Reef to Outback is ...

Part of the family of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a non-profit, voluntary, international Christian organisation. Made up with people from a variety of ages, backgrounds, nationalities and denominations.

YWAM - The Big Picture

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) began in 1960 with a young man, Loren Cunningham, and a vision. He saw in front of him a map of the world with waves crashing into continents, advancing inland until all the nations were covered. The waves became young people of all ages, talking to people on the street corners, going from house to house, helping the hungry, and leading them to a relationship with Jesus.

Since our founding YWAM has seen thousands involved worldwide in fulfilling Christ's command: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).

YWAM draws people from a wide variety of backgrounds to work in a vast spectrum of evangelistic activities. Young people, families, retired persons, recent High School graduates and PhD's are among our ranks.

People from more than 100 nations and many denominations are included, from "baby Christians", to church leaders and missionaries with many years of experience.

Each year, about 25,000 people are involved in YWAM's short-term projects. Mobile ministries have gone into 216 countries to date. Well over 7500 people work as permanent staff at over 500 centers in 120 nations.

Since its beginnings YWAM has now expanded into a family of ministries of which Reef to Outback is one.

Three methods of Action

YWAM embraces three methods - ways which we believe God has given us to be a part of the goal of taking the gospel to all the world.

1. Evangelism : spreading God's message

2. Training : preparing workers to reach others

3. Mercy Ministries : showing God's love through practical assistance

Evangelism

From the outback of Australia to Saipan, YWAM workers are proclaiming Jesus in dozens of creative ways: ministering to the needy in the cities of the world, reaching university campuses, doing outreach at international sporting events, participating in drama and music, sharing door-to-door in an African village or an American town, or being part of a ship ministry. In each evangelism effort, we follow up new Christians, linking them with established churches or fellowships wherever possible. We also help these converts form a Christian fellowship where none exists.

Training

We are engaged in various training programs in a number of locations on every continent. The Discipleship Training School (DTS) makes up the basic program for most YWAM centres around the world.

In addition, there are special schools including schools of Christian Counselling, pre-school teacher training, missionary paramedics, foreign language studies, missions and Biblical studies. We have schools focusing on the Muslim world, the Communist world, creative ministries, nutrition and agriculture.

University of the Nations (U of N) has a unique international and missions oriented emphasis. Courses and seminars are being offered through the following colleges: Christian Ministries, Communication, Counselling and Health Care, Education, Humanities and International Studies, Performing Arts, and Science and Technology.

Mercy Ministries

Our Mercy Ministries seek to demonstrate the love of God to the poor and needy in practical ways. These include medical, dental and counselling teams, vocational rehabilitation, agricultural training, nutrition services, language and cultural adjustment classes for refugees, food and clothing.

YWAM has three ships. These ocean-going vessels play an integral role in helping meet the needs of the poor and needy.

The M\V Anastasis is an 11695 ton ship, 522 feet long, with living quarters for 476 people. It is equipped with three cargo holds for relief materials and food, and an 18-bed hospital.

The M\V Caribbean Mercy, operates in the Caribbean region, delivering relief supplies to the needy, as well as supporting medical and evangelism teams.

The M\V Island Mercy serves the island nations of the South Pacific. Together, the Mercy Ships fleet have delivered millions of pounds of relief supplies, performed hundreds of surgeries, and preached the gospel to thousands of people.

Youth With A Mission is dedicated to presenting Jesus Christ personally to this generation, to mobilising as many as possible to help in this task, and to the training and equipping of believers for their part in fulfilling the Great Commission. As people of God's Kingdom, we are called to love, worship and obey our Lord, to love and serve His Body the Church, and to present the whole gospel for the whole man throughout the whole world.

We in Youth With A Mission believe that the Bible is God's inspired and authoritative word, revealing that Jesus

Christ is God's son; that man is created in God's image; that He created us to have eternal life through Jesus Christ; that although all men have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, God has made salvation possible through the death on the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ; that repentance, faith, love and obedience are fitting responses to God's initiative of grace towards us; that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth; and that the Holy Spirit's power is demonstrated in and through us for the accomplishing of Christ's last commandment, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).