Youth With A Mission (YWAM), which now fields more than 12,000 full-time workers in more than 140 countries, was founded in 1960 by Loren Cunningham, an ordained Pentecostal pastor of the "Assemblies of God" denomination in the U.S. Cunningham's original aim was to offer young people from various churches the chance to participate in international evangelistic endeavors during their school holidays. The concept caught on quickly, and by the beginning of the 70's there were YWAM ministry centers in North America, Africa, Australasia, South America, and in Europe. With the growth of the YWAM came an increase in opportunities to ministry to, and along side, Christian groups of all kinds - including groups within historical churches.

Even with its Pentecostal roots, YWAM has always tried to cultivate a "heart" for all of God's people. Therefore, as doors of service opened up with Catholic groups in Spain, Austria, Poland, and elsewhere, it seemed logical to walk through these, even if many "YWAMers" had little, in any previous contact with Catholics, much less training on how to sensitively serve them.


Lessons were learned over the years (some of them the "hard way"), and by the early 90's YWAM not only had an ever-increasing amount of ministry in and with Catholic groups, but also a growing number of Catholics working on staff in some of the ministry centers. As one can imagine, this encouraging development brought with it its own unique set of challenges. Foremost among them was: How could YWAM create space in this predominately Protestant mission for Catholics to participate in YWAM's calling, and at the same time remain rooted in their church and fully able to express their Catholic faith.

An international group of 35 Catholic and Protestant YWAM leaders met in Dublin in the summer of 1992 to examine this and other related questions. This "Dublin Consultation on Evangelization in the Catholic World" laid the groundwork for what eventually became Kerygma Teams.

 Beginnings
 Youth With A Mission (YWAM), which now fields more than 12,000 full-time workers in more than 140 countries, was founded in 1960 by Loren Cunningham, an ordained Pentecostal pastor of the "Assemblies of God" denomination in the U.S. Cunningham's original aim was to offer young people from various churches the chance to participate in international evangelistic endeavors during their school holidays. The concept caught on quickly, and by the beginning of the 70's there were YWAM ministry centers in North America, Africa, Australasia, South America, and in Europe. With the growth of the YWAM came an increase in opportunities to ministry to, and along side, Christian groups of all kinds - including groups within historical churches.

Even with its Pentecostal roots, YWAM has always tried to cultivate a "heart" for all of God's people. Therefore, as doors of service opened up with Catholic groups in Spain, Austria, Poland, and elsewhere, it seemed logical to walk through these, even if many "YWAMers" had little, in any previous contact with Catholics, much less training on how to sensitively serve them.

Lessons were learned over the years (some of them the "hard way"), and by the early 90's YWAM not only had an ever-increasing amount of ministry in and with Catholic groups, but also a growing number of Catholics working on staff in some of the ministry centers. As one can imagine, this encouraging development brought with it its own unique set of challenges. Foremost among them was: How could YWAM create space in this predominately Protestant mission for Catholics to participate in YWAM's calling, and at the same time remain rooted in their church and fully able to express their Catholic faith.

An international group of 35 Catholic and Protestant YWAM leaders met in Dublin in the summer of 1992 to examine this and other related questions. This "Dublin Consultation on Evangelization in the Catholic World" laid the groundwork for what eventually became  Kerygma Teams.

 Our Objectives
 Kerygma Teams wants to see

  • An exponential growth in the number of young people involved in apostolic activities (cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem Article 2),
          
  • An increase of well-trained and highly motivated lay leadership,
          
  • A flourishing of charismatic communities around the world,
          
  • A multiplication of initiatives aimed at reconciling Christians with one another,
          
  • An increased involvement on the part of Catholic laity in world missions. 
     

We share YWAM's three-fold apostolic call of mercy ministries, training, and evangelisation. We also have a few distinctives: 

 Mobilising Catholics
We train and mobilise Catholic young people for active Christian service.

Although we desire to be a blessing to all the churches, Kerygma Teams has a primary call to train and mobilise Catholic young people for active service.

 Emphasis on Reconciliation
We support initiatives of reconciliation between the Christian churches.

As paradoxical as it sounds, KT also has a primary call to support initiatives of reconciliation between the Christian Churches. We believe that many reconciliation efforts sometimes fall short by failing to adequately involve members of the historic churches. Kerygma Teams desires to be a bridge between Catholics and members of other Churches.

 Catholic Ethos

Our teams are ecumenical, but with a "Catholic ethos". We endeavour to maintain an "ethos" or atmosphere in our teams which encourages Catholic members to live out their Catholic faith. Among other things this includes inviting many Catholic speakers to lecture in our training programs, maintaining healthy ties with the local hierarchy and diocesan structures, encouragement to observe the Catholic church  year, and together examining important Catholic documents.


Supporting Communities
We support the founding of new Catholic "communities". Kerygma Teams supports efforts to build new Catholic and ecumenical "communities".

 Collaborative in nature
Most of our projects are collaborative in nature. Most of Kerygma Teams' projects are collaborative in nature. This means that the majority of what we do, we do together with local Catholic groups.

 Self governing transnational
We are a self-governing transnational ministry within Youth With A Mission. Within Youth With A Mission, Kerygma Teams has been granted permission to develop its own organisational structures and lines of leadership. There are a number of semiautonomous sub-organisations contained in YWAM's "family of ministries" which we refer to as "transnational ministries". These ministries maintain the over-all core values and vision of the parent organisation, have lines of communication and accountability with the rest of the mission, but they have also been given a large degree of freedom to develop new vision, a unique "ethos" and ways of doing things. Some of the better-known of these YWAM transnational ministries are King's Kids, University of the Nations and Impact World Tours.