Christina: The kind of love that breaks down walls of prejudice, jealousy, envy, back-biting and meangirl-drama is present. When girls begin truly to experience the love of Christ, they change from the inside out, and it causes a contagious ripple effect.

Crystal: It would be inviting to all girls, and it would have a multi-generational leadership team—young women, middle aged women, mature older women.

YWJ: What do you think the biggest issues facing girls today are?

Ginny: The hyper-sexualization of our culture, which has reached our younger girls. I saw a pair of underpants for girls in second or third grade that had a rhinestone Playboy bunny on it. This is communicating that you have to be overtly sexual in order to have worth. Girls don’t know how to handle that emotionally, mentally or physically. Girls also are receiving confusing messages about their sexual identity. More girls are getting involved in same gender attraction. Self-injury is on the rise. To deal with these things, address them openly. Say, “We’re going to talk about and analyze our culture. We’re going to teach you how to look at an ad and decide what message it’s trying to tell you.”

Christina: The biggest issue facing girls today is the pressure to be more than they are. This produces girls who look put together on the outside but are crumbling on the inside. This pressure is coming from parents, teachers and society. This is manifesting itself in a variety of ways: eating disorders, cutting, jealousy, etc. The key to reaching girls is to encourage them to be real about what is occurring on the inside. Teach them about their true identity in Christ so their self-image and goals come from who Christ says they are. This will set them free like no other teaching can.

YWJ: How can youth workers help develop leadership skills in girls—especially those who are in churches that may not affirm a female’s calling to ministry?

Ginny: Some of our girls have very strong gifts of preaching and teaching, and we need to give them opportunities to do that in a visible setting. Let them lead projects within the ministry. If the youth pastor is male, he needs to make sure there are some strong women as volunteers and that he doesn’t just focus on the boys.

Megan: Sadly, most churches don’t affirm a girl’s potential to be a new and upcoming pastor. There’s a lack of female role models out there for young girls to emulate. One of the things I love about my boss is that he’s always affirmed my position and giftedness in front of others. If it weren’t for male youth pastors affirming my giftedness and saying, “You could do this,” I would not be a youth pastor today.

YWJ: Do you think youth workers should separate girls and boys by gender for some activities, teaching or small groups? Why?