Less than a confession but much more than a mere formula of agreement - The YMCA's Paris Basis as a symbol of unity

Abstract

The World Alliance of Young Men’s Christian Associations was founded in 1955 in Paris when some YMCA representatives held a special meeting during the conference of the Evangelical Alliance. In the meeting was formulated the Paris Basis which became a mission statement, not only of YMCAs, but as well of other Ecumenical bodies including World Council of Churches.

This paper examines how the Paris Basis was formulated from the previous mission statements of Evangelical Movement that was a reaction to growing secularism of 19th century; how the broad contextual impacts effected to its wording and how the YMCA created the principles that made it one of the biggest youth movements in the world.

The paper further examines how the Paris Basis started to live its own life and how it effected to the policies of the YMCA and to the bases of the Young Women’s Christian Associations, the World Student Christian Federation and the World Council of Churches.

Finally, the paper discusses on the theoretical significance of mission statements like the Paris Basis.