USA (MNN) — Summer is just around the corner, and the urban ministries of Young Life are getting ready for the camping season.
Young Life’s Jim Dyson says this is a huge part of their outreach in urban schools across the USA. “All year long leaders and staff people are developing relationships with kids and helping them end up on one of our summer camp trips.”
The camps are set up for disinterested kids, those who are unchurched and from urban communities. Young Life hopes to help 8000 urban kids get to camp with “camperships,” their scholarship fund that helps cover some of the $600 that a week of camp costs.
But Dyson says, “One of the things we do require is that every kid pays something, even if they live in poverty. We feel that it’s really important for a kid to pay part of his or her way to camp.”
Campers get to experience a fun week of camp activities, getting them out of their everyday lives and into one of the 25 Young Life camps all across the US. But, it’s not just about a fun week of camp, says Dyson. “For many of them, it gives them an opportunity to take a real hard look at the person of Jesus Christ, and what He can do in their lives. So it creates this safe environment where the Gospel can be communicated.”
To help impact teens’ lives for Christ this summer by giving to the Campership fund, call the Young Life service center in Colorado at 719.381.1800, or go to the Young Life website by following the highlighted link above.
