ThereforeGo Ministries (formerly known as Youth Unlimited, the American Federation of Reformed Young Men's Societies, the Young Calvinist League, and then the Young Calvinist Federation) is a Christian

youth ministry Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry of faith groups or other religious organizations, usually from ages 12 to 30, whose mission is to involve and engage with young people who attend the ...

for short-term mission trips in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

that was formed in September 1919. The organization is a non-denominational ministry that has its roots in the

Christian Reformed Church in North America The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA or CRC) is a Protestant Calvinist Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. Having roots in the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church was founde ...

, but partners with other

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

s. ThereforeGo is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission (SOE). It is one of three youth ministries under the Dynamic Youth Ministries

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

, with the other two being

GEMS Girls' Clubs GEMS Girls' Clubs is a non-denominational, non-profit, Christian organization that seeks to equip women and girls to live radically faithful lives for Christ. Clubs are established in churches and other Christian organizations and allow women to me ...

and the

Calvinist Cadet Corps The Calvinist Cadet Corps (CCC) is a non-denominational, non-profit Reformed Christian organization that equips men to mentor boys. The ministry establishes clubs primarily in churches. Clubs meet weekly or biweekly and participate in Bible stud ...

. The non-profit is mainly known for its "SERVE" mission trips for teens, which are 5-7 day trips for middle school and high school age students, which are mostly made up of youth groups from various churches. The volunteers participate in a variety of community service projects in the host church's community. A small sample of these service projects includes that in 1998, the

Ellensburg Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 census. and was ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

chapter of the organization spent three days removing graffiti from various parts of the city. In 2014, student teams did various service projects throughout

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

as part of The Chicago Project. In 2016, volunteers painted houses around

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

History

In August 1950, the organization, which was then called the Young Calvinist Federation (YCF), released a report calling for the institution of

educational program An educational program is a program written by the institution or ministry of education which determines the learning progress of each subject in all the stages of formal education. See also *Philosophy of education *Curriculum In education, ...

s and

legislative programme A legislative programme is a list of bills which the United Kingdom government intends to introduce to Parliament during a parliamentary session. The programme is an outline of the Government's intended direction and emphases in the coming year. Acc ...

s in order to afford

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s "rights and opportunities equal to those enjoyed by other members of society." The American Federation of Reformed Young Women's Societies, which was founded in May 1932, merged into the YCF in December 1955. In August 1967, the YCF held an international convention in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. From December 30, 1982, until January 2, 1983, the YCF co-sponsored a conference with members of local churches in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. The name of the organization changed to Youth Unlimited (YU) in 1992 and to ThereforeGo Ministries in 2020.

References

{{Authority control Anti-racist organizations in North America Calvinist organizations established in the 20th century Christian youth organizations International human rights organizations International organizations based in the Americas Organizations based in North America Youth organizations established in 1919 Christian organizations established in 1919 Religious service organizations Social welfare parachurch organizations