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Youth
With A Mission
Peter Hocken
pastor,
Loren
Cunningham,’
focuses on
renewal
aimed to be
interdenominational, certainly
Protestant
bodies,
265
is one of the
largest
Christian
in 1960
by
a Pentecostal
not
exclusively Pentecostal, Like other
Evangelical
Protestant
The
major catalyst Charismatic
from
Europe, especially staff member of YWAM-Austria,
Youth With a Mission
(YWAM)
missionary agencies
in the world. Founded
YWAM aims to train
young
Christians as effective
evangelists.
While not
insisting
on its staff
being baptized
in the
Holy Spirit,
YWAM has overall retained a Pentecostal/Charismatic character as it
spread
to all the continents of the
globe.
This
report
YWAM’s
developing response
to currents of
spiritual
in the Roman Catholic Church. From its
inception,
YWAM
but
and
Evangelical.2
missionary
YWAM workers took for
granted
that Roman Catholics were
simply
candidates for
evangelism who,
when
converted, would leave the Church of Rome and join an Evangelical church.
for
rethinking
this
policy
was the rise of the
Renewal in the Roman Catholic Church. The
impetus
came
from Austria and Poland.3 In
1975,
a
young
at
Seckau,
Bruce
Clewett,
was introduced
by
the
a Benedictine monk
Lutheran
Mary
Sisters of
Darmstadt, Germany,
to
near Graz in Austria. This association led to the first YWAM outreach to Catholics the
following year
at Seckau. Clewett
with Al
Akimoff,
director of YWAM’s
discussed this
development Slavic Missions.
Pentecostals, bodies in YWAM workers
all of them
very
small nation. Until
1976,
the
Up
to that
point,
YWAM’s work in Poland had been with
Baptists,
Brethren and
Lutherans,
an
overwhelmingly
Roman Catholic
in Poland had no contact with committed Roman Catholics, although they
knew that
Campus
Crusade were
collaborating with the Polish Catholic movement known as
Oasis,
renamed the .
Light-Life
movement in 1976.4
Following
his discussion with
Clewett,
a potential to work with converted Catholics. A young
Akimoff sensed
‘ At this time, Loren Cunningham was a minister of the Assemblies of God. 2 It was this wider vision that set Cunningham at odds with the Assemblies of God in YWAM’s
early years, and caused him to lose his ministerial accreditation with the
denomination for 15
There had
years.
already been more
limited collaboration in
Spain, Switzerland and
YWAM,
Germany. 4
On the Light-Life movement, see Grazyna Sikorska, Light and Life: Renewal in Poland
(London:
Collins Fount
Paperbacks,
and Grand
Rapids,
MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989). On their collaboration with Campus Crusade and
and subsequent accusations of Protestant “infiltration,” see
and
Sikorska, Light
Life,
70-72 and Dariusz
Cupial
“Renewal
Among
Catholics in Poland,” PNEUMA: The Journal the
227-231.
of Society for
Pentecostal Studies 16 (Fall 1994):
1
266
Dutchman,
Evert
Veldhuizen,s
was asked to
go
to Poland and make contact with renewed Catholics. After some
meetings
with Fr. Franciszek
Blachnicki,
the founder of
Light-Life,
some collaboration followed in
1977-79, though
much less than Veldhuizen had
hoped, due to other demands on YWAM.
This new door of
opportunity
confronted
Clewett, staunchly Evangelical
in his
theology,
with the
question:
“Is it
possible
to be a bom
again,
Bible
believing disciple
of Jesus
rejecting
all moral compromise
and still be a committed Roman Catholic?”
Only
if he could
say
“Yes” to this
question
would it be
possible
to collaborate with Roman Catholics and
help
the Catholics
they evangelized
to come to a vital faith in Jesus Christ within their own Catholic Church. Clewett wrestled before the Lord with this
question
for two
years,
and spent long
hours
studying
Catholic
documents, teaching
and
history.
As he became convinced that it was
possible
to sustain a vital Christian experience
within the Catholic
Church,
he knew he had a call to
help bring
this renewal in faith to Roman Catholics. As YWAM-Austria began
some small forms of collaboration with Catholic
Charismatics, Clewett shared his vision with fellow national leaders in
YWAM,
and was asked to
prepare
a
paper
on this
topic
for their international leadership.
Between 1982 and
1984,
different versions of the
paper
were discussed
by
several YWAM leaders. In
1984,
at Desert Hot
Springs, California,
the
paper
“Guidelines for Youth With A Mission’s Relationship
to the Traditional Churches” was
presented
to the international
leadership.
The
paper
is characteristic of YWAM, which is above all an
energetic
and zealous
body
of believers committed to the practical
tasks of
evangelism
and
discipleship training.6 6
The 1984
paper
does not
spend long
on
theological
issues. It acknowledges
that “God is at work in all Christian traditions-including
the so-called ‘traditional churches’
TCs,”
and quickly
addresses
practical
matters.
Thus,
the second
page
of the ten-page
document
already
addresses the
problem
of what to do with TC members who have made a
personal
commitment to the Lord but who do not
“belong
to a
spiritually strong parish”
which “is often the
Other
paragraphs
make
practical suggestions
and recommendations, including
the
following:
Evert Veldhuizen is currently pastor of the Baptist Church in Tours, France, and working
on a doctoral thesis on Charismatic Renewal
among Evangelicals
in France.
6 YWAM began with the goal of sending out young evangelists, but after a few years Cunningham
saw that the training of new disciples was fundamental, and in 1967 the first YWAM discipleship training school was formed.
7 “Guidelines for Youth With A Mission’s
Relationship
to the Traditional Churches,” (1984),
1-2.
2
267
should be Separate
DTSs,e seminars, domestic crusades and even information
[sic]
created, geared towards
members of certain
TCs, who would otherwise
not come to a more interdenominational program….’
We suggest finding TC groups which share our understanding of having a personal
commitment to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ, supporting these wherever
groups possible, and be open to sending them people who have recently
made this personal commitment.’°
We want to create an
atmosphere
of mutual acceptance on our bases in which no one feels pressured to leave their denomination.’ `
We should encourage staff to have church affiliations outside YWAM. ‘
The
paper
was
presented
and discussed. The International Council agreed
in principle to its contents. It was
felt, however,
that it would be unwise to make it the official
policy
of YWAM.
Rather,
the
paper could serve as
guidelines
for those who felt led to work
among Catholics. This
decision,
while somewhat
disappointing
to the
paper’s proponents,
no doubt reflected a wisdom in view of the
explosiveness of the
topic,
the
widely
varied situations
throughout
the world and the fact that consciences had to be
shaped by
the
Holy Spirit,
not compelled by
edict.”
YWAM-Austria was in many
ways
the
laboratory
for this
experiment as far as YWAM collaboration with Roman Catholics was concerned. Bruce Clewett
prayed
and
experimented
with different
patterns
and strategies
for
evangelism
and
discipleship training
in a Catholic milieu. In
addition,
he looked for structures
acceptable
within the Catholic Church,
within which Catholics
evangelized by
YWAM could receive follow-up
and active
pastoral
care. Out of this concerted but flexible effort
grew
a
program geared
to
planting
“Renewal communities” or “Renewal
fellowships”
in Austria.’4
In
1987,
Rob
Clarke,
a Catholic from New
Zealand,
who had been on the staff of
YWAM-Austria,
was
appointed
YWAM national director in
Ireland,
an
appointment
that was a fruit of the Desert Hot
8 Discipleship Training Schools.
9 “Guidelines,” 3.
”
‘° “Guidelines,”
4.
“Guidelines,” 6.
12 “Guidelines,”
9.
“The
permissive character of
this
policy does,
of
course, lead to contrasting approaches
within the same
country,
and can lead-I would think
unfairly-to accusations of
playing
a “double
game.” Thus,
Lawrence Jones’s
article,
“An American Pentecostal Mission to Poland in 1989,” in
Christianity and ed. J. P. Nederveen Pieterse
Hegemony,
(New York, NY/Oxford: Berg, 1992), 273-301 a
provides description of a short-term YWAM mission, but does not reflect any
of the evolution studied here.
“By 1994, Clewett’s team had helped to launch seven such communities and is currently working
on a handbook for others wishing to start one in their own area.
3
268
staff,
of whom
priorities, evangelism steadily
so Catholics.
Springs meeting.’S
When Clarke took over in Dublin, he had 8 full-time
4 were Roman Catholic. Clarke
sought
to
develop
an ethos in YWAM-Ireland that was faithful to YWAM convictions and
but in which Irish Catholics committed to
vigorous
would feel at home. The work has
expanded
that
by January 1994,
21 out of the 28 full-time staff are
to Christ
Church,
help they
were
seeking was
responding
to this young
Catholics Dublin. Thus YWAM
helped
Immanuel
Community Community,
Secondly,
at a to Catholic Charismatics
1985 from a Maltese YWAM School Catholic
with
Catholic
adaptation
Catholic,
reflecting
Renewal in the Roman Catholic
Catholics
looking
for basic
find the
practical
to
(ICPE)
was founded
a form of
strong
links with
YWAM,
has been
With the
spread
of Charismatic
there were
groups
of
young
training
in
discipleship
and
evangelism,
who did not
in their own Church.
By
the late 1980s YAM
need at two levels.
First, they
welcomed such
to their
discipleship training schools, particularly
in the
early stages
of
fledgling Charismatic communities
arising
in Catholic milieux:
examples
include
in
Ravensburg, Germany,
and the
Upper
Room
in St.
Albans, England.”
more
strategic long-term level,
YWAM offered
help
to start their own forms of
discipleship training.
The vision for a Catholic
training
school in evangelism came in
Mario
Cappello,
who had done a
of
Evangelism
in the late 1970s. The International
Program
for
Evangelization
in
Malta,
initial
help
from YWAM.
ICPE,
which
represents
of the YWAM
DTS,
now has a second center in Germany.
ICPE has not maintained
a Catholic Charismatic Renewal that is often nervous of Evangelical
and Pentecostal contacts. 17
In the United
States,
YWAM
cooperation
largely
restricted to the framework
organized by
the North American
1990
Indianapolis
World
Congress
on the
Holy Spirit and
Evangelization’8
and the
July
1995
Congress planned
for Orlando. The lack of wider YWAM service to Catholic Renewal is mainly due to lack of Catholic
interest, partly reflecting
a Catholic desire to have their
and
partly
a Catholic caution about
vigorous
Protestant
(NARSC):
the
own
agencies evangelistic
bodies.
with Catholic Charismatics
of the
congresses Renewal Service Committee
collaboration has
developed
A rather different and
ongoing pattern
of YWAM-Roman Catholic
in
Uganda, through
a German Catholic
Britain, 16 Upper
‘3 The initial selection for the Dublin appointment was by the leaders for Great
but it required subsequent ratification by the European leadership.
Room in St. Albans has more Protestant members than Immanuel in Ravensburg. “‘The 1986 ICPE took
place in Rome, with Cappello and Clarke as co-directors. ‘8 See news items in Charisma 15 (May 1990): 30 and 16 (October 1990): 24-25, 28.
4
courses African
country Catholic Church. Charismatic
Clarke from Dublin
diocese in Ghana sent
Mary
collaboration
despite
its controversial
Jacobs,2°
on
Catholic Charismatic
community outreach,
Christ’s Youth City,
where YWAM
269
By
1993 there were three DTS
developed
between
a Catholic
In the
Philippines,
came about
missionary,
Fr. Ernst
Sievers,
who had come to know YWAM earlier in Ghana. 19 Fr. Sievers had met Bruce Clewett in Europe, and
proposed
a YWAM
program
for Catholics in
Uganda.
Around
1990,
a YWAM team from Austria and
Ireland,
led a DTS under the mantle of Catholic Charismatic Renewal in
Uganda.
in
Uganda, mostly
run
by
African leaders. Ghana is another
in which YWAM has done some work with the
Friendly
relations
group
in Takoradi and
YWAM;
over 40 Catholics from Takoradi have been
through
the YWAM DTS. In
early 1992,
Rob
and a leader from a Catholic
community
in Austria ran a
ten-day leadership
course in
Sunyani,
to which each Catholic
8-10
people.
The YWAM
opening up
to
cooperation
with renewed Catholics inevitably
raises Protestant fears of
compromise
and
syncretism.
Such fears are
greater
in countries with a dominant Catholic Church and a popular piety extolling
and the saints.
with Catholics has
grown slowly
over the last seven
years
character. This
cooperation
through (1)
the arrival of a dedicated
young
American
Catholic,
Steve
the YWAM
staff; (2)
contact with
Joy
of the
Lord,
a
in Manila, and their
youth evangelistic
in Action;2′
and, (3)
a concentration on Davao
had no
existing activity. Following
a gradual start to this
experimental
outreach to
Filipino Catholics,
Jacobs was
officially
in
1988,
an
opening
that was later endorsed by the YWAM national council
in the
Philippines. 22
YWAM leaders involved in this
experimentation
that it raises, and that the wisdom of the
Holy Spirit
needed to
proceed
in faithfulness to their
Gospel
convictions and in openness
to the
leading
of the
Holy Spirit.
Since YWAM is not a denomination but an interdenominational
body,
it does not have a comprehensive
of
faith,
but is able to maintain its clear
to Jesus
Christ,
to salvation
to
evangelism
and
discipleship training
The YWAM
leadership
see themselves as
supporting
released into this
ministry
The
of the
major
issues is
statement commitment
resurrection,
the Word of God.
are well aware
through
his cross and
and to
fidelity
to
19 See Cephas Omenyo, “The Charismatic Renewal Movement in
Ghana,” PNEUMA: The Journal
of
the
Society for
Pentecostal Studies 16 (Fall 1994): 169-185.
21 Joy
“Now on the YWAM staff in Dublin, Ireland.
of the Lord is part of the Sword of the Spirit (International) Community with its center in Ann Arbor,
‘In
Michigan.
1990, a six month program like a DTS, with three months teaching and three months of praxis was organized by the Catholic organization, Evangelization 2000, with strong YWAM input. This course, which was not presented as a YWAM work, was promoted by the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines.
5
270
the
renewing
work of the
Holy Spirit
in the
TCs,
not as
endorsing patterns they
believe
require
reform or renewal.
To further reflection and
sharing
of
experience,
an international conference for YWAM
people
concerned with
cooperation
with Catholics was held in Dublin in June 1992 with 40
participants, including
several Africans. A second conference was held at St.
Albans, England
in June 1993 with 70
participants,
of whom the
majority
were working
in Europe, but with others from the
Philippines, Colombia,
the United States and New Zealand.23 In between these two conferences in February
of
1993, YWAM-Europe
held two leaders conferences in Holland,
at which
workshops
were
given by
the
present
author on the issues involved in
working
with the historic
Churches, especially
the Roman Catholic Church. A third and
larger
international conference is planned
for
Brussels, Belgium,
in early 1995.
“The
speakers included Charles Whitehead, a Catholic Charismatic leader from England
and chair of ICCRS in Rome, Fr. Ernst Sievers (Uganda), Bruce Clewett (YWAM-Austria),
and Jeff Fountain (European Director for YWAM).
6
