The CityTeam’s Youth Outreach Department is committed to raising a generation of urban youth leaders who are equipped to lead productive lives and empowered to revitalize the communities where they live.

Revitalizing Inner-City Communities

The pattern in our inner-cities is that those who go on to college and become successful move out to the suburbs as soon as they can afford it. This process robs inner-city communities of the successful role-models that could help curve some of the ills that plague those communities. Without successful role models, the youth in these communities eventually succumb to the poverty, drugs, gangs and crime we often hear about in the media.

The Youth Outreach staff is challenging this process by moving into the neighborhoods where we are ministering, bringing with us the Word of God and the knowledge and skills necessary to mobilize resources to improve those communities. Through weekly discipleship groups, Bible studies and recreational activities, we are teaching the youth to become agents of change in their own communities.

Several of the youth have accepted this challenge and are now attending college, knowing that they are paving the way for many to follow. Other youth are also active in ministry, leading Bible clubs and tutoring centers for younger children. Some youth are also serving as summer staff in Camp May Mac, where they get to practice hands on ministry and get to learn new leadership skills.