Loren and Darlene Cunningham are the founders of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), an ever-expanding global "movement of Christians," born in 1960, which has reached into every nation.
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What is YWAM?
To learn more about Youth With A Mission’s values and covenants, visit the YWAM International Documents page.
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Coming from different backgrounds and working in a wide range of situations, our passion is to know God and to make Him known. Back in 1960 when we began, our main focus was to get youth into short-term mission work and give them opportunities to reach out in Jesus' name. Today, we still focus on youth, and we involve people of almost every age – even people who choose to spend their "retirement" in active service! Our many ministries fit into three main categories: evangelism, training, and mercy ministry. We are currently operating in more than 1,000 locations in over 149 countries, with a staff of nearly 16,000.
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 words and actions. We send out over 25,000 short-term missionaries each year.
There are three strands of ministry weaving throughout all that YWAM does:
Evangelism: Some creative tools used to present the gospel include drama, music, performing arts, and sports camps. YWAM wants 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 hundreds of thousands of 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 (U of N), 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.
Youth With A Mission’s Founders
Loren and Darlene Cunningham are the founders of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), an ever-expanding global "movement of ministry organizations," born in 1960, which has reached into every nation.
Loren is also the founder and president of the University of the Nations (U of N), YWAM's global university. Since its inception in 1978, the U of N has grown to offer more than 800 courses and seminars.
Loren has personally gone to every sovereign nation on earth, all dependent countries, and more than 150 territories and islands for the sake of the Gospel. This gives him valuable insights into global trends and uniquely prepares him to share God's strategies for world evangelism. His wisdom, experience, leadership understanding, and call to build bridges of unity within the body of Christ have caused him to be sought out by leaders of nations and organizations worldwide.
Loren is the author of five books, translated into nearly 60 languages: Is That Really You God?, Making Jesus Lord, Daring To Live On The Edge, Why Not Women? and his latest book, The Book That Transforms Nations.
Darlene is a "prime mover" in YWAM in the areas of facilitation of vision and leadership development. One of her greatest heart motivations is to discover leadership gifts in young men and women, and to help them reach their full potential in God. Darlene directs one field-based Leadership Training School annually or biennially, held on location somewhere in the developing world.
Darlene is eagerly sought as a speaker worldwide because she is recognized as a woman of faith and wisdom who hears from God. She is uniquely qualified and experienced to give leadership to those within Youth With A Mission because she understands the lifestyle, pressures and joys of the Mission from an inside perspective. Whatever the context, she constantly points the hearer to God's faithfulness in every situation, and His great grace.
Loren and Darlene live in Kona, Hawaii. As members of YWAM's Global Leadership Team, they help oversee one of the largest Christian charitable movements in the world.
Statement of Faith
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to presenting Jesus personally to this generation, to mobilizing as many as possible to help in this task, and to the training and equipping of believers for their part in fulfilling the Great Commission. As citizens of God's kingdom, we are called to love, worship, and obey our Lord, to love and serve His Body, the Church, and to present the whole gospel for the whole person throughout the whole world.
We of Youth With A Mission believe that the Bible is God's inspired and authoritative word, revealing that Jesus Christ is God's son; that people are 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 towards 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 accomplishment of Christ's last commandment, "...Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
The Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) affirms the Bible as the authoritative word of God and, with the Holy Spirit's inspiration, the absolute reference point for every aspect of life and ministry. Based upon God's word, who He is, and His initiative of salvation, the following responses are strongly emphasized in YWAM:
- Worship: We are called to praise and worship God alone.
- Holiness: We are called to lead holy and righteous lives that exemplify the nature and character of God.
- Witness: We are called to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who do not know Him.
- Prayer: We are called to engage in intercessory prayer for the people and causes on God's heart, including standing against evil in every form.
- Fellowship: We are called to commit to the Church in both its local nurturing expression and its mobile multiplying expression.
The Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission are the expression of our basic beliefs coupled with specific directives given by God since YWAM's beginning in 1960. They are recorded here to pass on to successive generations that which God has emphasized to us. These shared beliefs and values are the guiding principles for both the past and future growth of our mission. Some are common to all Christians everywhere; others are distinctive to Youth With A Mission. The combination of these beliefs and values make up the unique family characteristics of YWAM--our "DNA." They are values we hold in high regard that determine who we are, how we live, and how we make decisions.
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KNOW GOD
YWAM is committed to know God, His nature, His character and His ways. We seek to reflect who He is in every aspect of our lives and ministry. The automatic overflow of knowing and enjoying fellowship with God is a desire to share Him with others. -
MAKE GOD KNOWN
YWAM is called to make God known throughout the whole world, and into every arena of society through evangelism, training, and mercy ministries. We believe that salvation of souls should result in transformation of societies, thus obeying Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations. -
HEAR GOD'S VOICE
YWAM is committed to creating with God through listening to Him, praying His prayers and obeying His commands in matters great and small. We are dependent upon hearing His voice as individuals, together in team contexts and in larger corporate gatherings. This is an integral part of our process for decision making. -
PRACTICE WORSHIP AND INTERCESSORY PRAYER
YWAM is dedicated to worship Jesus and engage in intercessory prayer as integral aspects of daily life. We also recognize the intent of Satan to destroy the work of God, and we call upon God's power and the Holy Spirit to overcome his strategies in the lives of individuals and in the affairs of nations. -
BE VISIONARY
YWAM is called to be visionary, continually receiving, nurturing and releasing fresh vision from God. We support the pioneering of new ministries and methods, always willing to be radical in order to be relevant to every generation, people group, and sphere of society. We believe that the apostolic call of YWAM requires the integration of spiritual eldership, freedom in the Spirit and relationship, centered on the Word of God. -
CHAMPION YOUNG PEOPLE
YWAM is called to champion youth. We believe God has gifted and called young people to spearhead vision and ministry. We are committed to value them, trust them, train them, support them, make space for them, and release them. They are not only the Church of the future; they are the Church of today. We commit to follow where they lead, in the will of God. -
BE BROAD-STRUCTURED AND DECENTRALIZED
YWAM is broad-structured and diverse, yet integrated. We are a global family of ministries held together by shared purpose, vision, values and relationship. We believe that structures should serve the people and the purposes of God. Every ministry at every level has the privilege and responsibility of accountability to a circle of elders, with overall international accountability to the YWAM Global Leadership Team. -
BE INTERNATIONAL AND INTERDENOMINATIONAL
YWAM is international and interdenominational in its global scope as well as its local constituency. We believe that ethnic, linguistic and denominational diversity, along with redeemed aspects of culture, are positive factors that contribute to the health and growth of the mission. -
HAVE A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
YWAM is called to a Biblical worldview. We believe that the Bible makes a clear division between good and evil, right and wrong. The practical dimensions of life are no less spiritual than the ministry expressions. Everything done in obedience to God is spiritual. We seek to honor God with all that we do, equipping and mobilizing men and women of God to take roles of service and influence in every arena of society. -
FUNCTION IN TEAMS
YWAM is called to function in teams in all aspects of ministry and leadership. We believe that a combination of complementary gifts, callings, perspectives, ministries and generations working together in unity at all levels of our mission provides wisdom and safety. Seeking God's will and making decisions in a team context allows accountability and contributes to greater relationship, motivation, responsibility and ownership of the vision. -
EXHIBIT SERVANT LEADERSHIP
YWAM is called to servant leadership as a lifestyle, rather than a leadership hierarchy. A servant leader is one who honors the gifts and callings of those under his/her care and guards their rights and privileges. Just as Jesus served His disciples, we stress the importance of those with leadership responsibilities serving those whom they lead. -
DO FIRST, THEN TEACH
YWAM is committed to doing first, then teaching. We believe that firsthand experience gives authority to our words. Godly character and a call from God are more important than an individual's gifts, abilities and expertise. -
BE RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED
YWAM is dedicated to being relationship-oriented in our living and working together. We desire to be united through lives of holiness, mutual support, transparency, humility, and open communication, rather than a dependence on structures or rules. -
VALUE THE INDIVIDUAL
YWAM is called to value each individual. We believe in equal opportunity and justice for all. Created in the image of God, people of all nationalities, ages and functions have distinctive contributions and callings. We are committed to honoring God-given leadership and ministry gifts in both men and women. -
VALUE FAMILIES
YWAM affirms the importance of families serving God together in missions, not just the father and/or mother. We encourage the development of strong and healthy family units, with each member sharing the call to missions and contributing their gifts in unique and complementary ways. -
RELY ON RELATIONSHIP-BASED SUPPORT
YWAM is called to a relationship-based support system, depending upon God and His people for financial provision, both corporately and individually. We believe that relationship-based support promotes responsibility, accountability, communication, and mutual prayer. It involves the donor as a partner in ministry. As God and others have been generous toward us, so we desire to be generous. YWAMers give themselves, their time and talents to God through the mission with no expectation of remuneration. -
PRACTICE HOSPITALITY
YWAM affirms the ministry of hospitality as an expression of God's character and the value of people. We believe it is important to open our hearts, homes and campuses to serve and honor one another, our guests and the poor and needy, not as acts of social protocol, but as expressions of generosity.