Empowering Youth through mentoring
Youth for Christ seeks to empower young people spiritually, socially, and emotionally and connect them to Jesus. The principal way we do this is through building authentic, Christ-centered mentoring relationships with youth. “Mentoring, at its core, guarantees young people that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges and makes them feel like they matter” (1). At YFC, we walk alongside youth so they know they have people in their corner, and so they can find and know their heavenly father.
Mentors’ impacts on a young person at Stateline YFC
For one young person who has been involved at Stateline YFC, he’s had the opportunity to interact with several adult mentors and the safe spaces they’ve created for him and his peers. He remembers meeting one staff member several years ago in the community. They kept showing up and interacting with him and he noticed. As he started coming to more programming, he had even more opportunities to build new relationships and experienced other benefits: “It was nice to be able to start talking to a leader. I also felt like I had stuff to do after school if I needed to.” His experience at camp was even more impactful. “I had opportunities before to open up and share with people, but I never took them until camp. Then hearing other people open up made it easier for me to open up.”
“Having [my mentor] has helped me a lot in growing as a person. Having a figure in my life to show me the right direction has really been important to me.”
The power of having mentors continued to shape him. “When I first met [another leader] I thought she was cool and nice, but I really didn’t like that she put others before herself… I was very selfish at the time, but when I got older I realized why she was doing what she was doing and that she was just helping others. I was selfish and didn’t help others. I believed in God, but he wasn’t my first priority. Eventually, I started to realize all of this and that I needed to open up and share it with somebody else.” This student continued to be mentored by another staff member who poured into his life. The student recalled receiving life lessons and growth and his foundation being built. He said he started to see the shifts in himself really when his mentor called out the positive changes and thought, he was right. “It was a compliment and made me feel like I can still change.”
This young person has since matured out of YFC programming and is serving in the military, but said that he has, “taken the relationships and growth that I’ve had, and even the training and resources for the military. Having [my mentor] has helped me a lot in growing as a person. Having a figure in my life to show me the right direction has really been important to me.”
Why Mentoring
Research shows that mentoring on its own brings a myriad of benefits: “increased high school graduation rates, healthier relationships and lifestyle choices, enhanced self-esteem and self- confidence” (2) among several other benefits. We believe that the positive change experienced in mentoring will only be multiplied when Christ gets introduced. Yet we also know that, “At least 1 in 3 young people will grow up without a mentor” (3).
Young people need people like you to step into the gap with them and show them that they matter. Learn more about volunteering as a ministry leader at YFC here.
(1) “Mentoring Impact. Connect with a Young Person.” MENTOR, Mentoring.org, 29 Nov. 2023, www.mentoring.org/mentoring-impact/.
(2) “Benefits of Mentoring for Young People.” Youth.gov, https://youth.gov/youth-topics/mentoring/benefits-mentoring-young-people.
(3) “Mentoring Impact. Connect with a Young Person.” MENTOR, Mentoring.org, 29 Nov. 2023, www.mentoring.org/mentoring-impact/.
