Eleven years after George Williams and his friends met in his factory dorm room, ninety-nine delegates from all over the world traveled to Paris, France, to attend the first world YMCA conference. During this meeting, they prayed, debated, and carefully formed the YMCA vision statement, known as the Paris Basis.

The basis reads, “The Young Men’s Christian Associations seek to unite those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Savior, according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their faith and in their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of his Kingdom amongst young men. Any differences of opinion on other subjects, however important in themselves, shall not interfere with the harmonious relations of the constituent members and associates of the World Alliance.”

In today’s Monday Morning Joe, we will explore how this vision statement inspired Dwight L. Moody and Anthony Bowen to establish YMCA associations that carried on the tradition of liberation and expansion of Jesus’ kingdom by establishing the first YMCA in Little Hell in Chicago, and the first YMCA for Black Men, respectively.