Making Jesus Attractive

The Ministry and Message of Young Life

Schoon Tanis

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781498273749
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Making Jesus Attractive is an in-depth look at the history and theology of this parachurch organization dedicated to ministry with young people. Beginning with the theological background of founder Jim Rayburn and moving through the decades of the ministry, this book examines not only the articulated theological statements of the organization but the lived theology as well. This book provides a thorough overview of the theological underpinnings of the Young Life organization and challenges their model of an attractive Christianity, providing insights that could be utilized by all youth ministry workers.

1

History

It is a black-and-white photo from the 1950s and it is a picture of Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life. He is dressed casually in khaki pants and a comfortable shirt as he leans up against the wall of the room. As he stands, hundreds of high school students are packed into the room sitting on the floor around his feet.

As I read the article that accompanies this photograph it says that Young Life is so popular in this town that the only space that is large enough to hold club is the local mortuary. More than three hundred young people gather to listen to Jim Rayburn speak to them about Jesus Christ.1 And this is not the only photograph of this kind. As I discover more and more stories of the early years of Young Life the same story resonates: Jim Rayburn is such a dynamic speaker that he often packs out rooms with young people who clamor to hear him tell stories about this person Jesus Christ. Whether it is the mortuary from this photograph, hotel ballrooms, or living rooms of large houses, Jim Rayburn has a way of attracting teenagers to hear the Good News of the gospel.

In this chapter I lay out the cultural trends that led to the formation of the Young Life organization as well as the influences of founder Jim Rayburn and the projection of the ministry since its formation in 1941. However, Young Life was not a solitary organization when formed in the 1940s; it joined a number of other evangelical youth ministries that were being established at that time. This chapter describes in detail the cultural trends that led to the parallel formation of evangelical youth ministries in the United States in the 1940s that were influential in forming the Christian identity of young people. Three main cultural trends shaped the structure of these groups: the evolving nuances of the evangelical church, the golden era of teenagers of the 1940s, and post-WWII patriotic momentum with a fervor of Christian revival. These three trends helped shape the formation of not only Young Life but also the Miracle Book Club, Youth for Christ, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.2 Though Young Life was formed in a parallel manner to other evangelical youth organizations, I will show that Young Life had specific influences that shaped their ministry and led to the current trajectory today. I will specifically address the influences of founder Jim Rayburn and the mark that he placed on the ministry of Young Life. But Young Life has moved beyond the foundational elements of Jim Rayburn, and I will address current trends in the ministry that has shaped the Young Life organization.

I also show the influencing factors of the evangelical church of the 1900s that led to independent non-denominational organizations such as the youth organizations discussed. Here I illustrate the importance of biblical foundation that was emphasized by the evangelical church using InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I explain that the emphasis of InterVarsity ministry represents the biblical foundation that formed the character of evangelical youth ministry. In the second section I discuss the golden era of teenagers illustrating the emergence of the adolescent, the role of the public high school, and the teenage consumer culture. Here the Miracle Book Club represents the emerging evangelical ministry that focused on the campus of the public school as it grew in importance in the 1930s and 40s. Because more and more young people were being educated in the public school, evangelical ministries began to focus their emphasis on or near the school campus. In the third section, post-WWII revivals, I discuss the fervor Christian leaders had for witnessing for Christ in the decades during and just after the Second World War. Here I argue that the ministry of Youth for Christ represents the importance placed on rallies and youth culture that was utilized in order to influence young people for Christ. Through their use of entertaining rallies and fast-paced proclamations of the gospel, Youth for Christ is an example of evangelical youth ministry and its emphasis on entertaining ministry and mass appeals in presenting Christ to young people.

I focus my attention on the foundation and ministry of Young Life, first discussing the founder of the ministry Jim Rayburn. Because of specific factors that shaped his life, I argue Jim Rayburn had a specific and lasting influence on the ministry. I also outline the specifics of the Young Life organization including historical details and components of the ministry. Through this movement I illustrate that, despite Young Life organizing during a similar season as other evangelical youth ministries, the ministry of Young Life leaves a distinct mark on and was innovative of youth ministry in the United States. The Young Life organization was adding its distinct mark to the youth parachurch movement within the United States in the early 1940s, including this new attitude towards relationships as argued by Root. However, the emergence of Young Life as a youth movement has as much to do with the influence of its founder as it does with the state of the evangelical church at the time. The history of the organization begins with the fundamental upbringing of founder Jim Rayburn and his formation growing up within an evangelical family.

As Pahl states, there have been changing streams in the Christian tradition of the United States, as well as distinct Christian life-paths that have been communicated to young people in the United States in the twentieth century.3 Within this chapter I will show the various streams that have led to the Christian paths of witness that have influenced the evangelical Christian organizations that work with young people in the United States as they formed in the early twentieth century. As I do this, I set out the parallel formation of organizations but also the distinct trends that shaped the Young Life Campaign.

Parallel Formation

Marsden argues that there is an overall evangelical pattern made up of diverse pieces and uses the term “evangelical mosaic” to describe the movement. He argues that many American evangelicals participate in this larger historical pattern, whether they acknowledge it or not, because they share a common heritage within the evangelical movement. Marsden argues for evangelicalism to be considered a movement rather than a category because of common heritages, tendencies, and identity that often tie evangelical bodies together in an organic manner. Though these evangelical subgroups might not acknowledge other groups or their connections to the larger evangelical movement, this common heritage connects them even in the midst of their independence.4 The ecclesiological and cultural characteristics discussed in this chapter will give foundation for the specific evangelical guidelines that were necessary as parachurch organizations forged their ministries in the early 1940s. Marsden goes on to state that evangelicals in th...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: History
• Chapter 2: Formal Doctrine
• Chapter 3: Incarnational Theology: Christology, Soteriology, Campaigners
• Chapter 4: Cultural Expression
• Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations
• Bibliography