MOTHER’S DAY IS MAY 9
Youth For Christ Parent Life: Helping Teen Parents Make the Next Right Choice in Relationships, Education, Parenting and Pursuing Jesus
DENVER, Colo.— Three in 10 American teen girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. That is nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.
Youth For Christ’s (YFC) relational ministry, Parent Life, seeks to enter the lives of young parents and their children through authentic and intentional mentoring relationships with caring adults. Parent Life pursues young parents, through community partnerships as well as in middle schools, highs schools and alternative schools. This Mother’s Day – as in everyday– YFC Parent Life ministries will continue to reach out to teen moms across the country.
“I am honored to be able to come alongside YFC Parent Life directors across the country and help remove as many barriers as possible for teen parents with the love of Jesus and empowering others to do the same,” stated Anabelle Chambers, YFC USA’s National Parent Life Lead.
Through creative programming, Parent Life emphasizes making the “next right choice” in relationships, education, parenting and pursuing Jesus to make the most of their circumstances.
“Teen parents look different than they may have looked in years past,” says Yasmin Cline, director of Parent Life at Central Indiana YFC. “That’s where communities of support like Parent Life help: we come alongside and unearth the shame, unearth the generational poverty, unearth the judgment. We provide a community where people can get to know one another and learn their attributes and encourage [the teens] towards school, towards a job, towards healthy parenting.”
Throughout the YFC USA ministry, local chapters are making a difference in their communities with the Parent Life ministry.
Denver YFC Parent Life in Colorado continues to prepare teen moms and dads for the workforce through mentorship from community leaders. The ministry also provides the teens with “spiritual wellness packages” that are filled with encouraging notes, Scriptures and activities for teen parents and their kid(s).
YFC Lubbock Parent Life in Texas continues to offer “A Baby Boutique,” an incentive program that empowers teen parents to make good choices and teaches responsibility. Parent Life teens earn points called “Baby Bucks” that they can use to purchase items from the Baby Boutique. In addition, the ministry provides Tuesday Night Dinners, where teens can receive emotional and spiritual support, encouragement and resources to help them be the best parents they can for their babies. The dinners are a time for the Parent Life mentors and Parent Life teens to connect and build relationships as they eat together.
“When you provide someone with resources, you guide them, you give them heroes, you give them advocates and they learn how to advocate for themselves,” said Cameray Vican, GoodWill Industries and a YFC community partner in the Indianapolis area.
“God does a beautiful thing: when you obey and you simply move forward, He will equip you along the way. It’s faithful Christians, just walking and moving and going to places they wouldn’t normally go. And then letting God just show them the world,” concluded Cline.
Youth For Christ has chapters impacting thousands of communities across the nation that seek out and serve youth from all walks of life. Many teens are silently struggling through a variety of challenging issues—and now they see the living power of a loving God.
YFC encourages staff and volunteers to be good news while also sharing the stories of the Good News of Jesus. It involves building relationships through the ups and downs of everyday life in order to lead people to Christ.
YFC has been a pillar of missional ministry since 1944, when the Rev. Billy Graham served as YFC’s first full-time staff member. Since then, Youth For Christ has continued to be both a rural and urban ministry on mission, and it is always about the message of Jesus. YFC reaches young people everywhere, working together with the local church and other like-minded partners to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who lead by their godliness in lifestyle, devotion to the Word of God and prayer, passion for sharing the love of Christ, and commitment to social involvement. Youth For Christ operates in over 100 nations and has more than 160 chapters that impact communities across America.
Visit the Youth For Christ media page here. Learn more about Youth For Christ at its website, www.yfc.net, Facebook and Instagram pages, Twitter feed @yfcusa or on Vimeo.
