MCYFC has three guiding foundational principles that God has led us to adopt:

Every teen: Our vision is to communicate the life changing message of Jesus Christ to every young person.  It is a vision that we take very seriously.  We want MCYFC to be developed to the point that every teenager in the Chicagoland area will be contacted by MCYFC at some point in their teenage years with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Responsible relational evangelism:  We have come to see that the best way to share Christ with a teenager is to develop a friendly relationship with him/her through which the Gospel can be shared.  We do not want teens to be scared or bored by the Christian message.  We want them to be attracted to it through love, friendship, and challenge

Community-based support: We believe that it is the responsibility of the Christian community to reach out to the teens in its area.  MCYFC's role is to be a catalyst and enabler to facilitate the carrying out of that responsibility.  Thus, we will not ask MCYFC staff missionaries to raise their own support, but will raise that support in advance in the local community before hiring a staff person.