Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a youth-driven evangelism movement that popularized short-term mission trips among evangelicals, has died following a battle with cancer. He was 88. 

Cunningham, a missions pioneer who served as chancellor of YWAM’s University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, died on October 6. Lynn Green, a senior leader of YWAM, announced in a statement that Cunningham had “passed away peacefully today at 4:20 AM at home in his sleep.” 

According to YWAM, Cunningham “was the first person in history to travel to every sovereign nation on earth (and) all dependent countries . . . for the sake of Christ and the Great Commission.” While he had roots in the Assemblies of God denomination, a charismatic fellowship of churches, Cunningham envisioned YWAM as inter-denominational from its founding. 

Leading voices in various evangelical-charismatic Christian circles posted to honor Cunningham’s legacy. Franklin Graham, son of late evangelist Billy Graham and president of Samaritan’s Purse, wrote: “What an incredible life this man lived. Loren allowed God to use him, and he was a force for the Gospel for decades.”

Author and longtime Saddleback Church pastor, Rick Warren, called Cunningham “a dear, compassionate friend, coworker, Great Commission visionary, and inspiration to millions.” 

Longtime pastor Wayne Cordeiro, president of New Hope Christian College in Eugene, Oregon, posted: “To me, he was a giant of faith and a pioneer. We don’t have many of them. Loren, among a few others, led the way. He inspired me to love missions.”

Pete Greig, author and pastor of Emmaus Road Church in Guildford, England, posted that he had spent time with Cunningham and his wife at their home in Hawaii. “I found his intellect, his kindness and character to be even more impressive in private than in public,” he wrote.

The minister added: “I’m grateful for the way Loren championed and modelled the gifts of the Spirit, decentralised leadership, women in ministry, holiness of character, Arminian theology, bold faith and, above all – mission!” 

Sending ‘waves’ of young people overseas

Born in Taft, California, in 1935, Cunningham was the son of Tom and Jewell Cunningham, both ordained Assemblies of God ministers.

By age 21, he felt called to full-time ministry through a spiritual vision of waves. Many referenced the iconic story in paying tribute to Cunningham in recent days. 

Paul Worcester, national collegiate director of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), summarized the story. “When Loren was a young man, God gave him a vision of wave after wave of young people going to the nations,” wrote Worcester. “Since then thousands have gone out and touched millions for Christ.”

The SBC leader added that Cunningham’s life of ministry reminds him of “the importance of being responsive and obedient to the vision God gives us.”

Watching the waves on the North Shore start to turn on and hearing about the passing of Loren Cunningham (who was the Founder of YWAM). I am reminded of the importance of being responsive and obedient to the vision God gives us. I personally want to be like Apostle Paul when he… pic.twitter.com/aBvWwOjh97

— Paul Worcester (@PaulWorcester) October 6, 2023

Concurrently with receiving this vision, Cunningham studied at the University of Southern California and earned a Master’s of Science in Administration of Education. For his thesis, he studied 72 Bible schools around the world. As reported by Christianity Today, Cunningham “found that few, if any, were having a significant impact on world evangelization.” 

This knowledge and the vision inspired his zeal to “deregulate” how evangelical missions were done. At the time, most U.S. missionaries trained for at least four years before traveling overseas to share the Gospel. Cunningham wanted to get fired-up youth on the mission field without lengthy training. 

In 1960, he founded YWAM. But he had little initial success, sending only five youth missionaries in the ministry’s early years, according to reporting. 

Two years later, he met Darlene Scratch, whose passion for cross-cultural ministry prompted her to suggest strategies to increase youth participation. “He was the apostolic visionary, and she was the people/team developer and implementer,” states Cunningham’s official website. 

The two married in 1963, and he considered her the co-founder of YWAM. 

Controversy over alleged spiritual abuse

Today, YWAM has more than 1,200 mission bases in nearly 200 nations worldwide. The movement’s global reach has been compared to prominent Protestant missions groups such as the SBC”s International Mission Board, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ.)

Since 2010, YWAM no longer reports how many short-term and long-term missionaries it has sponsored. The last available figures note YWAM’s family of ministries sent more than 20,000 short-term missionaries every year, and 4.5 million youth since its founding. 

As The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported, missiologists have noted the “dynamism” of YWAM’s flat corporate structure. “YWAM isn’t incorporated and lacks a central organization or headquarters. It has no president, board of directors, fundraising department, or annual reports,” according to a 2021 report. 

This approach also has downsides. When a few prominent YWAM ministries are members of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), many independent YWAM groups are opaque in reporting how donations are used. And some parents have reportedly found it difficult to locate their young adult children once they’re on the field with YWAM ministries. 

In recent years, hundreds of alumni of YWAM training and outreach programs have come forward with accusations of spiritual abuse. Many have alleged, often in online posts, that immature YWAM leaders claimed to speak for God and warned that questioning their absolute control equaled “rebellion against God.”

Lynn Green, former international chairman of YWAM and a current member of the ministry’s Founder’s Circle, acknowledged in a video that spiritual abuse has happened at YWAM bases. He said he had personally talked to “a lot of people on the receiving end of manipulation, deception, or the abuse of power.” 

Green added: “We’re doing our best, but sometimes we do slip up.” He suggested the decentralized model had inevitable consequences as young leaders are “thrown into the deep end.” But he defended the ministry’s decades of impact, as pioneered by Cunningham. 

Cunningham authored six books including Is That Really You, God?, which has been translated into more than 140 languages. In addition to his master’s degree, his educational background includes three earned Bachelor’s degrees and three honorary doctorates. 

In March, his family announced that Cunningham had Stage 4 cancer and would not be undergoing extensive treatment. At the time, his wife, Darlene, said: “We have already decided as a family to prioritize Loren’s quality of life over trying to extend the length of time, through chemo or other treatments that could reduce his energy and productiveness.”

She added: “He has Jesus, family, friends, and vision. Who could ask for more?”

Loren Cunningham is survived by his wife, Darlene; his daughter, Karen Joy Cunningham; his son, David, a filmmaker who is married to Judith Fitts-Cunningham; and three grandchildren. A memorial service has been set for November 4 at University of the Nations in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. 

Freelance journalist Josh Shepherd writes on faith, culture, and public policy for several media outlets. He and his family live in the Washington, D.C. area.