Know God.
Make Him known.
Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world.
Also known as YWAM, we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known.
Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth involved in missions. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people aged 9 to 90. We currently work in more than 1,100 locations in over 180 countries, with a staff of over 18,000.
One of the joys of participating in YWAM is to work with people from many nations. YWAM’s staff (known as “YWAMers”) comes from over 130 countries, including places like Indonesia, Nepal, Mozambique, and Colombia.
It began in 1960 with an ordinary young man and an extraordinary vision.
Loren Cunningham described it as a waking dream. He saw a map of the world with waves crashing onto the continents, advancing inland until all the nations were covered. Loren says, “As I watched, the waves became young people of all races … talking to people on street corners and outside bars. Going from house to house. Helping the lonely and the hungry. Caring for people everywhere they went …” That God-given vision has become a reality. Since the beginning of Youth With A Mission, thousands have been involved worldwide in fulfilling Christ’s commandment to, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
What we believe
As YWAM we believe that the Bible is God’s inspired and authoritative word, revealing that Jesus Christ. Is God’s Son, that man is created in God’s image. That He created us to have eternal life through Jesus Christ.
That although all people have sinned and come short of God’s glory, God has made salvation possible through the death on the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That repentance, faith, love, and obedience are fitting responses to God’s initiative of grace toward us. That God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And that the Holy Spirit’s power is demonstrated in and through us for the accomplishing of Christ’s last commandment. “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15
A Christian Magna Carta
The following Christian Magna Carta, developed in 1981 by YWAM leaders, expresses what we believe is an individual’s basic rights implicit in the Gospel. Because God so loved the world that He gave His own Son, everyone on earth has the right for an opportunity to:
- Hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Have the Bible available in his own language.
- Have a Christian fellowship nearby, to be able to meet, have biblical teaching, prayer, and worship with others in the Body of Christ.
- Have a Christian education available.
- Have the basic necessities of life: food, water, clothing, shelter, & health care.
- Lead a productive life of fulfillment spiritually, mentally, socially, emotionally, and physically.
