Liberty Welcomes New Chapter of YoungLife
A new chapter of College YoungLife looks to find its home on Liberty University’s campus during the spring semester.
Established in 1941, YoungLife is a Christian ministry dedicated to equipping college students to act as missionaries in communities of unreached adolescents.
“Most of our volunteer leaders are Liberty students,” YoungLife Central Virginia Area Director Allen Miller said. “We have around 50 students who are active leaders. I would say maybe half to two-thirds of the kids who are currently coming were not involved in YoungLife in high school, so this is all new to them.”
Once a volunteer leader himself, Allen Miller has worked for YoungLife as the Central Virginia Area Director for 29 years. Miller currently hosts a class in DeMoss Hall every Thursday at 7 p.m. for students who are involved or interested in joining YoungLife.
“There’s no obligation for kids who come to this meeting to be YoungLife leaders,” Miller said. “We just talk and kick around this idea of reaching lost kids and the technique of building relationships with them and earning the right to hear and be heard.”
After proper training, YoungLife volunteer leaders are assigned in groups to various high schools and middle schools in the area where they form relationships with the youth in hopes of leading them to Christ.
Unlike traditional youth groups, YoungLife focuses on going into the community rather than having the community come to them. According to Miller, most of the networking is done through word of mouth.
“We try and enter into their world and build trusting and significant relationships with them,” Miller said. “We want to make sure the relationship reaches the point where the teen knows we genuinely care about them and we’re not just building a relationship that’s going to be superficial so that we can reign them into our particular faith.”
In addition to being one of the nation’s leading youth outreach programs, YoungLife is also established in over 100 countries across the globe, including Peru, Russia, Guatemala, the Philippines, Uganda, Cambodia, Brazil, Kenya and El Salvador.
“My leaders average about 10 hours a week of free time that they spend with kids; that’s a lot,” Miller said. “I meet with them every week. My job is to mentor every single leader as best I can. Give them good guidance, give them a lot of encouragement, love on them like crazy — which I love to do.”
Miller says most of his days are spent at the Liberty University bookstore, where he meets with students to discuss their lives and encourage them in any way possible.
“I have had plenty of opportunities to talk to kids who just were looking for someone outside of Liberty to talk to about a personal issue they were struggling with,” Miller said. “I’m glad to do that, I’m thrilled to do that, that’s great.”
Miller adds that he encourages students to talk to the community of leadership provided on campus but enjoys his talks with Liberty students.
One of his YoungLife leaders in training, Kayla Holden, emphasizes the impact that YoungLife has had on her life and encourages other students to join.
“I would say if you’re on the fence about joining YoungLife, go for it,” Holden said. “It’s so much fun, everyone is so welcoming and the YoungLife community in itself is just great. You won’t regret it.”
Addi Tarr is a News Reporter. Follow her on Twitter at @addi_tarr.