The main purpose of Youth Hostel Mission is personal spiritual growth.  Specifically, it is about you learning the gospel, applying the gospel to your own heart and life, and living the gospel out on a daily basis both here and there.  Only as your heart is transformed will you truly be able to love people to life with that gospel.  In 1970, Lee Howard founded the Youth Hostel Ministry.  Lee Howard completed a summer mission project in Spain where he worked alongside missionaries. Following his time in Spain, him and his friends traveled through Europe before heading back to the states. In Geneva, Switzerland, they stayed in a youth hostel, where he met a young Englishman named Brian. They spend the next twenty-four hours together in friendly conversation. However, as Lee bade good-bye to Brian, and the train pulled out of Geneva, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a disturbing thought. He had been with Brian for twenty-four hours and had never once mentioned the name of Jesus Christ! Having just completed the time as a summer ‘missionary’, watching and helping career missionaries, he now realized that this had been his golden opportunity to be a true missionary himself. He found himself asking whether his Christian faith was something he lived only in certain contexts. Was Jesus Christ ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life’ only when Lee was ‘doing’ missions? This dichotomy was troublesome. During the next few days he reflected deeply on what had happened. Hours of conversation with a young man who was open to discuss the deep issues of life—a characteristic common among youth on the hostel circuit—had not evoked a response from Lee to share his faith in Christ as the true answer to these issues. Lee determined not to let this happen again.
Thus the idea of a Youth Hostel Ministry (YHM) began to germinate in his mind. He would return to Europe another summer to travel among the youth hostels with the specific purpose of giving the good news of Jesus Christ to the ‘world travelers’ who stayed in the hostels while backpacking through Europe and other areas. The goals were threefold: the clear presentation of the Gospel to non-Christians, the encouragement of Christians in Europe, and the individual personal growth of the team members. Thus began what has been an ongoing and fruitful ministry by college students. Over the decades well over 600 students have participated in the YHM projects.
Traveling as traditional tourists, students will spend four weeks backpacking through Europe touring major European cities.  The average day will be spent visiting major tourist attractions, eating in local restaurants, traveling by local transportation (Eurail and metro), and lodging in traditional European youth hostels.  The common bond of being away from home and traveling from city to city regularly opened worlds of conversation with other college age travelers. In short, students will live life and learn what it means to have a missional mindset in an increasingly post-Christian world.
Through an application & interview process 6-8 students will be chosen to be apart of this team. The dates of YHM are May 11- June 1, 2020.  Each team member will spend 14 weeks preparing through intentional discipleship and training,  4 weeks in experiential learning, and the result will be a life completely transformed.  The cost is $1900 .  

Please read and answer the questions in this application carefully. Apps are due on October 18th at midnight and interviews will be held October 20th - October 23rd. Please come sign up for an interview time in the linktree after you finish your application. Teams will be announced on November 5th.