YWAM Lausanne began in 1969 when Loren and Darlene Cunningham (founders of Youth With A Mission) started the first YWAM training program. Since that time, the Lausanne base has birthed many new ministries and YWAM bases through its doors…
1960s: Evangelism & first training center
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 YWAM’s first training center. The staff of YWAM began to experience great growth during the first School of Evangelism. This school led 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, schools, and training centers 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 center, the Lausanne campus has retained a pioneering spirit. Key leaders from Lausanne have established centers for YWAM and the University of the Nations in Europe and Africa. Lausanne has been instrumental in establishing permanent outreach centers in places such as Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon. These centers 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.”
Another arm of mercy ministries was launched in 1982: Mercy Ships. The refurbished Anastasis sailed from Greece to provide medical care, relief and development to impoverished nations. This ministry continues today as Marine Reach Ministries.
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 /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 remain vital to train missionaries in a cross-cultural environment, giving them 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 was also offered in French and German, meeting the challenge of equipping young Europeans who desire training through U of N.
2000s: Fresh initiatives in a changing world
The first decade of the 21st century has been a time of growth and breakthrough. Growth in our Korean connection as year after year waves of Korean students passed through the doors of YWAM Lausanne to be trained for missions. Growth in the GENESIS ministry, as it multiplied all over the world. Great breakthrough, as YWAM Lausanne was able to acquire the land that generations of YWAMers before them had prayed for.
It has also been a time of new initiatives. We see that in our outreaches, such as the Summer of Service in Paris and the Regeneration outreach during the Jazz Festival in Montreux. Both were started during this time as well as a weekly outreach into the city of Lausanne. We saw new initiatives in our programs, as the Boarders DTS and the Summer Sports DTS were born. And including of course the very exciting “On Location” Bible Core Course where students study the Bible where it actually happened.
During this time the YWAM Lausanne preschool “Sunny Smiles” was also founded. A school that is not just for the children of the base but also for those of the surrounding neighborhood. Along with this came a whole curriculum for the training of Preschool teachers.
Finally, it has been a decade full of many celebrations: 40 years of YWAM Switzerland, 50 years of YWAM International, and the University of the Nations workshop. These events were all held on the YWAM Lausanne campus during this time.
As YWAM Lausanne seeks to integrate more language learning into its training curriculum, it seeks to connect with more cultures and peoples than ever before. In addition to welcoming many new Korean students, the French/English DTS continues to gain speed and encourage an influx of more spoken French on the base, bringing the staff and students back to its original roots as well as connecting with the local surrounding community.
Many new ideas continue to form in the coming days, months, and years, keeping the community alive and ready for the next big adventure.
