The other day I was thinking about a bit of an odd analogy. Comparing YWAM to a type of phone operating system is certainly strange, but I think that in this case it can be accurate.
I’m sure that many YWAMers I know would rather associate YWAM with Apple, but they need to get over it. YWAM is much more like Android than it will ever be like Apple.
Google Android is an open source operating system for mobile phones and more recently for tablet computers. It has many different flavours and versions, and has been covered in many different “skins”. I reckon that this is a pretty good description of YWAM.
Youth With A Mission is built from a few core values. The foremost of those is:
To Know God and to Make Him Known
The YWAM Foundational Values are at the centre of who we are and they define how we live out the mandate of YWAM “To Know God and to Make Him Known”.
One big thing that we need to know as we look at YWAM is that no two YWAM locations are the same. What you experience at one location will not be the same as what you experience at the next. All 1250+ locations represent a slightly different aspect of who God is, even though we are all part of the same tribe.
The variety in YWAM allows us to minister into many different situations and countries, but also means that no one voice or location can truly represent who we are. The diversity and decentralised nature has been described as Youth With A Mission’s greatest strength, but also as it’s greatest weakness.
Like the Google Android Operating System I believe that YWAM will continue to diversify in who we are, but the challenge is to continue to remain compatible and unified in the core mission of Knowing God and Making Him Known…
Love it, Bill. This is a great analogy! So true…