in Young Life fundraising activities.
  • Make the youth ministry resources of Young Life available to NPC and other area churches.

Our Staff

Christ

Christ is an active partner in our youth ministry at Northminster.

Northminster Youth Ministry Director

The Northminster Youth Ministry Director is also a Young Life Area Director providing leadership for the program and the bridge to Young Life, coordinating the volunteer staff, and interacting with the kids on a daily basis.

College Staff

The College Staff are those on the front line, going where the kids are, implementing the relational style of ministry that has been adopted by the Northminster Partnership. They are dedicated volunteers who, when not working with our kids, are full time college students in San Diego. They do not get paid for their time and typically pay their own way to participate in the programs and camps supported by the partnership.

The College Staff participate in a training program that is conducted every year by Young Life. This training program is mandatory and communicates the do’s and don’ts of youth work and the vision of the ministry.

Volunteers

Volunteers from Northminster and the community are encouraged to participate in the program.

Our Program

The impact of the youth program meeting at Northminster Presbyterian each week is substantial. Each week approximately 50-100 Jr. High, Senior High, and College age volunteers involved in leadership are positively affected. That number is substantially larger during weeks with special out reach events such as (All city Club, Car rallies, Dances, etc…)

The typical number of kids that participate each week will be ~25 for Wyldlife (Jr. high Outreach Ministry) ~ 20 to 50 for Young Life (High School Outreach Ministry) and 10-30 for Campaigners (High School/College Bible Study). These numbers are based on the number of kids that were participating at the end of the last school year. The numbers may at times be significantly larger

Along with weekly outreach meetings and Bible study, between 50 and 100 kids will attend Young life, Wyldlife, and Presbyterian Camps with us each year. These camps are designed to give kids the “best week of their lives” and provide them with an opportunity to get a look at who Jesus Christ really is. Most students that attend these camps will leave with a firmly founded relationship with Jesus Christ.

The program’s impact, however, doesn’t just happen on days we have programmed activities, or while we are off at camp. The basic approach is to go where kids are and earn the right to be heard, build relationships based on trust, and then share the Gospel. What that means is that our volunteers get involved in kids lives. They go where kids are. They coach sports teams, attend games, volunteer for tutoring, take groups of kids to places like the beach, the mall, etc. They meet parents, teachers, and administrators. They are constantly sharing the gospel by sharing their time and their lives.

Many relationships that are established between the kids and their leaders will follow them throughout the remainder of their lives. When a program like the one we currently have in place is given the opportunity to flourish, the Gospel will be proclaimed in a way that reaches the unreachable. Through a mix of fun, humor, singing, and sharing, Jesus Christ is shared and lives are changed eternally.

Our Results

Chelsea mentors/coaches/guides twelve leaders, each of which reach out to about 8 to 10 kids (going deeper with maybe 3 or h4). We have leaders in 6 schools now participating in tutoring, after school programs and athletics. 30 kids are going each week to Beach Days this summer. During the school year, 15-20 attend Wyldlyfe consistently, and 25-30 attend Club. Anywhere from 12 to 15 attend Campaigners Bible Study during the year. If you put up a dot for every one of these contacts, it shows just how much impact this ministry is having in sharing God’s love with the Clairemont community.

Resource Requirements

Northminster, Young Life, and the Community are providing the resources required to support the program of the Northminster Young Life Partnership. Financial resources are primarily provided by the church budget and designated funds.

The College Staff is a resource that is jointly recruited on area College Campuses every year by Northminster and Young Life.