"We Leave to Serve" Meet Our Graduate Yousef Khalil, Serving with Young Life Ministry

“We Leave to Serve”

Meet Our Graduate Yousef Khalil, Serving with Young Life Ministry

Yousef Khalil is a Biblical Studies graduate of Bethlehem Bible College. He graduated in 2007 and began almost immediately to work with the Young Life ministry. Today, he is the Deputy Regional Director of Young Life. On International Youth Day, we meet Yousef and talk about his experience studying at the College and how that affected his life and his ministry with youth.

Yousef’s first days at the College weren’t easy. Since he came from another city in Palestine, it was a new experience, but the family-like atmosphere that BethBC is famous for made it easier and faster for him to adjust.

“Bethlehem Bible College was not just a place to study; it was my home away from home. I thank God for the opportunity He opened for me to learn there.

“The College has a healthy and positive environment for the body and soul. It provided healthy relationships, spiritual conferences, perfect academic courses and subjects to learn from, and amazing faculty, staff, and leadership. All of these changed my life forever, and for that, I will always be grateful.”

Young Life

Through BethBC, Yousef met the person he now ministers with in Young Life. That person saw in him the potential for leadership.

“Young Life is a ministry founded in the US that now has branches in more than 100 countries worldwide. It has more than 6,000 staff members. Its mission is to introduce adolescents to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith. We have been in Palestine since 2007, and we work with everyone without discrimination. We love everyone, and we love to serve all people.

“Through our ministry, we focus on teenagers from 12-18 years old divided into two groups, “Wildlife” and “Young Life” – each has its own activities, meetings, and leaders. We also work with people with special needs. Our mission is to see a harmonious community by building healthy relationships based on love and respect for each other. This is why we merged the group of special needs young adults with the others.

“We focus on the needs of each group and age; we talk about topics depending on the needs of that age. For example, once we brought a recovering drug abuser to the Wildlife group, he shared how he quit using and how his life changed for the better. For the special needs group, we focus on how God created everything beautiful and perfect, and they are beautiful and perfect as well. For the Young Life groups, our teaching focuses on identity as Christians and Palestinians in this land, how we live with purpose not only for ourselves but also for others.

“This year’s conferences and summer camps were exceptional because (due to the pandemic) we couldn’t have anyone to help us or lead in the conferences from outside the country. So the group who led and took care of the meetings were university leaders from different universities around Palestine, proving that we can plan and carry out successful and life-changing conferences.

“I want to thank all the leaders and volunteers, for without them, I wouldn’t be able to do all of this!”

We are grateful for graduates like Yousef, who hold the torch of our ministry and continue to serve the community.