The Portland Youth Foundation site is best viewed with a current browser.
You can download a current browser from one of the links below.
Microsoft Internet Explorer  |  Mozilla Firefox  |  Netscape Navigator  |  Opera  |  Safari

What is the PYF?

The Portland Youth Foundation (PYF) is a Christian counter-culture community, committed to the peace of the city and the common good, with a focus on the emerging generations.

PYF began over 15 years ago with a primary emphasis on supporting, encouraging, resourcing, networking, and otherwise serving youth workers in the Portland metroplex. That emphasis continues today; however, in recent years God has allowed us to also establish a number of affinity-oriented "open umbrellas" under which relationships can be forged, united prayer engaged, and Kingdom collaborations established.

Our Mission: The Portland Youth Foundation exists to glorify God, calling Portland-area students and others in the church of Portland to a passionate pursuit of Christ, preparing the way for spiritual awakening and Kingdom transformation in our communities, cities, country, and world through holy living, prevailing prayer and biblical unity.

Our Vision: We believe that the will of God includes the immanent, radical coming of the Kingdom of God to Portland, resulting in the revival of the Church, the discipling of emerging generations, and a spiritually transformational influence upon the city.

Our Shared Values:

  1. We value the incarnation of love, justice, mercy, life, peace and hope in the city, believing this is the will of God for the church of the city and will advance His Kingdom there.
  2. We value the apologetic of loving unity, cultivated within the church of the city and modeled for the unbelieving world. (Jn. 13:34-35; Jn. 17; Ps. 133)
  3. We value persistent, prevailing prayer (Jn. 14:12-14; 1 Thess. 5:17; Phil. 4:6) as the primary means of advancing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
  4. We value prayer-driven strategy development (2 Chron. 20), as opposed to making plans and asking God to bless them.
  5. We value relationships as the optimum context for incarnating and disseminating the gospel. (1 Cor. 1:10-13; 1 Thess. 2:8)

PYF "Open Umbrellas" include:

  • Youth Ministry Educators
  • Community Care Coalitions
  • Community Care/Connection Pastors
  • School Partnerships

PYF is not a stand-alone nonprofit corporation, but rather a grassroots, relational movement.

The PYF Director, Mike Higgs, also serves as the president of LINC Ministries, an Oregon nonprofit.