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ANDREW and Sarah McWilliam are new to Vernon, but they have been around Young
Life (YL) and youth ministry work for at least a decade. They and their three
children recently moved from Duncan, on Vancouver Island.
Andrew and Sarah were the instigators of the YL clubs in Duncan, and were there
for six years. She was a nurse by profession and he was a youth pastor at
Calvary Baptist Church in Chemainus.
It was the particular Young Life outreach approach – working with young people who mostly do not go to church – that persuaded the couple to go into YL work.
In Vernon, YL is working with about 30 young people from Kalamalka and Vernon
high schools. There is obviously room for growth, with a total enrolment of
about 1,500 in the two schools.
But the work is personal and relational, so the emphasis is not strongly on
numbers.
The Young Life approach, in McWilliam’s words, is simple: “Going to where kids are at; seeking them out, in public venues and high schools.”
McWilliam particularly notes two YL features: the club talk, which is a regular
part of the weekly club meeting; and the camp experience, which takes place at
RockRidge Canyon, near Princeton. The camp accommodates up to 250 young people
at a time.
The club meeting, McWilliam says, is a “relational program. Attenders are invited by friends. There is a mixer game. The
meeting is held on ‘neutral ground’ at someone’s house. There are skits. We sing songs. Then, in the club talk, we share the
gospel – 10 minutes a time, over the whole school semester.”
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McWilliam notes that YL “has not changed its way of working since 1954, when it started in Canada. The
essentials are loving teenagers, and helping them in learning to know Jesus
Christ.”
– Lloyd Mackey
November 2009
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