Dear Friends:
What is the vision, goal, and purpose of our Kairos youth work? Great question! This month we want to explain how we are sharpening our vision and focus to serve youth more effectively.
We have become clearer in recent years that our main mission is to teens, from middle school through high school. This includes helping them “launch” into supportive Christian environments: college or mission or employment. How do we do that?
First off, we work to help awaken an “adventuresome faith.” We want our young people to know that following the Lord can be the greatest adventure of their lives! Kairos sponsors high-impact events that call for a “discipleship response.” These are events that help teens build relationships with other Christian teens; that help them form an identity as a disciple of Christ; where great memories are made; and that offer teens a way to serve in return.
We offer young people a place in Christ’s mission. We help youth workers, parents, and leaders in their local situations to do the same. We are looking for a generous response to the Lord from our young people!
Sounds great, James, but how is this done?
Over the years, we have found that the annual high school YES! Retreat has been hugely effective in calling teens to Christ and moving them forward in their walk with Him. But, starting this summer, we will also be holding “class” trips (from 7 th – 12 th grades) that are much more narrowly focused on the needs of young people in each year of their teenage lives, which includes building relationships with peers.
For our post-high school youth, we will offer them the opportunity to serve as Kairos Adventure Guides on our many adventure trips. This will be an internship that goes for the whole summer, with opportunity to extend it into the fall.
We will continue to provide training – in person and virtually – for youth workers. A yearly “Youth Workers Summit” will be an important part of this. We will also help parents negotiate the “bridging points” where youth can most easily lose their Christian faith (e.g., the move from high school to college). We will hold a yearly online Parent Forum specifically to help parents deal with the media challenges their young person may be having.
In the next couple of months, we will explain more fully about these programs and how we are envisioning their blessings for our youth. We are moving ahead with the YES! Retreat this month, despite obvious challenges. We do not want to squander any opportunity to work with, call, and bring youth closer to Christ.
One of the blessings of the COVID-19 “down time” has been the opportunity to pray and plan and reimagine some of our programs. We are excited about the sharper focus and new initiatives. As you can see below, one of the important practical needs is for vans to transport our youth and staff to and from adventure trip locations. We are genuinely excited about the future of Kairos youth work.
Thank you so much for standing with us during this time.
Your brother in Christ,
James Munk
Kairos Director
