Pay it forward for Young Adults in Global Mission! Through the #YAGMForward campaign, you can help bolster this ministry at a key moment in its history, paying it forward for the next cohort of volunteers.

Your support is especially needed right now. While YAGM is unable to send volunteers due to COVID-19 this year, the vital work of this program continues as YAGM country coordinators partner with our global companions during a pandemic. We need your help to sustain and strengthen the YAGM program for the present and the future.

Give a gift to Young Adults in Global Mission in honor of the YAGM Argentina and Uruguay country program today. Our goal is to raise $15,000, and you can help us get there! Your gifts will help ensure that this church can continue to accompany our companions, uplift leaders and be church for the sake of the world.

About the YAGM Argentina and Uruguay Country Program

Our main companion church is the IELU – Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Unida (United Evangelical Lutheran Church) in Argentina and Uruguay. YAGM also partners with ministries of the Iglesia Evangélica Valdense, numerous faith-based NGOs, and grassroots outreach programs. Our program takes its cues from the robust ministry of the IELU. They are leaders of the Latin American Lutheran tradition: rooted in Scripture, liturgy, hospitality, liberation theology, social justice and mutual compassion. Themes in ecclesial and community outreach, and thus opportunities for volunteers, include: gender justice, inclusiveness and celebration of persons who identify as LGBTQIA+, university housing and campus ministry, engaging in hospitality ministries with Venezuelan refugees, accompanying adults with mental disabilities, tutoring in the IELU’s prestigious scholastic institutes, and assisting in congregational ministries such as lay leadership, faith formation, youth group, confirmation and worship.

This diverse two-country program spreads volunteers across Argentina (from the urban metropolis of Greater Buenos Aires to rural contexts in the equatorial heat of Misiones, and from mountainous Bariloche to the outskirts of Rio de La Plata) and Uruguay (from the windy beaches of Montevideo to the tropical border town of Rivera). Both countries offer distinct histories of aguantar y celebrar (to endure and celebrate). As our YAGM year ebbs and flows in the Southern Hemisphere, the IELU and its partners are disciples with feet on the ground and hands extended to share and to teach our volunteers how to be followers of Christ in a whole new way.