Missionaries from all corners of the globe gathered for the first time in six years at the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Together 2024 in Manila, Philippines, with 4,500 people from 110 nationalities and currently serving in 120 countries. Hosted in Manila by Christ’s Commission Fellowship Church, an international non-denominational church, from Sept. 3 to 6, the event featured mission-focused teaching and worship.
Together 2024 marked a number of “firsts”: the first get-together since meeting in Pattaya, Thailand in 2018; the first global staff meeting since the COVID era; and, most poignant of all, the first-ever large gathering since the passing of YWAM founder Loren Cunningham, who went to glory aged 88 on Oct. 6 last year, 2023.
“We come together from across the world, representing a wide range of ministries,” read a YWAM Together statement. “It is a time where there is a renewal of friendships, strengthening and encouragement of faith, great joy and renewed unity and focus on the Apostolic call on us as a movement.”
A special focus was on children and youth, called “partners in the mission”, while participants also explored other topics, such as how to know God deeper, living with a radical faith, how to shake the nations through prayer, why diving into the inspiring stories of YWAM and its founder can strengthen their roots in God, and how to understand their unique role in YWAM as the “arrowhead.”
Jeff Fountain, former leader of YWAM Europe for 20 years, and now director of The Schuman Centre for European Studies, reflected after the event about the fact that the gathering was the first without the beloved founder, Cunningham.
While acknowledging the uncertainty that comes with a transition from a founder-led movement towards a new generation of leaders, he expressed his hope for what lies ahead.
“‘Moses’ was dead; we had not been this way before. No clear succession plan had been in place,” wrote Fountain. “However, as the week unfolded, it became clear that we were transitioning to a new ‘Joshua’ generation of gifted and capable young leaders who had prepared this gathering and would competently lead the mission into the future. “
Fountain does not anticipate a singular leader emerging for YWAM after the death of Cunningham. “No-one can replace Loren,” he told Christian Daily International.
“I personally think a collegiate leadership to be the way forward and there is talk of appointing 24 elders to provide oversight,” Fountain added. “Perhaps there could be rotational chairmanship as with the EU.”
“But YWAM is decentralized and value-driven so it is not a command structure. Decisions need to be made as close to the locality as possible.”
