The Global Teen Challenge Story
Sunnybrae, our men’s centre, opened in 2003, and our women’s centre, Benaiah, opened in 2009.
However, Teen Challenge was birthed in New York, far from Scottish shores, almost 70 years ago. In 1958, while in a time of prayer, a young Pennsylvanian Pastor, David Wilkerson, felt inspired to reach out and help teenage gang members and addicts in The Big Apple.
David spent much of his time in some of New York’s ‘worst areas‘ and began to see real signs of encouragement with many gang members dramatically turning their lives around through a new-found Christian faith.
David and his team then obtained a large home in Brooklyn, where a year-long residential programme was launched.
The programme was such a success that Teen Challenge centres started to form in cities all across America, before then spreading globally to every region of the world.
Today, there are 1,400 programmes in around 140 nations.
No other work among hurting people has such a global impact, with Teen Challenge growing into one of the largest and most successful programmes of its kind.
Literally, thousands upon thousands of lives have been impacted and transformed and it can all be traced back to one man, simply praying on his own.
Our Team
