Agape Youth Ranches
History
In 1999, individuals who were police officers and involved in youth prison ministry came together to answer the need of a Christian youth ministry that would impact our students before they became involved with gangs, drugs, and other criminal activity that would affect the rest of their lives. From this need that God had put on their hearts, Agape Youth Ministry (AYM) was formed.
Since this beginning, Agape Youth Ministry has done weekend outreaches, week and month long youth camps, and service projects that have involved hundreds of youth and church groups who have come to its Agape Youth Ranch and its partnered ranches such the Perdue Ranch in Buckeye, Arizona. From this activity, AYM has seen how our students were positively impacted through developing a relationship between students and animals such as horses and dogs.
From these camps, Agape Youth Ministry developed its residential Agape Youth Ranch Academy. The premise for the Academy is to have a ranch in a rural setting that struggling teens dealing with educational, emotional, relationship, and self-identity issues could be in a Christian environment without the distractions of their current environment.
In 2016, the Agape Youth Ranch was given to GAP Ministries for its Foster Care Program in the Tucson area to provide summer camps for their foster kids.
