DNA
Our heart
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is a global 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.YWAM International reaches out in almost 200 countries.
January 2022
This document presents YWAM’s sincerely held purpose, core beliefs, and foundational values which have been compiled in response to specific directives given by God since YWAM’s beginning in 1960. They are recorded here in order to pass on to successive generations that which God has emphasized to us.
This shared purpose and our YWAM 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 this purpose, beliefs, values and practices makes up the unique family characteristics of YWAM—our “DNA.” They are the framework we hold in high regard for they help us determine who we are, how we live and how we make decisions.
A YWAMer is someone who has completed a YWAM Discipleship Training School (DTS) and who joyfully embraces our Statement of Purpose, Core Beliefs, Foundational Values, Legacy Words and Covenants.
Our Statement of Purpose
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to presenting Jesus personally to this and future generations, 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 love all peoples everywhere, which includes presenting the whole Gospel for the whole person throughout the whole world.
We of Youth With A Mission believe in God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that the Bible is God’s inspired and authoritative Word, revealing that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, fully God and fully human; 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 incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ; that repentance, faith, love and obedience are fitting responses to God’s initiative of grace toward us through the active ministry of the Holy Spirit; 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 commandments, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16:15 NLT) and “Go and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19 NLT).
YWAM’s Core Beliefs
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) affirms the Bible as the inspired and authoritative Word of God and the absolute reference point for every aspect of life and ministry. Based upon God’s Word, who He is, and His initiative of salvation through the atoning work of Jesus (His death, burial, and resurrection), the following responses are strongly emphasized in YWAM:
WORSHIP:We are called to praise and worship God alone (Exo 20:2-3; Deu 6:4-5; 2Ki 17:35-39; 1Ch 16:28-30; Neh 8:2-10; Mar 12:29-30; Rom 15:5-13; Jud 24-25; Rev 5:6-14; Rev 19:5-8).
HOLINESS:We are called to lead holy and righteous lives that exemplify the nature and character of God (Lev 19:1-2; Psa 51:7-11; Jer 18:1-11; Eze 20:10-12; Zec 13:9; Luk 1:68 75; Eph 4:21-32; Tit 2:11-14; 1Pe 2:9,21-25; 1Jo 3:1-3).).
WITNESS:We are called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those who do not know Him (Psa 78:1-7; Isa 40:3-11; Mic 4:1-2; Hab 2:14; Luk 24:44-48; Act 3:12-26; Act 10:39-43; 1Co 9:19-23; 2Co 2:12-17; 1Pe 3:15-18).
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 (Gen 18:20-33; Exo 32:1-16; Jdg 3:9,15; 1Ki 8:22-61; Eze 22:30-31; Eze 33:1-11; Mat 6:5-15; Mat 9:36-38; Eph 3:14 21; 2Th 3:1-5).
FELLOWSHIP:We are called to commit to the Church in both its local nurturing expression and its mobile multiplying expression (2Ch 29:20-30; Psa 22:25-28; Psa 122:1-4; Joe 2:15 17; Mat 18:19-20; Act 2:44-47; Act 4:32-35; 1Co 14:26-40; Eph 2:11-18; Heb 10:23-25).
SERVICE:We are called to contribute toward God’s Kingdom purposes in every sphere of life (Deu 15:7-11; Deu 24:17-22; Psa 112:4-9; Pro 11:10-11; Zec 7:8-10; Mat 5:14-16; 2Th 3:13; Tit 3:4-8; Heb 13:15-16; Jam 2:14-26).
HISTORICAL NOTE:
This document includes the YWAM Statement of Purpose and the Core Beliefs and Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission.
The YWAM Statement of Purpose was written in the early 1960s. We purposefully never wrote a “Statement of Faith” because we are “an international movement of Christians from many denominations” and wanted simply to clarify why God had called this movement into being.
YWAM’s Core Beliefs and Foundational Values were birthed through a multi-decade process of hearing God and listening to one another. The process of identifying our values was initiated by Darlene Cunningham in 1985 at the time of YWAM’s 25th anniversary, in order to pass them on to successive generations. The document was then approved six years later by the International Council in 1991.
At that time the International Council (IC) was the recognized global eldership of the mission. Since that time the senior circle of global elders has functioned under several different names. First it was the International Council (IC). It was later called the Global Leadership Team (GLT) and then was known as the Global Leadership Forum (GLF). This body was disbanded in Singapore 2014 in order to put in place a flatter, movement framework at the trans-local level in the place of what was becoming an increasingly hierarchical organizational structure. Now there are many circles of spiritual eldership around the mission—many of them known as Area Circle Teams (ACTs). A senior group of elders has been convened by Loren and Darlene Cunningham and is known as the Founders’ Circle (FC).
Throughout these many decades, a primary role of the body of global spiritual elders (whether the IC, GLT, GLF or FC) has been to confirm, steward and safeguard the foundational documents of the mission. Though the FC does not have the governmental oversight of earlier leadership frameworks, it does carry this role of protecting and clarifying our foundational documents.
A history of YWAM’s Values, since first presented by Darlene in 1985 and approved by the IC in 1991, include updates by the GLT in 2003 and the GLF in 2011, 2014. The FC confirmed an update in 2017 during the UofN Workshop in Costa Rica regarding the inclusion of “Service” as one of our responses to our Core Beliefs; and an update in 2018 during YWAM Together in Thailand, which clarifies Value 15. At that same time this new format was adopted so that our Purpose, Core Beliefs, Foundational Values, and the supporting Scriptural references would be presented as a singular document. The above document, approved by the Founders’ Circle in May 2020, clarifies wording in the Statement of Purpose and Values 4, 7, 16 & 17. The January 2022 update was for minor grammatical edits.
This updated document plus the following six“Covenantal Documents”form the foundational documents of Youth With A Mission:
1988: The Manila Covenant
1992: The Red Sea Covenant
2002: The Nanning Covenant
2010: The Jubilee Covenant
2014: The Singapore Covenant
2014: The Covenant to End Bible Poverty
YWAM’s identity and mission is further clarified by what we know as the“Four Legacy Words”given by God to Loren Cunningham through the years regarding the “alls” and the “everys” of our call. These are the major words of the Lord, which over our history have guided us and shaped our inheritance as a mission. They include:
1.The Covenantal Vision of the Waves, which Loren received in June of 1956 in the Bahamas shortly before his 21st birthday
2.The Call to Disciple Nations through the Seven Spheres of Society(1975)
3.The Christian Magna Carta(1981)
4.The Commitment to End Bible Poverty Now (1967 & 2014)
All of these are rooted in the early days of the mission’s story, and we continue to grow in our understanding and application of these Four Legacy Words.
© 1991 Youth With A Mission; 2003; 2011; 2014; 2017; 2020; 2022.
