WyldLife: get 'em while they're young
November 7, 2011 10:45 PM Subscribe
As a 40-something atheist, the thought has never crossed my mind to dress up as a rabbit, "show some skin," or "hang out where the kids are" to recruit children to some proselytizing "fun club." For obvious reasons, I think. Yet, this is considered acceptable, friendly, indeed admirable for 40-somethings to recruit children if they're doing so on behalf of Young Life/WyldLife.
WyldLife is the branch of the fundamentalist Christian Young Life that specifically targets and trains teenage "Campaigners" to model strategies, deploy scenarios, and market their religion to children. Young Life ostensibly focuses on high school students, while WyldLife focuses on middle schoolers. The problem is that there appears to be no clear delineation, as indicated in most videos, of which this How to Get 50 Kids To Sign Up Quickly video is fairly representative.
The emphasis is on fun, friendship, and "safety." The word "safe" comes up frequently. A clear talking point. Safe from what? Most videos on YouTube rarely, if ever, mention the evangelism or Christian message, opting instead for endless footage of zip lines, ice cream, and water slides.
A rather detailed, brutally candid, examination of the organization and experiences from both former participants as well as current members of the group takes place on this thread.
>> Young Life explains to its leaders that they must attract the popular or second-tier popular students to Club (the so-called fun night which is a cover for proselytizing) because then the less popular kids will want to attend, thereby maximizing return for effort. (I attended a leader training conference two times, and both times a ladder was drawn representing the tiers of high school groups, with popular athletes being at the top and alternative/goth kids being at the bottom, and the second tier was circled for emphasis).
WyldLife is the branch of the fundamentalist Christian Young Life that specifically targets and trains teenage "Campaigners" to model strategies, deploy scenarios, and market their religion to children. Young Life ostensibly focuses on high school students, while WyldLife focuses on middle schoolers. The problem is that there appears to be no clear delineation, as indicated in most videos, of which this How to Get 50 Kids To Sign Up Quickly video is fairly representative.
The emphasis is on fun, friendship, and "safety." The word "safe" comes up frequently. A clear talking point. Safe from what? Most videos on YouTube rarely, if ever, mention the evangelism or Christian message, opting instead for endless footage of zip lines, ice cream, and water slides.
A rather detailed, brutally candid, examination of the organization and experiences from both former participants as well as current members of the group takes place on this thread.
>> Young Life explains to its leaders that they must attract the popular or second-tier popular students to Club (the so-called fun night which is a cover for proselytizing) because then the less popular kids will want to attend, thereby maximizing return for effort. (I attended a leader training conference two times, and both times a ladder was drawn representing the tiers of high school groups, with popular athletes being at the top and alternative/goth kids being at the bottom, and the second tier was circled for emphasis).
This post was deleted for the following reason: With the sort of chatty personal/editorial tone of this, it reads more like a blog post than something for the front page of Mefi. Maybe rewrite and try again later if this is worth posting about as something other than just "look at this crappy organization". -- cortex
Let me guess: they drive the "leaders" around the country in vans. They spend a week in a community (depending on its size), and sleep 4 to a hotel room. The day starts early - after donuts and orange juice (and a quick prayer), the leaders are driven to a neighborhood where they begin the sign-up process. They have to knock on doors to get signups, but it's sad, because the children are nowhere to be found.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:49 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by KokuRyu at 10:49 PM on November 7, 2011
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posted by vidur at 10:49 PM on November 7, 2011