about youth with a mission [ywam] 

what is ywam?

It all started when a 20-year-old American college student, who was in the Bahamas on a singing tour, spent some time in prayer. As he leaned back in his bed and looked up, he saw what he called a "mental movie." He saw waves on a map. The waves turned into young people, going to every continent, sharing the good news about Jesus. "Was that really you, Lord?" he asked. This radical idea, that young people could be missionaries, stayed with this young man, Loren Cunningham. Four years later, in 1960, he started an organization with that very idea expressed even in its name: Youth With A Mission. Today, Youth With A Mission (ywam) has grown into one of the world's largest Christian mission organizations. 

The story of how ywam began and how it has grown is a story of God's direction and grace in using ordinary people from countries all over the world. ywam encompasses thousands of people and hundreds of ministries in almost every country. Our staff and students are a mixture of nationalities and people from a wide variety of nations who serve side by side. We come from numerous different Christian denominations and speak hundreds of languages. Nearly half of our staff come from "non-western" countries, such as Brazil, Korea, Indonesia, India and Nepal. In addition to our full-time staff, many ywam locations host short-term outreach teams made up of individuals, youth groups, families and churches who get to participate first-hand in "making God known" through both word and action. We send out over 25,000 short-term missionaries each year.

ywam's international ministry is three-fold, encompassing these different ministries:

evangelism

Some creative tools used to present the gospel include drama, music, performing arts and sports camps.

ywamers want to share their faith effectively in ways that the audience– whether teenagers, elderly refugees, or an unreached people group– will understand. ywam also engages in church planting among unreached people groups.

mercy ministry

Mercy Ministry is the "hands and feet" of making God known. ywam helps meet some of the practical and physical needs of about 400,000 people annually.
Caring for street children in South America; aiding in the recovery of drug addicts in North America and Western Europe; feeding and housing refugees and women in need in Africa and Asia, and operating ships that declare the good news practically and verbally, are just some of the ways in which helping hands are extended.

training and discipleship

Training and discipleship aim to better equip Christians to serve others in everything from agriculture and health care, to drug rehabilitation and biblical counseling. Through ywam's University of the Nations (uofn), missionaries can study in specialized areas such as science and technology, linguistics, the humanities, and Christian ministry. Most ywam schools combine classroom teaching with relationship-centered discipleship and practical service. The Discipleship Training School (dts) is a requirement for applying as ywam staff, and serves as a prerequisite to all other training programs.

Each year some 10,000 students attend a uofn school at one of the 250 different locations.

Here is what other leaders say about YWAM.

Read our foundational values .

For more information about ywam visit www.ywam.org