Arloa Bontrager, Youth Venture director, loves Youth Venture. While she might be a little biased, she has good reasons to be. Read her perspective below and you’ll find out why!
- The value of local leadership. When participants come to Youth Venture, they are walking alongside and supporting local leadership. While we send team leaders with the teams, we depend on our local hosts and partners, believing that each of our locations already has the leadership necessary to run a successful program.
- A unique learning and service experience. When participants choose Youth Venture, they are intentionally favoring uniqueness in an increasingly generic “mission and service” marketplace. Each Youth Venture location is hosted by folks who love their city and want participants to have an honest, healthy, and safe experience.
- Grow beyond the box. Youth Venture works to create safe spaces where everyone can share their faith journey and together can come to a new and more enriched understanding of the kingdom of God. This is not always comfortable or easy, but the Christian faith is so much more than the boxes we try to fit it into.
- Relationships. Youth Venture focuses heavily on building relationships. In fact, we believe relationship building is more important than any physical work accomplished by the team. Local voices add authenticity and realism to a participant’s experience and understanding of how God is at work in the world.
- Where does the $$$ go? The location portion of the participants’ fees is used to support the local economy. Host families are compensated for hosting, we prioritize eating in local restaurants and staying in locally owned hotels (if needed for lodging), we use public transportation when possible, and funds are often shared with local churches for their ministries in the community.
- God is already there. Youth Venture starts with the assumption that God is at work everywhere in the world. This is an asset-based approach. When one approaches ministry and mission from an asset-based perspective, the inherent dignity of everyone is preserved.
Adapted with permission from Glenn Balzer, executive director of DOOR (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection).
