our history

ywam lausanne began in 1969 when Loren and Darlene Cunningham (founders of Youth With A Mission) started the first ywam training program. Since then, the Lausanne base has been a place from where many new ministries and other ywam bases have started...

1960s: evangelism & first training centre

The vision for Youth With A Mission (ywam) was born in 1960, under Loren Cunningham, during a decade that experienced a great evangelistic thrust into many nations. After a week of fasting and prayer in New Zealand, Loren knew that God was leading him to start the first school in Switzerland. In 1969, Lausanne became the first training centre for ywam. 

The staff of ywam began to experience great growth during the first School of Evangelism. This school is what lead to the formation of the current Discipleship Training School (dts) that is offered to students today.

1970s: training & pioneering new ywam bases

It was out of Lausanne that new ministries, new schools and new training centres emerged. The vision for evangelizing at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich was also pioneered out of the Lausanne base by Don Stephens. This has now become a regular event for ywam to send teams of evangelists to Olympic events. From the influx of evangelists in Germany, the castle in Hurlach was purchased to become a ywam base.

Staying true to its heritage of being the first training centre, the Lausanne campus has retained a pioneering spirit. Key leaders from Lausanne have established centres for ywam and the University of the Nations in Europe and Africa.  Lausanne has been instrumental in establishing permanent outreach centres in places such as Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon. These centres still consider Lausanne to be their "mother base".

1980s: mercy ministries & counseling

ywam operates in three major categories: evangelism, training, and mercy ministries. The ywam response to Thailand’s massive refugee crisis during the 80s is what solidified mercy ministries as the third category. In 1992 alone, 90 ywamers and 4,000 refugee staff clothed 53,500 people, immunized 11,000 children per month, trained 109 agricultural students, distributed 44,000 letters monthly, and gave 26 pastors a year's Bible training. They heard and they went! Steve and Marie Goode guided the response during the 80s and ended up directing ywam's refugee camp ministry in Thailand.

In 1984, Steve Goode, who is now ywam's international director of Mercy Ministries, wrote: "Where we work there are things that are not very pretty, not very conducive to praising God. Like boat people where all the women have been raped; like abandoned children wailing in their anguish; like people who rip you off; like people whose blank, staring eyes tell you they have nothing left to hope in. In the midst of all the heartache we are able to reveal the heart of God through worship, to show people that our great and loving God is present in the ugliness of a refugee camp to heal, restore and give hope to the hopeless."

Meanwhile, another part of ywam's mercy ministry was launched. In 1982, the ministry of Mercy Ships began. The refurbished Anastasis sailed from Greece to provide medical care, relief and development, and this ministry is still continuing today.

1990s: u of n spreads new technology

The vision for the University of the Nations began in Kona, Hawaïi, in 1977. By the 1990s, the University began to gather strength in Lausanne as well. Loren and Darlene Cunningham came back to re-pioneer the Lausanne base in 1995. During this time, the base was infused with a fresh vision for new schools and colleges in Lausanne. This was a critical time while the campus underwent two years of renovation which led to its temporary closure in 1993 and 1994. Since its reopening, the campus has promoted more training using new technology, and has since been reaping a great wealth of cultural diversity.

The GENESIS Project was created in Lausanne in 1994. The acronym stands for Global Electronic Network Educating Serving and Inspiring Students. The project uses video conferencing to bring important teaching to remote areas of the world. It connects the ideas and perspectives from different campuses and classrooms on an international level.

The most recent pioneering effort through GENESIS has been a multi-point Discipleship Training School. This has allowed the dts in Lausanne to be "online" with dts schools in Latvia and Brazil. Through GENESIS, students are "in many nations" from the beginning of their instruction. They are able to share their classroom teaching, worship and prayer with other students around the world.

In 1997, the Korean/English dts was established in Lausanne, and was quickly followed by a Japanese/English dts. These schools are vital to train missionaries in a cross-cultural environment that gives them a vision that goes beyond their own national borders. Simultaneous translation occurs so that students are able to hear the teachings in their native tongue. dts is also offered in French and German, meeting the challenge of equipping young European people who desire training through U of N.

2000 and beyond: new beginnings

  There is a sense that we are on the verge of even greater new beginnings for YWAM Lausanne: new schools, new technology, and new ways of reaching the nations by bringing transformation to the people. There is also a fresh vision for our national neighbours through training and evangelism that will encourage young people for missions. It's time to pioneer again and we are looking forward to the dreams our students and staff will bring to Lausanne in the coming years.

God has spoken clearly to the Lausanne leadership: "The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former…" Haggai 2:9