Several members of the Young Life organization pose with a Y L hand symbol. Photo courtesy of Young Life.

ERIC YOUNG | STAFF REPORTER | emyoung2@butler.edu

Young Life, a Christian organization for youth and young adults, joined the Butler community this year as a campus club.

According to Young Life’s website, Young life is a global organization whose mission is “introducing adolescents to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith.​”

Linda Nikcevich is an adult Young Life field staff trainer in the Indianapolis area. Nikcevich said she believes the Butler chapter is off to a successful first year on campus, specifically with the amount of people already participating within the club.

“I’m really thrilled that without much work people here are interested in exploring more about their faith, or having fun with their faith,” Nikcevich said. “The energy behind that is awesome. It’s huge.”

The Young Life chapter at Butler is affiliated with the Center for Faith and Vocation and is one of several Christian organizations at Butler. However, for Nikcevich, the purpose of Young Life differs from the other Christian organizations at Butler.

“Our purpose is to walk with people,” Nikcevich said. “Our purpose is not necessarily to make people Christian. Our purpose is just being with people in life, sharing life with them and exploring the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’ of faith, or how faith fits in with life’s questions.”

Serena Panos, a junior health sciences major, is the club’s president for its first year on campus. Panos became involved with Young Life in high school prior to coming to Butler.

“[Young Life] was always something that made a huge impact on me in high school,” Panos said. “I really felt like that was the place I could find people who loved me as I was, didn’t expect me to be anything other than myself and just wanted to do life alongside me. I really loved having the privilege to get to do that with people here at Butler this semester.”

Panos said she is encouraged by the membership in Young Life’s first year on campus, but wants to see the group continue to grow as word spreads about it on campus. Panos said she hopes students will see the club as an accepting organization for all students on campus no matter their religious background.

“We honestly just want any and all students to come,” Panos said. “We are really open to anybody, we’ve had a really positive response so far. We want anybody no matter where they are in their faith, whether they have some, whether they have none. We want to create a space for them to kind of explore that with other people and so we’ve had a really positive response, which is awesome.”

Young Life’s next event will be a bonfire this Friday at the Fairview fire pits starting at 9:30 p.m.