Every story has a beginning, and most begin without a whole lot of hoopla or fanfare. Not ours. Ours began in 1960 with a zealous young man named Loren Cunningham who, with a vision, seriously rocked the boat of acceptable-missionary-models. He saw young people, teenagers, as waves pounding the shores of the continents, bringing with them the message of hope to a dying world. Now, if Loren had brothers he may have ended up like Joseph. Instead he managed to escape with little more than a bunch of people thinking he was, well, a dreamer. A little perseverance mixed with large amounts of grace soon led to the birth of Youth With A Mission.

Today Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is a global movement of Christians of all ages, races, and nationalities from just about every sort of background you can imagine. To date there are approximately 17,000 full-time missionaries working at over 1,100 locations. United in our common goal, we have set out to the ends of the earth to know God and make Him known.

YWAM Statement of Purpose

Youth With A Mission is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to presenting Jesus Christ 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.