Youth With A Mission is an international volunteer movement of Christians from many backgrounds, cultures and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced "WHY-wham"), our purpose is simply to know God and to make Him known.

When YWAM began in 1960, our main focus was giving young people opportunities to demonstrate the love of Jesus to the whole world, according to His command in Mark 16:15. Today, we still focus on youth, but we have members (known as “YWAMers”) of almost every age and many of our short-term efforts have grow into long-term endeavors that have impacted lives and nations.

YWAM has a decentralized structure that encourages new vision and the exploration of new ways to change lives through training, convey the message of the gospel and care for those in need. We are currently operating in more than 1000 locations in over 150 countries, with a staff of nearly 16,000.

Convey

Evangelism

People who encounter Jesus want to tell others about Him. Christ’s love inspires us to use many creative means to make His gospel understood to any audience – large or small. We use tools such as music, performing arts and sports to connect with people of all ages and develop friendships which can lead to conversations of eternal value.

When working in other cultures and among people of other faiths, Christ’s message of peace is our starting point. We believe everyone has the right to hear this message and our hope is to see fellowships of believers, worshipping and following Jesus in every nation, tribe and tongue.

 

Change

Training

Change your mind. Change your life. Change your world.

YWAM training teaches you to explore and share your faith. A wide variety of specialized training programs equip students with skills that can be applied in many situations to convey the love of Christ and participate practically in missions. Our introductory course, the Discipleship Training School (DTS), is offered in many nations and languages and is a unique opportunity to focus on building your relationship with God and discover new opportunities to work with Him.

 

Care

Mercy Ministries

If you believe it, you have to live it. YWAM Mercy Ministry teams follow Jesus’ example of compassion to those in need. We operate relief and development programs in over 100 countries, working among people living in desperate circumstances.

Our volunteers serve in areas such as agricultural assistance, health care, micro enterprise development and with women and children at risk. Their goal is to ease suffering and provide hope for those affected by poverty, disease or injustice.

YWAM teams responded to critical situations such as Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistani earthquake, and the Asian tsumani and they remain in long-term community development efforts in these and other places never seen on the news.