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Our mission is to help launch local food systems that reduce poverty with dignity. Isaiah 58:10 says "if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be as noonday". Since our beginnings, relieving poverty and bringing hope through the gospel while preserving the dignity of the individual has been what compels us.
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We believe fully in long-term solutions that prosper local economies. And, a practical expression of Isaiah 58:10 to feed the hungry is best served with practical and ongoing solutions that provide jobs and bring dignity.
About Us
I share with you a deep love for Josh and the circle of people in the Emerge network and I look forward to the years ahead. ~ John Dawson - Former President of YWAM
Our Story
One day in what is now South Sudan, we got a phone call. A local church planter and his family living in a remote village in North Sudan was at the end of their rope. They were starving. They had no money. And yet, they were helping others around them who were even poorer. This not only tugged at our heart strings, it tore them. We had to do something about it.
In 2010, our founders, Josh and Sarah Imhoff, were first introduced to the concept of farming with aquaponics and saw this as an incredible opportunity that could provide for families living in poverty. When the founder of YWAM saw the potential of what we were doing we received a request from him to serve the poor by developing these systems to improve how food is grown.
In 2012, YWAM Emerge was officially founded as a non-profit organization and purchased a property and greenhouse in Colorado Springs, CO. In that greenhouse we built an aquaponics system and began helping organizations build their own systems around the world.
In 2018, we were able to purchase a bigger property several miles away that has multiple buildings and a 22,000 square foot greenhouse, in which we have built several aquaponics systems. From here we grow, sell, train and engage our community and communities around the world to create an impact. One of the systems we designed and developed is called OASYS and our focus is replicating that system worldwide. We do that through training people in aquaponics, teaching them how to build and operate the OASYS system, and sending teams to help build new systems.
YWAM Global
Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”), we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known.
Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth involved in missions. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people aged 9 to 90. We currently have tens of thousands of staff (called “YWAMers”) and we work in thousands of teams and locations.
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Youth With A Mission affirms the Christian Magna Carta which describes the following basic rights as implicit in the gospel.
Everyone on earth has the right to:
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• Hear and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Have a Bible available in their own language.
• Have a Christian fellowship available nearby, to be able to meet for fellowship regularly each week, and to have Biblical teaching and worship with others in the Body of Christ.
• Have a Christian education available for their children.
• Have the basic necessities of life: food, water, clothing, shelter and health care.
• Lead a productive life of fulfillment spiritually, mentally, socially, emotionally, and physically.
We commit ourselves, by God’s grace, to fulfill this covenant and to live for His glory.
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To learn more, visit the YWAM global family of ministries site at www.ywam.org.