Global Person YMCA
World YMCA The YMCA in Greece and the World
The Christian Association of Youth was founded during a period of political and social upheaval. Ideas for social equality, freedom from extreme poverty, and political rights were sweeping across Europe. This was the period of the Chartist movement in England, the overthrow of the absolute monarchy (1830) and constitutional monarchy (1848) in France, the revolution of 1848 in Germany, and the emergence of numerous nation-states on the European map (Greece, Italian states, Belgium, the Swiss Confederation, autonomous Serbia, etc.).
During this period, a group of (12) working-class individuals in London thought that the Christian message as expressed in the Bible contained elements that could provide a different human model for organizing society. The group was led by George Williams, and thus, the YMCA was established in 1844.
The initiative had a significant impact. Just eleven years later, representatives from eleven countries gathered in Paris and drafted the organization’s charter, which is now known as the “Paris Basis” (1855).
The “Paris Basis” mentions in Article 2 of our charter that “members of the YMCA are those who believe in Jesus Christ as God and Savior” and wish to create a “Christian Society.” The Christian Society promoted by the YMCA is a society of humanity, solidarity, mutual respect, and love—universal values that have maintained their strength throughout history and are expressed through the teachings of Christ.
The long history of the YMCA in Thessaloniki has its roots nearly a century ago when, in 1918, American YMCA volunteers arrived in the city to organize “Homes of the Soldier”: facilities that provided for the needs of feeding and entertainment for Greek and Allied military forces fighting on the Macedonian Front.
Soon after, members of the American YMCA introduced the sports of basketball and volleyball to Greece, which were invented in YMCA colleges in Massachusetts in 1891 and 1895, respectively.
In 1921, the conditions were ripe for the establishment of the YMCA in Thessaloniki, by prominent figures in the city such as Metropolitan Gennadios of Thessaloniki and Prefect N. Paraskevopoulos.