OUR story
WHO WE ARE
It started with a vision: young people coming through a front door and into a gymnasium. With a band on stage, they’d come, worship, get fired up for God, and then head out the back door and into the parts of the world with little access to the Good News of Jesus.
Back in 2003, YWAM Wollongong’s co-founders-Bruce and Kristin Skinner-each had an identical mental image at the same time: young people encountering God and taking his love into the nations.
They had already been sensing God might be calling them out of their full-time jobs to jump into full-time ministry but they still weren’t sure what that might look like. After this vision, they said to one another: “That sounds like YWAM.” And so began the journey.
After laying aside their own desire to serve long-term in Afghanistan, Bruce and Kristin returned to their hometown to found YWAM Wollongong so that thousands more might be gripped by God’s heart to go and love those in the least reached places.
Located in the Wollongong suburb of Port Kembla, our vision is reflected in the steel works visible outside our campus windows. Ships come in with raw materials needing to be processed into something new and sent out to fulfil their purpose.
Just like these raw materials, we receive young people from all over the world, ready to encounter the life-changing power of Jesus and be transformed by his love. And just like those processed materials, these young people are sent out to partner with God in what he’s doing all over the world.
Since 2005 we’ve offered training and discipleship for young adults to grow in their knowledge and love for God firsthand—and to see that love expressed in very real and practical ways. We focus the majority of our efforts in the parts of the world with the least access to the good news of Jesus.
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