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 congregation, 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 large gathering since the passing of YWAM founder Loren Cunningham, who went to glory aged 88 on Oct. 6, 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.”
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.
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