(CP)Â Youth With a Mission elder, Darlene Cunningham, who co-founded the interdenominational Christian training organization together with her late-husband Loren Cunningham in 1960, said the 11 missionaries killed and eight others injured in a grisly crash near Arusha, Tanzania, on Saturday, is a historic loss for the ministry and tears are falling all over the world over the event.
“In today, tears are being poured out the world over by individuals, families and YWAMers worldwide. I’m personally reeling from the load of this news, as I knew and loved lots of these individuals personally. But I’m leaning into the character of God for what I do know to be true about who He is!” said Cunningham.
The missionaries were participants in a University of the Nations Executive Masters course intensive based in Arusha and had traveled to Maasai land in two buses where they observed the ministry’s “thriving community development program,” she said.
“They had a superb day together,” Cunningham recalled.
Video shared online from one in all the buses because the group traveled to Maasai land shows participants singing “This Is The Day the Lord Has Made.”
Tragedy disrupted the success of the trip on their way back to Arusha, nevertheless, when a truck that “had lost its brakes smashed into our 2nd bus, literally crushing it from top to bottom,” Cunningham said.
“Eleven of our beloved friends were killed and eight others are severely wounded, battling for his or her lives. We haven’t seen a tragedy of this magnitude in all of YWAM’s history and we’re all devastated,” she said.
“Not only have husbands and wives, friends and associates been lost, but in addition YWAM ministry leaders. The individuals involved in running the Executive Masters were key YWAM leaders within the region — some leading flourishing YWAM bases; others giving leadership in the sector of education and other spheres; others ministering in restricted-access locations where nobody else would dare to go — and seeing the hand of God upon their ministries in amazing ways,” she said.
“The students drawn to the Executive Masters were the identical caliber of individuals — life-long committed YWAM missionary pioneers. So their deaths create a large vacuum on this a part of the world for YWAM as a missionary movement.”
Cunningham’s statement comes as prayers continued to go up for the victims of the crash and the ministry.
Missionary and activist Sean Feucht was among the many first outside the East African nation to publicize the crash Saturday in an appeal for prayers on X.
“Please pray for the families, family members and people currently injured and in critical condition straight away!” Feucht said in an appeal to his followers.
YWAM previously released only partial names of the 11 missionaries killed and others injured online for security reasons. The dead were noted as: Claire M., Zabulon T., Emmanuel D., Vicent K., John M., Blaise G., Ime E., Andrew D., Chimene D., Lova R., and Lordienne N.
The injured were listed as: Mathurin B. and Joelle Z. are in critical condition, and Paul Dav., Isaac B., Janet F., Cyrille A., Benjamin N., and Paulo M.
Isaac B. has since been released from hospital to return home.
Despite the ministry sharing only partial names of the victims, their relations and friends, like Gracelynn Mataia of Kansas City, Missouri, have been publicly providing photos of their full portraits online.
Mataia said her father, Paulo Mataia, who’s shown singing in video, was traveling within the second of the 2 buses. He survived the crash but his wife, Claire, to whom he had been married for lower than a 12 months, didn’t.
“Yesterday we received word that Claire, beloved wife to our Dad, has gone to be with Jesus. Claire was a long-time YWAMer and proud Kansan, who served as a teacher across Africa and the Middle East. And when she married our father in May of last 12 months, her heart for our people within the Pacific was one which was full of each day prayers. We don’t have any words that may describe such a loss to our family, so please proceed to wish for us in addition to our Kueffer Ohana.”
