What is YWAM?

In 1960 God gave a young man, Loren Cunningham, a vision to mobilize and train young people to obey the Great Commission and as a result Youth With a Mission (YWAM) was born. Today YWAM has more than 1000 bases operating in over 135 nations.

YWAM Jeffrey's Bay was commissioned in 1998 by Loren Cunningham, YWAM's South African director and the help of three families. YWAM Jeffrey's Bay was established after God spoke to them about positioning and preparing themselves for a missions movement that would come from Africa and ultimately impact the world. Jeffrey's Bay was chosen because of its location in the Eastern Cape where no YWAM ministries existed at the time and where many communities needed training. The base represents various denominations, ethnicities, and nationalities united around one common purpose: To know God and make Him known!

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)

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.

- (Extract from ywam.org)