Military Youth
Life as a military kid can be extremely difficult. Most military families will move up to three times more than their civilian counterparts. The continual separations between parents and children and increased hazards of deployment create high anxiety in many military children’s lives. One third of school-age military children have been reported to show psychosocial behaviors such as being anxious or worrying often.
Metro Maryland Youth For Christ (www.mmyfc.org), a chapter of Youth For Christ (YFC, www.yfc.net), is dedicated to meeting the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of the youth in and surrounding Fort Meade, Maryland. Fort Meade is Maryland’s largest employer and has the second largest workforce of any Army installation in the continental United States. There are nearly 60,000 military and civilians on the installation.
Since military families are often moving every few years, the need to quickly reach military-connected youth with the Gospel is urgent. Metro Maryland YFC is proud to be the official youth ministry for Fort Meade. They reach military-connected youth with the Gospel no matter how short a time they have on the base.
Metro Maryland YFC
Metro Maryland YFC Military Life Director is Chris Martin. Martin said, “Youth these days are bombarded with everything. This ranges from what they hold in their hand all day long from tablets and cell phones to the radio, to the movies, to the TV. They’re constantly being told who they are, what they need to buy, what they need to wear and what they need to look like.”
Through all these distractions, Martin and the rest of the Metro Maryland YFC team are determined to come alongside youth. They specifically reach to those that are connected to the military and share the love and hope of Christ. For some young people, all it takes is for someone to listen and understand their basic struggles.
“Some youth who are connected to the military are coming to school with so many struggles. This could be an unstable home life, financial issues at home, or lack of spiritual resiliency” said Martin. “We come alongside youth in those situations. Our goal is to provide an additional layer of support during such a pivotal time in their lives.”
The Main Goal
The goal is to “make sure that students feels heard and that they have someone to talk to,” said Martin. The rest of the Metro Maryland YFC team are tirelessly working to build up their presence in the military community of Fort Meade. They want to show every youth that they are fully loved by God and that He desires a real relationship with them.
Martin said, “I want the youth in our area to think, ‘No matter what I might be lacking, I know that Christ has a plan and a purpose for me. I may feel like I scored low on this test, but I know that this test doesn’t define me. It’s Christ that defines me.’
“We hope we can get the kids to start thinking like that and seeing how God has a bigger purpose for their lives. After that, I’ll know that we are making a real impact on the youth in our community.
