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VFY Considers Summer Youth Missions Trip to NYC
Vision For Youth is seriously considering the possibility of launching a summer youth missions trip to New York City”, announced Mel Walker, the president and co-founder of Vision For Youth from Chinchilla, Pennsylvania. He continued, “Our ‘New Hope’ student ministries provide church youth groups with relevant and affordable mission experiences and training for their teenagers in some of America’s largest cities. We have hosted summer youth missions trips in downtown Chicago and Philadelphia for several years and it only makes sense to launch a similar trip as soon as we can to the largest metro area in the United States – New York City.”
“Due to the current economic situation facing many church budgets, pastors and youth pastors are looking for other cross-cultural opportunities for their youth groups.” Walker explained, “Last year over 2 million American high school students participated in short-term missions trips. We have heard from many church leaders that this year’s trips may need to be more economical in nature. Plus, we have received several calls asking about the possibility of an outreach in New York – so we decided to look seriously into making some contacts for this kind of ministry in New York City.”
VFY is now making specific contacts with churches and ministry leaders in and around NYC to discuss the details of a potential youth missions trip to this strategic metropolitan area. New York is America’s largest urban area with a population of over 8 million people living in the city. According to current demographic information, over ¼ of the city’s population is currently under the age of 21 – with close to 50% of the residents speaking something other than English as their native language. The needs in this city are phenomenal – especially since over 40% of the people claim to be non-Christians.
Mel elaborated. “We have made some initial contacts with pastors and church leaders in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island, and in New Jersey to determine their level of interest and to hear more about the needs of reaching people in those neighborhoods. Our desire is to help churches make outreach contacts in their own neighborhoods utilizing their own evangelistic methods.”
Vision For Youth serves as a conduit between church youth groups that are looking for a summer youth missions experience and church leaders in the city that need help reaching their neighborhoods with the Gospel. “Our plan is to pull together a team of young people and youth workers who are committed to taking the Gospel into one of this country’s largest mission fields – downtown New York City”, he continued. “This might prove to be a great opportunity for churches in the Northeast – or in fact, from anywhere – that are looking for an affordable, and yet once-in-a-lifetime inner-city experience for their teens.”
The New Hope program not only includes daily evangelistic opportunities in select urban areas – it also consists of a daily Bible conference that features preaching, worship, and testimonies from the students involved. Walker concluded, “VFY wants to offer hands-on evangelistic experiences for church youth groups, but we whole-heartedly believe that God uses His Word to change people’s lives. A key part of our missions trips is the opportunity we provide for the students to hear quality speakers who can share the Word in ways that will touch their lives. We expect God to work in the lives of students who participate and He’ll do that through His Word.”
Vision For Youth is looking for church youth groups that may be interested in a short-term trial endeavor this summer. Churches that are looking for this kind of summer youth missions trip for senior high students should contact Mel Walker at Vision For Youth right away to express your interest and to obtain more information. He can be reached at: Vision For Youth, Inc., New Hope for New York, PO Box 501, Chinchilla, PA 18410 – or at
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