A historical journey of YMCA

1. CHANGE AGENTS TRAINING
A HISTORICAL JOURNEY
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E-LEARNING
01

2. WHYIS YMCA HISTORY
IMPORTANT FOR
CHANGEAGENTS?
Knowing our history helps us to better understand who we are
and where we are today as a movement and as an organisation.
History provides both the opportunity to learn from our successes
as well as our mistakes, and should encourage us to reach new
heights in our development. It gives us new perspectives on our
responsibilities as leaders to move the YMCA forward into the
future.

3. 1. On June 6 1844, George Williams (21 years of age) created the
YMCA as a way to respond to the needs of young men.
2. Young people faced many injustices, such as drug addiction, lack
of decent jobs, health issues and others.
THE
BEGINNING: QUICK FACTS!
3. George Williams empowered young
people by organising Bible studies and
reflection as a way to respond to these
needs and reconnect them with their
common identity: young people who
migrated to London in hope of a better
life.

4. 4. It was not the London association’s original intention to expand
around the world, but this happened spontaneously as more and more
young people were touched by similar experiences as the group in
London.
5. The History Book of the World YMCA mentions other organisations
with similar principles and activities that existed before the first YMCA
in London.
6. Some of these organisations were founded in Scotland and the
Netherlands as far back as 1828, but they only formally became part of
the YMCA in 1844, after they were influenced by the original London
movement.
THE
BEGINNING: QUICK FACTS!

5. 7. In 1855 the YMCA organised the first World Conference (World
Council) and made two important actions that remain to this day:
a) Creating the World Alliance of YMCAs (World YMCA) to
coordinate the association at a global level;
b) Adopting the “Paris Basis” – a declaration of mission for the
YMCA movement.
THE
BEGINNING: QUICK FACTS!

6. “The Young Men's Christian Associations seek to unite those young
men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour, according to
the Holy Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their faith and in their
life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of his Kingdom
amongst young men.
Any differences of opinion on other subjects, however important in
them­selves, shall not interfere with the har­monious relations of the
consti­tuent members and associates of the World Alliance”
Paris Basis

7. Through the years the YMCA began to grow and diversify in its work
but two things could always be identified as key themes;
a) A strong Christian and Ecumenical identity;
b) A willingness to respond to the needs of young
people.
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
A CONSISTENT THEME

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These two broad universal components made it possible for the YMCA
to become very diverse in addressing the different issues facing young
people around the world. Ultimately this is what allowed the YMCA to
grow to be the world’s largest youth organisation.
We have served communities across the globe in many different and
profound ways, and our service goes far beyond creating basketball and
volleyball.
Example: During the World Wars the YMCA provided invaluable
humanitarian assistance, performed refugee work, and engaged
millions of young people physically, mentally, and spiritually through
camps and health-related programmes. This work resulted in a Nobel
Peace Prize.
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
A CONSISTENT THEME

10. After a period of great growth and increased global recognition of our
work, the world began to experience many changes after the World
Wars and the YMCA had to respond to new issues and needs.
Without World Wars the focus of our work became more and more local
as we no longer had unified global causes to coordinate efforts for.
Unfortunately, because of this, our global coordination grew weaker.
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
OF GLOBAL COORDINATION

11. The Kampala Principles
In the 1970s the world movement met for the World Council in
Kampala, Uganda and outlined key ‘principles’ in order to focus the
movement on specific issues. These principles were intended to clarify
what “Extension of God’s Kingdom” (the mission stated in the Paris
Basis) truly meant.
Read the Kampala Principles on our global website!
www.ymca.int/who-we-are/mission/kampala-principles-1973/
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
OF GLOBAL COORDINATION

12. Movement Review Process
From the 1990s, the global movement started to get very concerned
about the number of weak YMCAs that were suffering in a number of
ways, most profoundly financially. It was time again to revisit our
principles. The YMCA underwent a movement review process that
ultimately produced three important statements:
a) Mission Review;
b) Governance Agreement;
c) Global Operating Plan for “Movement Strengthening”.
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
OF GLOBAL COORDINATION

13. Movement Review Process: 1.Mission Review
After a long process of consultation, debate and negotiation, a
document entitled ‘Challenge 21’ was approved as the contemporary
mission statement of the YMCA movement.
This document clarified the purpose of the YMCA in the new millennium
and focused on several issues afflicting the world’s population.
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
OF GLOBAL COORDINATION

14. Challenge 21
“Affirming the Paris Basis adopted in 1855, as the ongoing foundation
statement of the mission of the YMCA, at the threshold of the third
millennium, we declare that the YMCA is a world-wide Christian,
ecumenical, voluntary movement for women and men with special
emphasis on and the genuine involvement of young people and that it
seeks to share the Christian ideal of building a human community of
justice with love, peace and reconciliation for the fullness of life for all
creation.
Each member YMCA is therefore called to focus on certain challenges
which will be prioritised according to its own context. These challenges
which are an evolution of the Kampala Principles adopted in 1973,
include:

15. Challenge 21
• Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and striving for spiritual,
intellectual and physical well-being of individuals and wholeness of
communities.
• Empowering all, especially young people and women to take increased
responsibilities and assume leadership at all levels and working
towards an equitable society.
• Advocating for and promoting the rights of women and upholding the
rights of children.
• Fostering dialogue and partnership between people of different faiths
and ideologies and recognising the cultural identities of people and
promoting cultural renewal.

16. Challenge 21
• Committing to work in solidarity with the poor, dispossessed,
uprooted people and oppressed racial, religious and ethnic minorities.
• Seeking to be mediators and reconcilers in situations of conflict and
working for meaningful participation and advancement of people for
their own self-determination.
• Defending God’s creation against all that would destroy it and
preserving and protecting the earth’s resources for coming
generations.
To face these challenges, the YMCA will develop patterns of co-operation
at all levels that enable self-sustenance and self-determination.

17. Movement Review Process: 2.Governance Agreement
With growth came challenges and we experienced conflict because of
the way the movement was structured. Many constituents felt that the
hierarchy of responsibility was not responding to their needs.
To solve this conflict, the Global Governance Agreement was adopted,
which establishes the different levels of responsibility that each YMCA
has to the global movement.
This agreement introduced the principle of subsidiarity, which implies
that decision making should be made as close as possible to the local
realities and only when the situation requires should it be taken to next
levels.
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
OF GLOBAL COORDINATION

18. Movement Review Process: 3. Global Operating Plan for ‘Movement
Strengthening’
With improved governance systems in place the YMCA began working
to strengthen the weakened members through an effort to increase
global coordination through organizational development. This effort
was called the Global Operating Plan for movement strengthening. The
plan is based on 3 pillars:
a) Mission Clarity;
b) Social Relevance;
c) Institutional Viability.
MORE THAN 170 YEARS…
OF GLOBAL
COORDINATIO N

19. More than 170 years in 18 slides: Not bad!!
The idea is to have a general overview of the YMCAs history and to not
make it boring! We also know that you already have some knowledge on
this topic! Now it is up to your curiosity to go deeper in some of the
elements you are interested in.
We recommend:
1) Read the extra materials in the library,
2) Attend the webinar sessions which will go deeper into some of the
elements of this presentation,
3) Ask questions of the World YMCA team,
4) Create your own presentation about YMCA history and present it to
someone who doesn’t know about it!,
5) Look for information about the history of your local/national YMCA.

20. www.ymca.int