Ten Young Life employees in North Carolina either were fired or resigned late last year, apparent casualties of an effort by the organization to promote theological uniformity.
The youth ministry workers, serving in the Durham-Chapel Hill region, apparently were forced out after they took issue with a key point in Young Life’s Nov. 8 statement called “Non-Negotiables of Young Life’s Gospel Proclamation.”
While Young Life characterized the proclamation as “our best attempt to help our staff and volunteers present the person and love of Jesus Christ,” critics worry the parachurch organization—one of Christianity’s largest—is stepping toward a new form of corporate-driven fundamentalism.
“I just think there’s some kind of fear going on in Young Life,” said Christian Smith, professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame.
Young Life has long been a model of big-tent Christian outreach, touching hundreds of thousands of teens and college-age students through clubs, camps and other efforts. The organization, based in Colorado Springs, employs nearly 3,200 staff (and works with another 27,000 volunteers) who work in every state and more than 50 countries.
It’s also been a long-time proponent of spreading the gospel through one-on-one relationships and organic evangelism, which is why some observers were taken aback by the new proclamation.
“American evangelicalism has thrived in part by agreeing to disagree on a lot of difficult matters. I believe that this is pulling back from that,” said Smith, a longtime Young Life supporter and friend of Durham’s fired Young Life leader, Jeff McSwain.
The Young Life proclamation emphasized, in essence, a step-by-step process in which staff are to teach their young charges about Christianity: First convince youth of “the reality and consequences of sin,” and only then tell them about Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection.
That approach, common operating practice within Young Life well before the proclamation, irked McSwain, who wrote a paper last August called “Jesus Is the Gospel.”
McSwain argued that Young Life’s traditional approach was both harsh and perhaps theologically unsound. Not only did it require kids to wallow in their sin for a bit, but the technique also suggested (according to McSwain) that salvation wasn’t a pure act of grace: The string attached was the necessity to repent first. Some people, he said, repent after they learn they’re saved—not before.
Some believe that Young Life’s non-negotiable proclamation was written, in part, as a response to McSwain’s paper.
According to a letter written by Elizabeth Thompson, former Young Life staffer in Durham, McSwain was fired November 28 because of his disagreements with the proclamation. Thompson, who worked in Young Life’s special-ed Capernaum ministry, was fired Nov. 30 after she told Young Life officials that she, too, disagreed with the proclamation.
Young Life officials say that no one has been forced to officially sign the proclamation, and the organization declines to talk about “employment details regarding staff and former staff.”
Theology isn’t the only issue at play. According to Smith, the document suggests that Young Life may embracing a more corporate, consumer-driven business model. “Leadership is turning into business management,” he said. “A lot of people that I talk to question whether a ministry like this should be run this way.”
Ministry spokesman Terry Swenson, though, is baffled by the hubbub. Most staff have accepted the proclamation, and they’re still doing the same great work they always have.
“A caricature of Young Life has emerged that is almost bizarre,” Swenson said. “Young Life hasn’t changed. Young Life is still out there with all kinds of kids, walking with them in love, sharing the gospel in the context of relationships, acceptance and grace.”
