STOP sending your kids to YWAM!

 

Spiritual Abuse a Common Complaint for YWAM Students

 Word is getting out that YWAM is abusive! CLICK HERE for article ------->   YWAM IS ABUSIVE 

 

YWAM and a Poverty Mentality

Someone recently asked about the "poverty mentality" in YWAM. Here is what I told her:

Since people who join YWAM need to raise support from individuals & churches, it is hard to raise enough money to be able to live comfortably, have money for daily needs, health insurance & save for the future & retirement. There are a few who go into YWAM from wealthy backgrounds or have huge monthly financial support from large churches.

Many of those who go into YWAM have a scholarship from a third world country which usually means they have enough for airfare & their school fees, but not much else. Once they finish their schools & stay on school or base staff, they have nothing!

Even though most people in YWAM would be in the legal definition of poverty, you are told to “trust God” for finances. Most are not allowed to get even a part-time job off base to make a little money to survive. This can mean that your staff fees carry over to the next month & the next, so by the time you want to leave, you are in debt to YWAM for thousands of dollars that they expect you to pay them once you move on.

There is the YWAM elite who are charismatic speakers & whose airfares are paid to fly to bases around the world to speak as well as given an honorarium. Many of these speakers also write books that they sell on YWAM bases and elsewhere. Most people in YWAM have little or no way to raise extra money and have little set aside for emergencies.

Also realize there is pressure on staff and students to dig deep financially to help out those who can not pay off their school fees.

 

If you are considering joing YWAM, watch this video first!

Another Good Blog Exposing YWAM Abuse

CLICK ON LINK BELOW:
https://ryanespringer.blogspot.com/2019/11/culty-is-as-culty-does.html

What is a YWAM NIKO Course?

Thinking of doing a Nico camp with YWAM?  Read what the experience is like before you decide:

Autumn

My family and I are Americans living in France.

YWAM NIKO Urban Paris

The TLDR is this, we made our YWAM DTS students homeless on the streets of Paris for 3 days.


In telling you all this I am breaking my "vow" to never share what happens in a NIKO camp. Ridiculous. I say "YWAM" but technically this is facilitated through "Kings Kids," a sister organization to YWAM. Whatever the case this was standard for all of our DTSes, including a Crossroads DTS that had elderly students.


I participated 2x as staff and it's one of my biggest regrets, that I was so brainwashed I not only felt this was acceptable but actually beneficial for my students. We begin by telling them to only bring their Bible, good shoes, and warm clothes. The whole thing is shrouded in secrecy.


We show up to a basement, cave, in Paris and have prayer and worship. They are given the "choice" to participate. A line is drawn and they are asked to cross it if they are to continue. This is hideous because absolutely NO ONE knows what it is they are agreeing to. They are given plastic shopping bags from a very low priced french grocery store and told to put everything they will "need" into the bags. Many regret putting anything in the bags at all. Then we take them into a park as it gets late in a very bad neighborhood of Paris, and play team building games while drunks and drug dealers cheer us on. Then they are told to get everything they will need to sleep. With no further explanation. People scatter into the streets gathering cardboard, trash, once they even found an abandoned mattress. After this we take them to an abandoned railroad track near a bridge where they all sleep for the night. After some time we give them army issue sleeping bags. "See guys we will take care of you, trust us." No one believes this is really happening. Anger and tears all around as we go off for a staff meeting. It's fall so its rainy and around 36-40 degrees.


The next day they are marched through the city with various spurts of running and the Paris monuments are pointed out. Again no explanation is given as to what or why this is happening. The staff call it the death march. It's 26 miles (42km), the length of a marathon. It takes all day even up until midnight. Those grocery bags with their belongings are like torture devices at this point and gradually begin to tear a part and items are discarded. The students suffer because they aren't prepared whereas the staff have been working out for months to get ready for this one day. Many former students still suffer from this. One girl lost her toenails, they never grew back right. Another now has arthritis in her knees, she's in her 20s. They failed to obey the "bring good shoes" rule. So it's "their fault." That night to everyone's delight they sleep in the cave. Paris caves are little better than the outside. But at least everyone feels safer.


The next day we have a rigged lottery where staff draws "Bs" and students draw "As" out of a hat. The Bs get a lavish french breakfast and the As eat stale baguette (rock hard) out of a trash bag with water. This is to illustrate unfair privilege. Later that day we take them to a notorious train station to "talk" to people. Homeless people and drug dealers. Extremely dangerous. For lunch they have to panhandle in an outdoor market and aren't allowed to tell the people why or what they are doing. Just that they need food for lunch and have no money. Sometimes they're given discarded food, sometimes money. Often they are berated by angry tourists for being penniless Americans in Paris. Because they can't speak French they have to beg in pantomime or ask tourists.


That night we feed them spaghetti. The next morning it's stale baguette again and they are taken into an abandoned railway tunnel where you can not see anything and asked to run through it on "faith." Many fall and get injured. Then they have to scale a 20 foot fence. Or go back through the tunnel. Of course many fail and have to go back through the mile long pitch black tunnel. Then we debrief. Any complaints are met with stern beratement from the staff about them not appreciating this valuable lesson. Of course those who think it was all wonderful are highly praised.


We take them for showers. Everyone is SO EXCITED until they realize they are showering in a homeless shelter with other homeless men and women. Again lots of confusion as to why 18-22 year old Americans are showering with French homeless people. It's done and everyone is taken to Chinese food for "graduation." They are given diplomas and attaboys. Told they are to swear an oath to never tell anyone about NIKO, even their families. Then we take them back to the base.

The YWAM Experience:

If you are thinking of joining YWAM, PLEASE watch this video first!

Click below for YouTube video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=49&v=EgrfMBQ2CGg 

 

YWAM is the Road to Poverty for Most

The above quote I found on a Facebook friend's page that was speaking about Mormon missionaries. I quickly knew that it also related to YWAM. People who go into YWAM are volunteers to PAY to WORK there. After a DTS, students are told (Made to feel guilty.) that they do not need to go home & go to university or learn a skill. YWAM knows that those who leave will most likely never return.

Even though those in YWAM are “volunteers”, they are ordered around as if they are paid employees!

There are a very few in YWAM that actually make good money whilst in YWAM if they are good speakers or/and write books. These people often go on the worldwide YWAM speaking circuit, have their airfare & accommodation provided as well as an honorarium. Since they are often well liked in the public eye (regardless of who they are behind their talks & books), they often get more people to donate to them on a monthly basis as well. I do not fault them for this if they have a gift.

Most people in YWAM scrape by to pay their staff or schooling fees, especially if they are not from the first world. If they are in YWAM for years, rarely can they save for retirement or financial disasters. If they have served YWAM for decades & retire, how can they provide for their basic needs? Of course YWAM preaches that God will provide. I believe he will & does provide, but God also gave us a brain he expects us to use. I was in YWAM for 12 years & will never be able to replace the financial, spiritual or emotional harm that was done to me & so many others. Most who leave YWAM after years of service have no marketable skills to make a decent living when they leave.

Loving a Lost Mormon

Woman in temple clothing inside a Mormon Temple

I had a pre-planned phone call with a friend I met whilst in YWAM on a ministry trip to the Mormons at the temple opening in Taipei, Taiwan. I went with a small group of others who had a heart for Mormons to pass out tracts in Mandarin Chinese at the temple open house to those who were attending so they could know exactly what happens in the temple that the guides & missionaries won't tell them. They will never know, even years after being members of the Mormon church what goes on in the temple unless they go themselves as they are not allowed to discuss it outside of the temple. This was before you could just google it & discover via video or word for word text what happens.

The one thing I did appreciate in my early years in YWAM was that one of the leadership couples were involved in a ministry to Mormons & the wife had come out of Mormonism to Christ. I moved to Hawaii from very Mormon Idaho, so already had a heart for Mormons when I met them. Unfortunately, the other leaders told this couple that a ministry to Mormons was NOT part of YWAM Honolulu's calling (as if we are not called to ALL unbelievers) so they were pushed out! After they left, the abuse in YWAM Honolulu intensified!

Anyway we met Amy, a young Mormon missionary from Salt Lake City, Utah who was inquisitive about what we had to share & our motive for being there. She was told not to talk to us as the Taiwanese might think that we could be Mormon missionaries as well. She did not do what she was told & we became friends. The next few years, she came (still a Mormon) to stay at the Honolulu YWAM base to spend time with me. She also visited me when I was in Oregon to visit my family & when I was in Idaho visiting friends. I visited her a few times in Salt Lake. Several of us from YWAM went to an Ex-Mormons for Jesus conference in Salt Lake & stayed with her devout Mormon family. The difference in our beliefs did not hurt our friendship. How many professing Christians would have open up their homes to people attending a conference that was anti-Christian?

So as often happens in life, we lost contact for at least a decade. She became a lawyer in LA but due to medical problems, had to quit working. I have prayed for Amy almost every day since we met that she would put her trust in Jesus alone.

I was a bit apprehensive about talking to her again after all this time. I didn't need to worry. The connection was instant. She told me she had gotten married, had gone on another Mormon mission with her husband to Germany & had settled in Salt Lake. She also shared that her marriage was not what she'd dreamed it would be. Most of our lives are not what we envisioned as youth.

I was transparent with her about YWAM and the spiritual & emotional abuse that I experienced there, mostly after we had met. She told me how hurt she was by some of the Christians (from YWAM) who she felt passed judgement on her for being Mormon. Not all showed her unconditional love. It was a great visit for close to two hours! Neither of us judged one another or came across as better than the other or came across as disappointed that we did not eventually come over to the other's side.

We discussed how we could both tell when we were talking with someone whether they were speaking out of love, pride, superiority or whatever. I shared how I do not discuss politics or religion, for the most part on my personal FB page as I have friends who are atheist, Christian, Mormon, Buddhist, Hindu & others. I also have friends who are way left & way right in the political spectrum. I have never noticed in a political or religious argument where one side goes to the other. I have found instead that there are hurt feelings & lost relationships as well as feelings of superiority.

I told Amy that I still have a love for Mormons & belong to FB groups where both mainline Christians & Mormons are members & discuss theological issues. If there is bashing in them, the offending members are banned. Every now & then, someone will get on their high horse (from BOTH) sides and come across holier than though. That attitude NEVER gets any converts!

If you think you can intimidate people to believing a certain way, you are mistaken. Just because someone believes the total opposite of what you or I believe does not mean they are any less valuable as a person or that they are not worthy of love & respect. This does not mean you have to agree with their beliefs or values but should all be adult enough to treat one other with kindness & respect.

Each person's YWAM experience & story of abuse was real to them and personal. We are all individuals & if someone says they were abused, we need to accept that they are coming from an honest place, even if we can not get behind their skin & truly understand them. How many things in our own lives do we not understand? How can we think we can fully understand one another? We ALL want to be heard & understood. Often, we are thinking about our responses rather than trying to hear & understand what is being communicated in an argument or discussion.

We are ALL products of a series of events & people in our lives that make us who we are, believe & act the way we do, be it positive or negative.

We are ALL broken people. Some are just better at wearing masks than others.

PS: When a post looks strange, it is because I could not change the color of the font or background.

Do Your Reasearch on YWAM

 

I find this appropriate when telling people of my YWAM experiences that come across as not believing me or think I am stretching the truth. Google "YWAM cult" and "YWAM abuse" and you will find a LOT more examples of abuse than mine. There are currently over 250 members of the Facebook group, "Spiritual Abuse in YWAM" which continues to grow with similar stories from YWAM bases around the globe.

Intimidated into Silence

A friend on Facebook asked that I tell another group on FB my experience of YWAM. I was happy to do so.

Recently, a member of the recovery from YWAM abuse group I started said that she is being intimidated in removing her blog exposing YWAM that she wrote about. The person went to far as to call her parents to see if they could persuade her to take the blog down. This woman is an an adult, not a child. In the end, she would not take it down.

Here is what I told the group:

"YWAM is indeed a cult. Unfortunately, I know this from spending 12 years with YWAM Honolulu. Mostly young people join YWAM wanting to serve the Lord & put their leaders up on pedestals as spiritually superior to themselves. The leaders feed into this notion by how they usually act in public meetings & are often good at speaking on evangelism.

There is much manipulation at YWAM to imply something is God's will for you. I often heard, "God told me to tell you..." I have a direct line to the Throne of Grace, the Lord could easily tell me himself. They have what they call "Principles for Effective Intercession". http://www.prayerforallpeople.com/p4ei.html At the end of going through these steps, sitting in a group, you wait on God to "get a word from the Lord". Then, you go around the group & people say, "What did you get?". People are embarrassed to say, "nothing", so usually have something to say. One person might get, "A red bicycle". Another may get "Taiwan". This may lead the group to then pray for an anonymous person in Taiwan on a bicycle that needs help. One time, a person who'd immigrated from Russia to Australia was in the group. Someone "got from the Lord" to pray for her relatives still in Russia. She told him, "I don't have ANY left in Russia"- but we prayed for them anyway! The steps to get to the throne of Grace seemed more like an incantation & the whole thing New Age.

Intercession was mandatory three times a week. One time the base leader said he wanted to make it optional. The very next intercession time, only he showed up for it so they were immediately made mandatory again.

There was mandatory fasting the first Friday of the month & often on those days you could see many other fellow YWAMers at the nearby McDonald's. They sometimes had mandatory 24-hour prayer chains as well. Your hour spot may have been from 3-4 am. I am ALL for prayer but prayer because it is mandatory is not pleasing to the Lord. It must come from the heart!

One of the leaders told me, "It is your job to OBEY the leaders- even if you think it is wrong! If it is, we are the ones who will be held accountable!" Another leader would get in your face & say, "Are YOU questioning MY authority?!!" We were often told we needed to "give up our rights". In saying that though, it was not to submit to God but to submit to the leaders.

There were often prophetic words from the Lord in meetings that never came true. Of course when the prophecies turned out to be false, it was never mentioned.

My entire 12 years in YWAM, I know of not ONE person who came to a saving relationship with Jesus through me or anyone else (my job on base was mostly graphics) that I can think of. Of course there may have been some, but I know of none.

A few years ago I started a group on Facebook for spiritually abused victims of YWAM. There are now 193 members who experienced similar stories of abuse all over the globe. Many are now atheist or agnostic. Many left God behind when they mistakenly saw YWAM leaders to be an example of God's character. One of the leaders at the Honolulu base when I was there is even a militant atheist now. The group has been very helpful in promoting healing & to let these people know they are not alone. There is another group for people who were in YWAM who are now atheist. Since I am not in that category, I do not belong to that. I have grown in my relationship with the Lord much more since leaving than I did the 12 years I was in YWAM & left feeling emotionally & spiritually dead inside. Still, I mistrust anyone in spiritual authority. I have healed a lot, but the scars run deep.

Several people in the group have written letters to Loren Cunningham to share their abuse stories with no response. One even met with him personally, but nothing changed.

People who join YWAM (usually in their late teens or early 20's) after their Discipleship Training School, which everyone must first take when joining the group are then told they do not need to go off to college or find a full-time secular job. They are encouraged to go on school or base staff. There, most will be for years living in poverty & not having the monies for basic needs, especially if from the third world. The ones who are charismatic leaders, good at speaking & writing books go on the YWAM speaking circuit & their traveling expenses are paid to go speak all over the world as well as given "love offerings" at every place they speak. There were times when base staff asked to use a base car for a doctor's appointment & were denied. The leadership's actions showed they did not care for the sheep.

I was close friends with the secretary of the base director at the time. She told me she was so mad because she typed up his support letter asking people for financial support & sounded in need when in reality, she would take care of the monies that would come in from his speaking & books & know how much he had. It wasn't long before he & his wife bought a home in Honolulu where the average price is about $800,000.

People in the group I started, as well as myself have been verbally attacked & accused of being of the devil & just bitter to try & silence our voices of sharing first hand, the damage YWAM can do.

There was mandatory fasting the first Friday of the month & often on those days you could see many other fellow YWAMers at the nearby McDonald's. They sometimes had mandatory 24-hour prayer chains as well. Your hour spot may have been from 3-4 am. I am ALL for prayer but prayer because it is mandatory is not pleasing to the Lord. It must come from the heart! monies for basic needs, especially if from the third world. The ones who are charismatic leaders, good at speaking & writing books go on the YWAM speaking circuit & their traveling expenses are paid to go speak all over the world as well as given "love offerings" at every place they speak. There were times when base staff asked to use a base car for a doctor's appointment & were denied. The leadership's actions showed they did not care for the sheep. I was close friends with the secretary of the base director at the time. She told me she was so mad because she typed up his support letter asking people for financial support & sounded in need when in reality, she would take care of the monies that would come in from his speaking & books & know how much he had. It wasn't long before he & his wife bought a home in Honolulu where the average price is about $800,000.

People in the group I started, as well as myself have been verbally attacked & accused of being of the devil & just bitter to try & silence our voices of sharing first hand, the damage YWAM can do."

Loren Cunningham, High & Lifted up!

This is Loren Cunningham's entry into the 50th anniversary celebration at YWAM Thailand. Can you imagine Jesus' disciples allowing this done to them when only Jesus is worthy to be high & lifted up? 

How one Feels in YWAM

As soon as I saw this sculpture, I related to it immediately as to how I felt in YWAM, empty & hopeless. It's strange how people are volunteers at YWAM but more is expected of them & their personal life is YWAM's business when there is usually less micro-managing at a real, paying job. A life in YWAM is a wasted life.

YWAM's Cycle of Poverty

YWAM tells students that they don't need to go to university after their DTS, as they won't return to YWAM if they get an education. YWAM creates the cycle of perpetual poverty & rarely helps one who's served for years when they have basic needs (Such as using a base car to get to a doctor's appointment).

For the most part, the only people in YWAM who can make it an actual career, buy a house, et cetera are those few charismatic leaders who can profit off having their airfares paid & get a "love offering" to speak at YWAM bases all over the world or have written books & other evangelism materials that they can sell mostly to other YWAMers.


When I first went on base staff at YWAM Honolulu, they wanted us to pay $150. a month but let us pay what we felt we could afford each month so I paid $50. a month. Later, it was a higher, set amount. If you could not pay, "that was God's way of showing you that you should no longer stay there." Also, if you could not pay the full amount, it would carry over to the next month until you were burdened with a large bill for the "privilege" of volunteering to work for them. If you left & had not paid off what you owed, they would send reminder letters until you did!

When one stays in YWAM for years they have nothing to show for it career wise or financially. It is a dead end. If they stay for decades, they usually have nothing put away for retirement. All the while, they will be told that God supplies & will take care of all of their needs. God also gave us a mind & free will. By the time many leave YWAM they are in poverty financially, emotionally & worst of all spiritually.

A YWAM Encounter

Waikiki Beach

Whilst doing laundry this morning in the closest laundromat to YWAM Honolulu I saw a group of about 6 young people I was sure were from YWAM. It did not take long to hear one of them telling a woman they were indeed from YWAM and leaving in a day or two for outreach to India & Nepal.

After the woman walked away, I told her I overheard she was with YWAM. Her face beamed when she answered me in the positive. There was also a young man near her folding clothes. I asked if she had ever googled, "YWAM cult" or "YWAM abuse". Her perky smile quickly faded as she told me she had, but her experience has not been like that. I told her that I had been with YWAM Honolulu 12 years, but "by the time I left, I was spiritually & emotionally dead!" I also told her about starting this group & how there were members who'd experienced similar abuses from bases around the world and that a common theme seemed to be control by base leaders.

I told her & her friend (who turned out to be her new husband she had married just 3 weeks prior to their DTS) to realize that those in leadership positions on base or in the schools are no closer to God than they are and that they have a direct line to him. I also shared how I & others had several times heard leaders say, "God told me to tell you" and, "God told me". Again, I reminded them that they have a direct line to God & how leadership often says things like that as a form of manipulation to get them do as they want.

I said that I it had been several years since I was involved there so it may be better now, as I do not know of anyone at the Honolulu base that is still there when I was & I hoped that it was a healthy environment now. Of course, she assured me that it was a good environment where there was an attitude of servanthood now.

I asked if they still used Joy Dawson's principles to intercession, which they affirmed they did. I said that though the steps are not bad in themselves, but that we do not need to go through a formula or incantation to come to the throne of grace. I gave them examples of the ridiculousness of some of the things people would say they heard from the Lord when going around the prayer group. I also shared about the time I wanted to pray for Russia but was told I couldn't because we were to pray for the pacific & Asia which was the focus of the base. She told me that we should never be prevented from praying what we felt God had placed on our hearts & I agreed.

I told her that when they get back from DTS, not to let the leadership manipulate them to stay on base or school staff unless they felt it was from God & how in the past they have often tried to talk people out of getting a formal education because that was not needed in missions. I also reminded them that the University of the Nations is not accredited & it would do them no good to have a degree from there as most of the "professors" do not have more than a high school education. She seemed to know they are not accredited.

As I was about to leave she told me that God had already spoken to them to stay on after their DTS on base staff. She wants to work in hospitality & her husband in maintenance. They already have the money & were going to buy a home but decided to go into YWAM instead..... I told them that a lot of people who are in YWAM for years do not put anything into savings for when they get older & have nothing when they leave & that even though God calls us to depend on him, we are to be wise when it comes to finances. I told them that they do not realize now, how fast the decades will fly by (They looked no more than 20).

I asked if they had been to Chinatown in Honolulu (as it is an interesting place to go with good, cheap food). She told me, "Oh no, we haven't done any outreaches there & were told it was dangerous!"

I told them that they had it much better being married than having to share a room with 6 or 8 other people. I told them stories of the rat infested house I lived in on base & how we'd sweep the dirt & dust between the cracks in the floor to fall to the ground below.

I wished them well, that hoped that they would have a good outreach to India & Nepal & that they would remain healthy & to remember only to drink bottled water & not to eat anything from street venders unless they saw them cooking it fresh.

Our talk lasted at least 30 minutes & though we were all pleasant enough, I felt emotionally drained by the time I left. Hopefully, if they experience some of the things I brought up, they will remember my words of caution at that time. I hope our talk does not lead to a YWAM nightmare tonight! That was enough "ministry" for me today.

Video of one who calls out YWAM's abuse:

Though a little crude at times, as we were told in YWAM, "Chew on the meat & spit out the bones."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOPWJUoTyGI