Key principles in mobilizing to DTS and beyond
It’s September 21, 2005, when I make the journey from Belgium to the Netherlands to start something that many had doubts about. I quit my job as a professional pastry chef and chocolatier and left friends and family behind. But why? What had convinced me to sign up for a Discipleship Training School (DTS) at […]
How Can Lausanne 2024 Facilitate Youth with a Mission (YWAM) Europe?
Rather than asking how Lausanne 2024 can impact YWAM Europe, I believe it’s more relevant to consider how it can facilitate our mission. This process is already underway. It was a tremendous joy to witness over 5,000 individuals gathering in South Korea. During one afternoon, YWAM workers came together for lunch, and to my surprise, […]
How can we in Europe best benefit from the recent Lausanne 4 Congress held in Seoul September 22-28, even if most of us were not able to be present?
Our commitment to the broader body of Christ as YWAM, wanting to promote unity and mission vision and also seeking accountability to the wider Church, should urge us to ask what the Spirit of God wants to say to us through the resources and reports of Lausanne 4. What is of particular relevance for us […]
Mental Health on the Mission Field
by Elizabeth Joy Redekop Leaders on the mission field have been given one of the highest honors. We are entrusted to make decisions for, care for, and shepherd God’s children, all to make God’s name known to all people! It’s a role of great influence. How are you influencing your team? How can you care […]
Caring For Your Staff Well
By Joanne Kilbry Being a Discipleship Training School staff newbie was so intimidating! I felt inexperienced, inadequate & insecure, so afraid I would not be enough. In fact, I was so used to feeling invisible and unremarkable, that when the school leader asked to talk to me, two weeks into the school, I was sure […]
Spiritual Eldership
At 21, in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) England, I was impressed by the wisdom of national leaders in their thirties. I listened eagerly as they spoke or discussed issues at staff gatherings. One or two even talked with me and advised a ministry strategy for my return to university after working in the refugee […]
Let’s change our terminology – from fundraising to MPD
Maybe you’re not familiar with this term MPD – it means Ministry Partner Development. Many mission organizations use it to describe the process of personal fundraising. I’ve found that it is not so well-known or used in Youth With A Mission (YWAM), but I would love to see it become part of our vocabulary. Why […]
Missionary Poverty, Debt and Budgeting
POVERTY I confess that I have been in debt before and found it to be disturbing, distressing, and demoralizing. I was an urban missionary in New York City with a family of six. We did our best to survive in one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. Although my ministry […]
Comparing four styles of leadership: autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire and coaching
Leadership styles. We’ve all encountered them. Sometimes they felt like a warm bath or even better, being called to a great adventure with best mates. Other times they might have felt like painfully walking over a pebbly beach to go swimming on a hot summer’s day, slightly uncomfortable but you knew the goal was worth it. […]
Situational Leadership
Leadership Styles is our ELLC theme for this month, and I couldn’t help thinking what an interesting term it is. Is a leadership “style” just a matter of personal choice and preference, rather like our clothing style may depend on our choice to follow current fashion trends or not? Or is our leadership “style” influenced […]