A Week Of Blessing

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) has a number of different locations across the UK of varying sizes. As a school we felt that it was important to invest in other YWAM work here in the UK (as we are the 'Impact UK Discipleship Training School'). So we divided up into small teams and went to most of the other YWAM locations across the UK.

I took a team of 3 guys with me up to Leeds where a team have been established for about 2 years, and have a particular focus on Justice and the Arts. It was really refreshing to be part of a small team that is just starting out, as I also have a desire to be helping to establish new work.

We helped the team do a number of things, including a survey of the local area to ask people what they see the needs are. Prayer walking and art ministry with kids who have been excluded from school due to behavior. My teams favorite activity was something called "club angels". This is a new project which YWAM Leeds are getting involved with. It is basically being the hands and feet of Jesus in the local nightclubs. I always enjoy doing this sort of thing, just reaching out and being real with people, picking them up when they need to be. Also blessing the staff who work in the clubs, helping to pick up glasses, chat to the security when not much is happening etc. Its all about being a blessing and walking with God in places that maybe you normally would not venture, as he is already there, just waiting for his people to come and join him.

We all had a really good time, and I know that one or two of the guys are keen to be able to go back and do more with the team in Leeds.

School Breakthrough

The last few weeks of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that I am currently involved with here at YWAM Harpenden have been incredible. The speakers that we have had come in have really built on each other with the theme of identity and freedom in Christ. The results have been that the trainees who are doing the school have been able to break off the fear and passivity that they have struggled with since they arrived.

We had a time of original design and stronghold prayer last week, which is where small teams of people pray with each trainee and listen to what God is saying about them. How he created them and what gifts they have, and then ask God what is coming against that. It has really touched my heart how much of a difference this has made to each and every one of them, to take hold of that identity and to gain the confidence in who God says they are. To stand against the lies that they were believing and declare the truth of who they are. God is so good.

I am really excited to see what God will do through them in the coming months as we are now looking toward various different short term outreaches round the U.K.

Hope

We have just finished a week of 24/7 prayer here at YWAM Harpenden. The focus of the week was hope and the restoration of hope in the U.K. It was given this focus "Hope, expect with confidence" as God has been speaking to a lot of different people here about hope over the last few months.

I was really excited to be able to do this, as I have a real heart for seeing God move in this nation, and restore the inheritance and identity that this nation carries. So to be able to have a focused time with everyone else here to really seek God and cry out for this was amazing. There is now a real excitement here on the campus about what God is doing here in the U.K. and what this year and beyond could mean.

It is also really exciting to see the evolution of the prayer room which we established here on the campus about a year ago, and to see the art work develop and the space get used more and more. You get a real strong sense of Gods presence as you enter the space, and I always come out feeling revived, such an incredible space.

Winter Batchwood

We did our first Batchwood trip of the year last week. This is the ministry to the local club where we take water and lollies’ and spend time talking with the clubbers, taxi drivers and bouncers. It was certainly one of the coldest nights I have done, which changed who we got to interact with. Because of the cold, people did not want to stand around talking at the end of the night, instead they wanted to get in the taxis and find somewhere warm quickly. Most of our time was spent with the taxi drivers or bouncers, which would normally be spent with the clubbers. It was a great opportunity to strengthen our connection with the people who work here. The bouncers really enjoy our presence, but they also do not normally get a chance to talk and ask questions, as they are also busy. So to have a chance to talk to them and go deeper than just a hello, the same with the taxi drivers, was really amazing. We even got asked by a couple of the taxi drivers when we would next be back as they wanted to talk more about hope, and what it means to have hope.

I am always really encouraged when I go and get to talk with people about life and to share about who God is. I also really enjoy taking people down who may never have done anything like this before, and to see them be nervous when we go and excited and wanting to go again when we are returning. To be able to be a part of that is so special, to share with others about God is such a gift.

A New Intake :)

The Impact UK DTS (Discipleship training school) has gotten off to an amazing start, with 22 trainees from 10 nations, we have a really diverse mix of people.

We are now two weeks into the school, and it has been a real pleasure to be a part of it. The trainees are all very willing and eager to get involved with the teaching, and it has been so much fun to be able to spend time with them in the evenings, and over meals as well. I love the live learn environment that a DTS creates, sharing more than just class time with the people you are discipling. I always enjoy being apart of the schools, seeing what God is doing in peoples lives, and helping them to step more int who they are, and their relationship with God. It is always such an amazing experience, one that continues to challenge me, and how I live.

I am really looking forward to what these next months will bring.

Blows my mind....

On Tuesday evenings we get together as a community to spend time worshiping God and to hear teaching. It is a really good way to see each other and connect and also spend time with God corporately, as a body.

Last Tuesday (10/01/2012) was the first one of the year after our Christmas break. We felt very much as a campus that we are entering a new season with God and that we should mark it with an offering for those people who have debt in the community. It was one of those evenings that really challenges your world view and how you see God. So what we did was write those peoples names up on a board with the amount of their debt. Then we each asked God how much we should give. Close to £4,500 was given and most of the debt was wiped out.

What really impacted me about this was the level of faith that was displayed. How many churches have you ever been in where all the members debt is shown and then the rest of us give what we can to help those who are in need. It is quite a radical thing, but was how the early church lived and operated. The generosity of the evening was inspiring, and the way it touched those who were in need was very special to be apart of. It was also a very challenging evening, as here in YWAM no one actual gets paid, we all live by the generosity of churches and individuals who support the work we do, so to see the amount that was given is actual quite incredible. I love living and being a part of something like this.

Cover to cover

We started the year as a community by reading the bible from cover to cover out loud. As this year is such a significant year for this nation (England) as well as the wider UK we felt we should start by declaring the truth of who God is and what he has done and is doing. When we were praying about this God gave us the verse from Isaiah 55v10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” So we figured that we should speak out the word of God over this coming year.

It took us about three and a half days to do, without a break. People came and did an hour at a time, and everyone said how much they enjoyed it, even those who were reading lists of names! It was such a great excuses to be able to sit and read the bible for an hour without being interrupted, and know that you could do that. It was so well attended that we are looking at doing this more often over this coming year.

I myself got to read all of Mark’s gospel, as well as Hebrews, James and 1 Peter. It was really good to be able to read an account of the life of Jesus in one go, out loud, such a blessing.