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Lifting Up the 'C' in YMCA

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ORLANDO – Pretty much everyone knows about the YMCA.  The letters, though, have become like IRS or ESPN -- people say them without knowing or thinking about what they stand for. In the case of the YMCA, it stands for Young Men's Christian Association. But some Ys forget that "C" in "YMCA."
 
That's what Craig Seibert and others at the U.S. Mission Network, want to change.

He said George Williams, the man who started the YMCA in the 1800s, would have expected the "C" to be front and center because his Christianity came first in his life.  Williams put that into practice where he worked simply by joining with a fellow believer to pray for each of their co-workers by name…for years.

 "He's working in a firm of Hitchcock & Rogers, and he and another believer begin to pray. And they decide they're going to pray for their co-workers by name," Siebert said of the YMCA founder. "And within a three year period, 140 or 150 employees of Hitchcock & Rogers, where someone said you could not find a Christian in there, after a three year period, that same person said you'd be hard-pressed not to find a believer in Hitchcock & Rogers. So it really started as a workplace prayer movement."
 
Turning Farm Boys Away from London's Temptations

U.S. Mission Network National Director Larry Whittlesey explained how those prayer warriors then began ministering to the young farm boys pouring into London at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
 
Whittlesey said of Williams and his allies, "They got together and said 'we have to find something a little more wholesome for these guys to do.' So they started a prayer meeting. So the YMCA actually started with 12 guys – George Williams and 11 other guys – as a prayer meeting – in an upper room of all things."
 
 In recent decades, this strong Christian foundation began to fade at some of the Ys it helped create.
 
"it's only in the last generation or so that it's kind of shifted away from that toward physical fitness and some of the other great things that the Y does," Whittlesey explained.
 
Lifting up the 'C' in a New Century

Seibert added, "This seed — George Williams and prayer and the Christian mission — has kind of laid latently there. What we're seeing right now, though, is a resurgence of these seeds that have been watered; they now are beginning to sprout. And we're seeing new sprouts of Christian ministry work and the lifting up of the 'C' in a new century."
 
One such sprout comes from Transformational Leadership and its founder Ford Taylor. After failing at business because of a self-admitted pride, arrogance and lack of spiritual wisdom, Taylor turned to the Bible. 
 
"Where I thought I was God's gift to business, reality is I was not at all," Taylor told CBN News at an Orlando conference for Christians wanting to re-emphasize the "C" in "YMCA." 

He added, "God has lots of principles for businesses, ministries, families, governments, schools, education systems. And what happens is when you apply those principles, they work whether you believe Jesus is the Son of God or not."
 
Now Taylor's organization and many others are working with Christians at Ys to bring those biblical principles alive again. 
 
Christ as the 'Secret Sauce'

"I think that this is the secret sauce," U.S. Mission Network founder Bob Hall stated. "Coming back to our foundation, which is Jesus Christ, can do nothing but strengthen the YMCA movement. If you want to know what the difference is between the YMCA and any other provider of the same kind of services, well, this is it!"

U.S. Mission Network is hoping opportunities like the Orlando conference and an upcoming one November 15-17 in Nashville will help Y-connected Christians meet, network and begin to work together nationwide.  

It's offering them plenty of resources, Whittlesey said, speaking of, "A website, a monthly newsletter, a weekly prayer call. We have a resource hub where we're collecting materials from Ys across the country."  

It's also working with massive ministries like CRU – the former Campus Crusade for Christ – and Alpha, which introduces people to God outside church settings.  It's also allied with the Christian moms' group MOPS – or Mothers of PreSchoolers – since the Y is America's largest provider of childcare. All to serve Christ and bring attention to Him in the Ys. 

Whittlesey, having visited hundreds of Ys in 43 states says about 45 percent of Ys still have an active Christian emphasis, but some 15 percent have ditched the "C" in their YMCAs.

Offering Help and Paths to God Outside Churches

One major way to get it back is for Christians and others in the Ys to offer services people who might never think of entering a church still really need. In other words, much more help beyond their physical bodies.

Speaking of folks finding such services in Ys, Whittlesey said, "People may never walk through the door of a church to get a class they need for their marriage, for instance, but walking through the door of a Y seems pretty safe.  And when they walk through the door of a Y and they encounter Marriage Encounter or Financial Peace University or Divorce Recovery or Grief Share, they can sense that God is still a part of their lives. God can be introduced to them in a very safe way." 
 
Seibert talked of such services being offered in Ys instead of churches.  

"Doing that within your church location might be effective for some members and maybe some guests," Seibert suggested. "But if you move that location out into the community space that the YMCA has become, you find the possibility of real transformation. Because it is a safe place, it attracts people into that environment who would never find either the courage or the connection to come into what they would perceive as a more isolated environment."

The Lifeblood of the YMCA 

"It opens the door for all sorts of people to come through that would never go to a church or a counselor for those things," Whittlesey argued.
 
Hall added, "This is the lifeblood of the association and this is what will make the difference in people's lives."
 
One sign it's working: where there used to be just 10 chaplains in American Ys, now there are 65, with more coming.  And the Ys are widespread.
 
Seibert explained, "God in advance has sprinkled 2,400 YMCAs throughout the United States."
 
The hope of these Christians and many believers throughout the YMCA system is that someday folks will be able to go into any Y anywhere and not just have a good time, get fit and learn great life skills, but actually meet the Author of life Himself.

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About The Author

Paul
Strand

Como corresponsal del buró de noticias de CBN en Washington DC, Paul Strand ha cubierto una variedad de temas políticos y sociales, con énfasis en defensa, justicia y el Congreso. Strand comenzó su labor en CBN News en 1985 como editor de asignaciones nocturnas en Washington, DC. Después de un año, trabajó con CBN Radio News por tres años, volviendo a la sala de redacción de televisión para aceptar un puesto como editor en 1990. Después de cinco años en Virginia Beach, Strand se trasladó de regreso a la capital del país, donde ha sido corresponsal desde 1995. Antes de unirse a CBN News, Strand