• BC Christian News • DECEMBER ISSUE 1998 • VOL. 18 #12 • Formerly "Christian Info News" •

Teen Challenge helps teens find a brighter future
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By Anne Eapen

BC Teen Challenge has opened a group home in Richmond for girls in grades 10 - 12, with an emphasis on Christian discipleship. The target clientele are girls with some type of Christian background who are having problems living at home, either because of a dysfunctional home environment or involvement with negative peer influences.

The Teen Challenge program is one year in length, and seeks to instil biblical values that will last a lifetime. The girls go to school during the day, but after school, evenings, and on weekends they are involved in program activities. A heavy emphasis is placed on church attendance, Bible studies, and one-on-one counselling. Girls are also given the opportunity to gain practical work experience, and to do volunteer work in the community.

Duncan Galland talks to girls at Teen Challenge's group home in Richmond.

"Perhaps the biggest adjustment that girls have to make when coming into our program is the limitation on their freedom," says Duncan Galland, Teen Challenge executive director. "They see this as a detriment, when in reality it is usually too much freedom that has led to the problems that they are having. So many kids these days are running wild, able to do whatever they want, but deep inside they're miserable as a result. Once we can show them that where there are boundaries there is greater personal growth and security, then they respond in a very positive way."

Girls who enter the program are limited as to who they can associate with and what they can do. For example, they are not allowed to smoke or to have boyfriends while at Teen Challenge. They must also break off all contact with any peers that they associated with before entering the program.

"The idea is to separate them from their previous lifestyle for one year, and during that time to give them a new worldview, a new frame of reference," says Galland. "We want to see them associate with kids from church who will have a positive influence on them. After that, when they go back home, hopefully they will have lost all desire to associate with kids who are involved with drug use or other destructive behavior."

There is a monthly tuition fee for students entering the program, but full or partial scholarships are available for those needing financial assistance.

Focus on teens

The Teen Challenge ministry is available in 60 countries and ministers primarily to young men from the age of 16 . . . and up to 60 in some places! "What I'd like to do is bring the focus back on teens," explains Galland, who spent most of his career in management at two large U.S. stock brokerage companies.

Originally from New Orleans, 46 year old Galland attended Regent College where he received his Masters in Christian Studies. He's been at the helm of Teen Challenge for just over 18 months.

"I've come to realize that, in working with young people, it's not enough to merely get them cleaned up, off drugs, etc.," Galland contends. "The need is to motivate them to live that way forever, and not just as long as they are in our program."

Citing Philippians 3:13 -14, Galland says that Paul not only exhorts believers to forget the past, but to press forward into the upward call of God. "If all we do is teach them how to stop messing their lives up, we've only fulfilled the first part of that verse. It is the vision of the upward calling that brings permanent change." notes Galland.

Boarding school vision

And the vision Galland has for this ministry takes shape in the form of a Christian boarding school for troubled youth. He'd like to be able to establish it "somewhere in the country and have it available for anyone in need. The focus of our program and of the school that we eventually hope to establish, is to instil in these kids a vision for ministry. It is this impartation of the vision of the ministry that permanently changes young lives, and is the key to what we hope to accomplish."

He says that although the government has such programs set up, they are not particularly effective. "The Ministry [of Children and Families] has a revolving door program -- it doesn't provide stability and there's minimal follow-up. That's why what they are doing doesn't work -- what we do, does . . . now if only some people with money could help us out!" Galland is looking for "no-strings attached" funding and is banking on sparking interest in prospective benefactors.

Anyone interested in helping out or obtaining an application for the Girls Residential Discipleship program is invited to phone Duncan Galland at (604) 214-0850.