Our History

What began as a vision entrusted by God has grown into a global ministry devoted to coaching, collaborating, and creating custom solutions for youth-ministry influencers. Through these partners, IYS has helped encourage, equip, and empower churches worldwide, advancing vibrant and sustainable youth ministry.

The history of IYS begins in the Philippines.
2012
The Vision

While training youth ministers from 19 nations in the mountains of the Philippines, God loaned Mark Andréson the vision for IYS. Soon after, Andréson family moved to Indonesia to train leaders, launch networks, and lead local youth ministry.

Fishing for Youth: Foundations for Youth Ministry was launched.

2014
Expanding the Vision

Returning to the U.S., the vision expanded through renewed networking and leadership training, both locally and globally.

2015
Interconnected Youth Ministry

This global youth ministry research project confirmed a values-based, collaborative approach to youth ministry as key to global impact. Mark's dissertation, Interconnected Youth Ministry, was released.

2017
The Global Guidebook

In partnership with Dare 2 Share Ministries, a global Gospel Advancing Movement was launched. The Global Guidebook was created to start and strengthen national youth gospel movements.

2019
Nonprofit Established

After seven years of partnerships, the Institute for Youth Studies (IYS) was officially pioneered as a nonprofit organization. Global trainers were empowered to reach 1,000s of youth through Why Youth Ministry Matters. The Hive (a collaboration collective) for U.S. national youth directors began.

2020-2021
Global Impact

Over 40 youth ministry influencers from 23 nations were equipped through collaborative learning, original resources, and the Hive initiatives in Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, and Sri Lanka. The Lament: From Hurt to Hope digital download was released. The HyHOPES partner initiative was launched in Zambia. Respondents from 22 nations contributed to the Intentional Collaboration Survey.

2022
Making Moves

IYS launched Movement Making training and hosted a Strategic Summit addressing youth ministry staffing challenges, leading to the creation of the YL Pipeline resource. Partnerships spanned 13 nations and 30+ youth ministry influencers. Co-creation among national youth ministers led to the launch of another digital download —The Journey to Reconciliation.

2023
Global Research & Guidebooks

In partnership with Christian Endeavor (CE), we conducted the One Movement—Many Voices survey, gathering insights from youth ministers around the world. That same year, after we launched the Advocate’s Guidebook; empowering CE to help more churches start and strengthen biblically grounded youth ministries. As global leaders continued to express a desire for deeper collaboration, we followed up with the Intentional Collaboration Survey and released the Hive Handbook to support churches and ministries working together with purpose. By God's grace, and the generosity of our giving partners we helped HyHOPES launch the Hope Hub in Zambia.

2024
Sustaining Hope

We were excited to help HyHOPES launch their sustainability initiative, Hope Farms. After collaboration with U.S. national youth directors the Youth Leader Handbook Series was launched to empower local youth ministers with free digital downloads.

2025
Expanding Partnerships

IYS expanded strategic partnerships with the WEA Youth Commission, GLS Next Gen (Australia), Every-Youth Foundation (Ghana), and Kenya Assemblies of God. The Micro-Movements workshop was trained to leaders from 40+ churches in Egypt. The WEA Youth Commission Prospectus was introduced to delegates from 100+ nations. The Christian Endeavor OSM Training empowered delegates from 20 nations.

2026
Mobilizing Movements

Mark's book, Micro Movements: Mobilizing Youth to Show and Share God's Transforming Grace, is due for release.

Receive IYS Updates

Stay informed about our latest projects, success stories, prayer needs and upcoming events by joining our email list.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Name*
Email Address*
Privacy Policy*