Youth with a Mission

Youth With a Mission (YWAM) is an evangelical, nondenominational Christian organization officially based in more than 175 countries. It was founded in 1960 by Loren Cunningham, who was then in charge of the youth activities in Los Angeles of the Assemblies of God. After he left this Pentecostal denomination in 1964, YWAM adopted a charismatic stance by promoting an individualized religious [Page 1397]experience beyond denominational labels, refusing any sacred/secular distinction and spreading, since the 1980s to 1990s, the Spiritual Warfare theology.

Its development relies primarily on the Discipleship Training Schools, which attract several thousands of young Christians each year, mainly from evangelical, charismatic, and Pentecostal backgrounds but also from mainline Protestant churches and Catholicism. This program, launched in 1969 under the name of “Schools of Evangelism,” ...