Hi all!

Just thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself. I am not new to RR but i am new to the forums here.

For the better part of my life i have been involved in Mission work (non-evangelism) & Humanitarian work. Mostly in North & West Africa. And i have a pretty good knowledge base on world faiths & belief systems. If you would like to know more about me just ask!

I hope this is a place that i can learn from others & help others to learn what the truth is & what isnt the truth. I look forward to hearing from all of you!

Blessings & Peace,
Fula

This is not a religious site, but rather a forum that discusses controversial groups and movements, some called "cults."

I understand this. And this is why i am here. I have learned alot from this site and thought it would be great to join in, contributing to the forums. For my family and i were invovled in a destructive group for some time. Thought maybe i could help with advise for those who were invovled in the group. I apologize for any offense. Thank you for making me feel welcome.

Peace,

Fula

Which group were you involved in?

And welcome, by the way.


EZ

hi and thank you!

i was in ywam for nearly 3 1/2 years. though ywam as a whole isnt bad, alot of the individual "bases" that have little or no outside leadership or authority can be cult like. our experience was quite destructive and has taken a few years to recover from.

fula

I have received many complaints about YWAM.

See [www.culteducation.com]

actually, the "base" we were working with used to be labeled here on your site and the base director, emailed you constantly trying to get ours removed from your list. at least that is what he said. we were located in Florida.

some of the stories may seem far fetched but alot of it is true. and as i said before not all of ywam is bad, just the parts that have no leadership and/or direction.

some happen to be very militant. like the one we were involved in. any other ministry was in the wrong if they weren't doing the same thing that we were. and we were told all the time that we were the "elite" missionaries. kinda scary huh? when it had got to that point we realized that things were starting to sour.

the one that catches my eye, is the "Hooked" one. its very true, people get addicted or hooked into staying when they should go or leave. i have known people that spent there entire 20's and most of their 30's hooked in because they are told that they need to seek God and His plan for their life. and when they dont "hear" anything they continue to stay around. before they know it their early life is gone and they have nothing to fall back on.

2 cents.

peace,
fula

Loren Cuningham and YWAM headquarters don't seem to be doing much to clean things up.

thats the problem, they have no authority or say in each individual base. thats the problem. and lauren cunningham hasnt been the president of ywam for a very long time. he may be the founder but he has no say. each base is supposed to fall under a regional director & leadership counsel. yet some dont. becuase some overzealous immature person wats to start a ywam base to reach the worl and they start it all on there own without permission from the organization head, which they are allowed to do and they just apply for base status which is given to then freely. and then no one is the wiser at what they are doing.

they have given alot fo missionaries around the world a tainted and bad name. its quite sad really.

What you describe is quite bad.

But the Cunningham family continues to exert some influence and control from YWAM headquarters.

It seems Loren Cunningham never cared enough to set up the organization right in the first place to avoid such problems.

YWAM as a direct result is problematic.

There are many other missionary organizations that don't have such a history of problems and would be preferable to support.

I wouldn't recommend YWAM to anyone under any circumstances.