Merry Christmas from YFC!
I was at a missions conference at a Bible College this fall, and I was chatting with representatives from other mission organizations and had a bit of a revelation. These organizations do amazing work in other countries, but I realized that most of these countries had higher percentages of believers than public high schools in Prince George. In my research of local churches in Prince George, there are roughly 150 youth in church youth programs. There are approximately 4000 youth in School District 57. Even if we're generous and round up to 200 youth that means that 95 percent of young people in Prince George are not being reached with the hope that we celebrate at Christmas, the incarnate Savior, and the incredible message that they are loved, that they are valued, and that there is hope in this life and the next through Jesus.
So we have a lot of work to do and we're going to keep working to reach that goal in 2022 and beyond. We'll continue in the next year is to continue to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of youth, despite the challenges of living in a Covid-19 world, and in the coming year we want to specifically recruit more workers to pioneer a sports outreach ministry and a creative arts ministry. But I'm also extremely proud of the work our staff are doing each and every day to accomplish our mission and I wanted to share our impact in this letter. I also want to highlight that this percentage is significantly better in Mackenzie where our youth centre is located.
Conservatively, we estimate that 10 percent of youth in Mackenzie are involved in YFC programming in Mackenzie. We don't take credit for that, it's a testament to the community support of our work in Mackenzie and a whole host of other factors, but we're able to be there for youth in Mackenzie, and that happens because you're making a difference.
So thank you for your support of this mission! We don't do this alone. And as we give gifts to family and friends this year, I'd ask that you prayerfully consider giving a gift to help bring hope to youth in 2022 through YFC.
I want to see more young people find hope this coming year! From my family and to yours, we wish you a warm and merry Christmas, and the Lord's blessing in 2022,
Stephen Swan Executive Director
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