International Youth For Christ
Set up in 1945, this organization engages in teenage evangelism, high school Bible clubs, and juvenile delinquency prevention programs. The first “Youth for Christ” rally was conducted by Paul Guiness in 1934 in Brantford, Ontario. From then on, but especially in 1943-44, Saturday night evangelistic youth rallies proliferated in large American cities. YFCI was founded in 1945 at Winona Lake, Indiana, and Torrey Johnson, leader of the Chicago rallies, was elected president. A conservative creed was adopted to help the organization keep “Geared to the Times and Anchored to the Rock.” Through Saturday night rallies, “Teen Teams” sent overseas, and high school Bible clubs, youth has been evangelized at home and abroad. Youth Guidance programs help juvenile delinquents as well as prevent delinquency by counseling. Youth Guidance, Campus Life magazine, and high school chapters are major thrusts in the seventies. The first world congress in 1948 in Switzerland demonstrated its spread from its present headquarters in Wheaton, Illinois.