Teen Mania: Why We’re Shutting Down After 30 Years of Acquire the Fire
CT exclusive: Ron Luce explains why the global youth ministry is calling it quits.
‘There are three stages of every great work of God,” Hudson Taylor, the well-known British missionary to China, once said. “First it’s impossible, then it’s difficult, then it’s done.”
Teen Mania founder Ron Luce quoted Taylor when explaining to CT why the nearly 30-year-old ministry announced today that it would cease operations.
“Honestly, the hardest part about our closure is for people to misinterpret what the closing of a chapter means,” Luce said in an hour-long, exclusive interview. “Scripture talks about old and new wineskins. Sometimes old wineskins don’t need to be used anymore.”
It’s not necessarily a bad thing, he said. “There are plenty of Christian organizations that become institutions, that are dead and dry, and they’re old wineskins.
“We don’t want to become that,” he said. “Teen Mania has completed this assignment.”
An Army of Young People
Luce became a Christian at the age of 16 and immediately devoted his life to youth ministry. An Oral Roberts University graduate, Luce participated in Young Life and Youth for Christ. But at age 25, Luce was hungry for something larger. So he consulted with God about his next move.
“I felt God whisper in my heart, ‘Build an army of young people who will change the world,’” Luce said.
In its nearly three decades of ministry, Teen Mania used an array of strategies to reach millions of young people.
Its most popular event began in 1991: Acquire the Fire, a 27-hour youth gathering filled with music and teaching. Over two decades, more than 500 Acquire the Fire events were held in 33 cities nationwide, drawing more than …
Teen Mania: Why We’re Shutting Down After 30 Years of Acquire the Fire
CT Exclusive: Ron Luce explains why global youth ministry is calling it quits.
‘There are three stages of every great work of God,” Hudson Taylor, the well-known British missionary to China, once said. “First it’s impossible, th…
Here’s Where America’s 338,000 Christian Refugees Come From
Evangelical, Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, and other resettled believers hail from quite different countries.
In light of the debate on whether Syrian refugees should be welcome in the United States and why Christians compose less than 3 percent of those resettled so far, here’s a look at where America’s current Christian refugees have come from.
The United States has resettled 338,441 Christian refugees from more than a dozen denominations since 2003, according to the latest data from the Refugee Processing Center. This is approximately 44 percent of the total 762,000 refugees resettled.
Here’s the worldwide breakout by denomination:
- Nearly 180,000 refugees identifying as simply “Christians” have been resettled since 2003. More than half come from Myanmar/Burma (96,531), followed by Iraq (25,128), Iran (19,968), Liberia (12,335), and Bhutan (8,216).
- Catholic refugees represent the largest denominational grouping, with 57,178 resettled in America. Together, Cuba (15,805) and Iraq (14,580) make up about a third of this figure; each country’s refugee total is larger than the next three countries—Myanmar (4,973), the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC (4,496), and Sudan (3,988)—combined.
- While the Protestant number—14,754—looks much smaller, it doesn’t include those who self-identify with a specific Protestant denomination. About one-third of America’s Protestant refugees come from the DRC (5,203). Vietnam (2,393) and Sudan (1,458) are second and third, respectively.
- Evangelicals are also broken out into their own category. More than half (1,422) of the 2,677 evangelical refugees have come from Cuba. Sudan (237), Ukraine (196), Colombia (148), and Liberia (108) round out the top five.
- About 10 percent of all Christian refugees are Pentecostal (31,778), the majority from Africa and Eastern Europe. About one-third (11,067) are from Ukraine. Elsewhere, the DRC is responsible for 6,222, Burundi for 3,985, Moldova for 2,102, and Belarus for 1,831.
News: Why Are There Only 53 Christians Among America’s 2,184 Syrian Refugees?
Amid claims of discrimination, World Relief points to other explanations.
Since civil war erupted in 2011, half of Syria’s nearly 22 million people have been displaced—including many of its Christians.
Before the conflict, approximately…
Here’s Where America’s 338,000 Christian Refugees Come From
Evangelical, Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, and other resettled believers hail from quite different countries.
In light of the debate on whether Syrian refugees should be welcome in the United States and why Christians compose less than 3 percent of those resettled so far, here’s a look at where America’s current Christian refugees have come from.
The United States has resettled 338,441 Christian refugees from more than a dozen denominations since 2003, according to the latest data from the Refugee Processing Center. This is approximately 44 percent of the total 762,000 refugees resettled.
Here’s the worldwide breakout by denomination:
- Nearly 180,000 refugees identifying as simply “Christians” have been resettled since 2003. More than half come from Myanmar/Burma (96,531), followed by Iraq (25,128), Iran (19,968), Liberia (12,335), and Bhutan (8,216).
- Catholic refugees represent the largest denominational grouping, with 57,178 resettled in America. Together, Cuba (15,805) and Iraq (14,580) make up about a third of this figure; each country’s refugee total is larger than the next three countries—Myanmar (4,973), the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC (4,496), and Sudan (3,988)—combined.
- While the Protestant number—14,754—looks much smaller, it doesn’t include those who self-identify with a specific Protestant denomination. About one-third of America’s Protestant refugees come from the DRC (5,203). Vietnam (2,393) and Sudan (1,458) are second and third, respectively.
- Evangelicals are also broken out into their own category. More than half (1,422) of the 2,677 evangelical refugees have come from Cuba. Sudan (237), Ukraine (196), Colombia (148), and Liberia (108) round out the top five.
- About 10 percent of all Christian refugees are Pentecostal (31,778), the majority from Africa and Eastern Europe. About one-third (11,067) are from Ukraine. Elsewhere, the DRC is responsible for 6,222, Burundi for 3,985, Moldova for 2,102, and Belarus for 1,831.
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