Teens for Christ

Teens for Christ (TFC) is a non-profit organization whose aim is that of "turning teenagers into fully committed followers of Jesus Christ". To reach young people who do not attend church, weekly meetings are held during the school year in various locations throughout local communities. Fellowship, Saturday night prayer, and a number of yearly events offer teens TFC's approaches to present day needs.

History of TFC

In the 1940s Youth For Christ was formed in Allen County. During the 1980s, the local Youth For Christ became Teens For Christ and started to hold chapter meetings in various homes throughout the area. During the 1990s, TFC accepted the mandate to "Turn Teenagers into Fully Committed Followers of Jesus Christ" and came under the leadership of its current Executive Director, Buck Sutton (currently age 45). From the 90s, with three senior high chapters totaling 30 teens and 8 volunteer leaders, today's roster encompasses 17 chapters and over 60 volunteers.

In November 2008, the Gentry Sr. chapter was launched in Gentry, Arkansas, led by TFC alumni David Young. In September 2009, the Rockford, Illinois, chapter was launched.

Teens for Christ International

TFC Kenya

TFC Kenya began in August 2005 with a man named Moses Omondi. He started in a handful of schools, and has since expanded to over 100 schools in areas of Kenya, including Nairobi and Kisumu. This ministry is reaching over 35,000 teens a week in over 130 chapters.

TFC Bangladesh

TFC Bangladesh was launched in June 2008. After six months of training with TFC-Kenya, the Executive Director of TFC-Bangladesh returned to his country and capital city of Dhaka, along with the Director of Operations. Dhaka has a population of over 12 million people, making it the largest city in Bangladesh. The work continues to grow as a pastor was trained during January and February 2009 to take the work to Gopalganj, a district in the Dhaka division of Bangladesh. The district has about 1.1 million inhabitants.

There are also 3 chapters in Savar, reaching almost 200 teens. The ministry is now reaching out into the northern part of the country, where there are three chapters established that are reaching about 200 teens every week.

This ministry is also part of Teens For Christ’s efforts to team up with a ministry that has planted 800 churches within the past five years in this area of the world. It is a land of poverty where an average person makes $30 a month. Christians face serious persecution, and most have no Bible.

Beliefs

TFC members state that they:

  1. believe the Bible to be the inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God,
  2. believe that God exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
  3. believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ: in His virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious and atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension, and personal bodily return,
  4. believe humanity to be fallen and depraved, needing the regenerating work of God’s Holy Spirit for salvation,
  5. believe every Christian to be empowered to live a Christ-honoring life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
  6. believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved: they that are saved will be resurrected unto eternal life; they that are unsaved will be resurrected unto eternal damnation,
  7. believe in the spiritual unity of all members of Christ’s body,
  8. believe that God is the Creator of all heaven and earth.

Doctrinal Statement

TFC teaches that:

  1. The 66 books of the Bible are the verbally and plenarily inspired word of God in the original autographs. As such, it is both infallible and inerrant and the only infallible rule of faith and practice for Christians, both individually and corporately (Matt. 5:18; Jn. 10:35; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:20-21).
  2. There is only one God, perfect in all his attributes, eternally existing in three uncreated persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, each equally deserving full worship and obedience (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).
  3. Jesus Christ is the second person of the trinity, possessing all the divine excellencies, and in these he is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the other persons of the trinity (Jn. 10:30, 14:9). In his incarnation, the eternally existing second person of the trinity accepted all the essential characteristics of humanity and so became the God-Man (Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 2:9). Jesus Christ was virgin-born (Matt. 1:23-25), he was God in flesh (Jn. 1:1,14), he lived a sinless life (Heb. 4:15), he accomplished redemption through the shedding of his blood and sacrificial death on the cross, which was voluntary, substitutionary, propitiatory, and redemptive (Jn. 10:15; Rom. 3:24-25, 5:8; 1 Pet. 2:24), he was resurrected from the grave and is now ascended to the right hand of the Father, where he now mediates as our advocate and high priest (Matt. 28:6; Luke 24:38-39; Acts 2:30-31; Heb. 7:25; 1 Jn. 2:1), and that he will return and establish his kingdom on Earth and will judge all mankind (Jn. 5:22-23; Acts 1:9-11; I Cor. 3: 10-15; Rev. 20).
  4. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity, being coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son (Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14). The present ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ by regenerating, indwelling, sanctifying, instructing, empowering and sealing (Jn. 16:13-16; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13, 5:18; Titus 3:5).
  5. The entire human race was created in the image of God and, as such, its chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever (Gen. 1:26-27; Col. 1:16). However, when Adam sinned, the corrupted nature of Adam was transmitted to all people, Jesus Christ being the only exception (Gen. 3:1-19; Rom. 5:12-19). All men are sinners by nature and by choice (Rom. 3:9-23). With no recuperative powers to enable him to recover, mankind is hopelessly lost and his salvation is thereby wholly of God’s grace through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:1-3, 2:8-9). Those persons who die without saving faith in the redemption of Christ will be committed to an eternal conscious punishment in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
  6. All who place their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately placed through the Holy Spirit into one unified spiritual body, the church (1 Cor. 12:12-13), of which Christ is intimately connected as the head (Col. 1:18). The establishment and continuity of local churches is the God-ordained method for propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ, and members of the spiritual body are directed to associate themselves together in local assemblies (Acts 20:17-18, Heb. 10:25). As such, this organization serves the church in presenting and propagating the faith, once for all, delivered to the saints.

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