Aims

We have three aims in Youth Challenge:

  1. To help young people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.
  2. To encourage young Christians to live for the Lord.
  3. To provide opportunities to serve the Lord, especially among children.

Background

As the work of Child Evangelism Fellowship became established in Ireland in the 1960’s and 1970’s, it became clear that something needed to be done to keep in touch with the young people after they became too old for the children’s activities.

CEF leadership also recognised the potential of training young people for the work of reaching children with the Gospel.

During these years the youth work of CEF in Ireland was on an informal basis. Then in the late 1970’s the young people’s work took on the name of Youth Challenge. The work grew rapidly during the 1980’s under the leadership of David & Ruth Irwin, with Junior and Senior Youth Challenge groups being set up throughout Ireland and a full camp programme being established.

This work continued to grow under David and Olivia Crutchly from 2001, and then in 2011 Colin Hylands took over the leadership of Youth Challenge.

Colin Hylands became Youth Challenge Team Leader in November 2011. He’d been involved in the work of CEF as a volunteer for many years. He is married to Victoria and they have two children, Nathan and Kezia.