DTS – but not as you know it!

By Tamara Neely

Don’t freak out – no one is suggesting that we change the DTS! At least, not in a way that will make it less transformational or less YWAM. But all over the world, YWAM leaders are re-evaluating a program which has changed thousands of lives, to see how it can be more effective at changing thousands more! They are re-packaging the DTS to make it more relevant to a culture, or more effective in outreach, or more accessible to a certain group.

This issue will highlight some unique approaches to DTS, but of course we did not have room for all of them. I’m intrigued by those bases looking at how to use technology and social networking as part of the DTS experience – both before and after the school. But even a technophobe has to love the “Gospel Gadgets” idea – the article below introduces you to some seriously must-have equipment for your DTS outreach that won’t even take up much room in those notoriously small outreach bags!

And, speaking of social networking, if you are on Facebook, why not become a fan of YWAM and visit our page – www.facebook.com/youthwithamission – you’ll get updates on major YWAM events and the opportunity to participate in discussions about issues we are thinking about, such as the changing face of DTS.

YWAM and the DTS: Imagining our future!

by Carl Tinnion

When we consider YWAM’s future there is a tendency to look to the “good old days” of the past. We can have a nostalgic desire to return to those early expressions of YWAM. However, as we are facing potential exponential growth, I don’t believe that our future will be a bigger version of what we are now. It won’t be about finding more DTS leaders, or running bigger schools. Nor will it be a return to the early decades of our YWAM history. I think that as we look to the future of structures such as the DTS we are looking not to restore, but to rebuild.

Often when we look at our familiar structures we use the term “rebuild” as a challenge to return to our foundational values and core words from God. I am not challenging these things as they cause us to be YWAM in our identity and anointing.

When I say “rebuild” I am referring to our practical application or the expression of those values. When we look at a ruined building, it can be very hard to conceive of rebuilding it in any other way than according to the original design. The mind wanders along the contours of the ruin and imagines a restored wall here, a window there. We look to the blueprint of what once was, and it screams to us to restore it the same way.

But as we look to YWAM’s future and particularly how we shape our DTSes, we have to ask – do we want to rebuild our walls according to the original design? Weren’t those designs or contexts given to us from God for moment in our history, according to the needs and issues society faced during that time? Or is our challenge to re-think and re-imagine the future that is fast approaching us.

If we are talking about mass multiplication, sustainable growth and, most of all, an influential voice into the engine rooms of culture and society, we need to keep changing. We need many new expressions of YWAM including YWAM missional communities that act as boiler rooms of prayer, expansive outreach to the poor and needy, transformational discipleship training and much more. This month’s Global Day of Prayer referenced Tim Svoboda’s brilliant article about planting more urban teams (see www.prayerday.org ) as one example. Urban centres are part of our mandate to disciple the nations. It is where you find the people who need discipling the most. So what do urban-centred DTSs look like?

To imagine new forms of ministry or expressions of YWAM community, we must first look upon the new cultural landscapes surrounding us. We must taste them and experience them apart from the structures of the past so that we can truly create new discipleship formats and new ways of reaching society. These landscapes will influence how and what we will build.

In re-building and re-imagining the DTS and other traditional YWAM forms, I am not suggesting that we remove the foundations. This is where our anointing lies, the platform that our fathers and mothers faithfully laid down for us to launch from. These foundations are precious to us, they allow us to move forward into our destiny.

Still, we must look around, in the context of where God has placed us, and focus beyond what was to what is. This will come from our prayerful engagement in the darkness of society and as we do this, we will hear God’s heart for what He wants to create. The act of engaging prayerfully in today’s society will determine how, what and where we will build a new future.

Carl leads YWAM York and is one of the Co-Directors for YWAM Western Europe.

Gospel Gadgets: your new outreach essential!

by Calvin Conkey

Every year, thousands of teams set off on short term mission trips to share the gospel. Language and cultural barriers can make clear communication of the gospel incredibly difficult. What if teams could easily be equipped to witness in an engaging and culturally relevant way?

Through “Equip”, Create International (a ministry of Youth With A Mission) provides outreach teams with the tools and information necessary for them to be as effective as possible for the short time they are on the field.

During the twentieth century, pioneers began to equip teams with tracts and hand powered cassette tape players. Today, teams can fill their ipods, laptops, “Gospel Gadgets” mp4 players and mobile phones with evangelistic films and gospel messages. Effective, culturally relevant evangelistic films are available from Create International in many languages and can be easily taken to the most remote locations with new technology.

Eliza, an Australian missionary, testifies to the effectiveness of using “Gospel Gadgets”: “On our recent outreach to Indonesia, we spent one day with a family in a slum. We showed them the ‘More than Dreams’ video of a young Muslim lady who had a vision of Isa Al Masih (Jesus) and became a believer. Two of the ladies decided to give their lives to Christ.”

There are a number of options available for playing evangelistic films when you are on outreach. If you are looking for an inexpensive video player, that can also take pictures as well as display the Bible in many different languages, check out “Gospel Gadgets” from Indigitech.

Gospel Gadgets such as the “GodPod” are small but powerful. This mp3/mp4 player with 2GB of internal memory can easily hold four or five full length movies and has the latest 1.8″ TFT LCD screen with resolutions up to 128 x 160 pixels for fine personal video playback and a built-in speaker for sharing your movies or music with others

If you want to share your faith in the language of the people you are visiting, and gather stories of what God is doing there, then the “GodPod Touch” is the mobile device for you. With a 2.8″ hi res LCD screen and a built-in speaker you won’t have a problem grabbing attention. Go on to capture God’s stories with the built-in video camera and audio recording function.

Technology has become an essential tool in completing the task of taking the good news of Jesus to all nations. Consider giving your next team the means to share the story of Jesus clearly in another culture.

Find out more:

Through the “Equip” initiative, you can now download all of Create International’s evangelistic films for free! You can also find links to thousands of ministry resources for cross-cultural missions on their Indigitech website: www.indigitech.net

Calvin Conkey is the director of Create International

Extreme Makeover : DTS edition!

by Tamara Neely

“Where did you do your DTS?” is one of the first questions YWAMers ask each other on being introduced. For all our variety, the Discipleship Training School program is the one thing that (almost) every YWAMer has in common (the School of Evangelism was an early alternative). DTS is a classic, and our research indicates that no one is thinking about messing with the core curriculum.

But the post-modern generation has upgraded everything from the way we communicate to the way we go to church. Therefore, as the pre-requisite to entry in a youth movement, DTS will always be in line for a makeover. Franchesca Andrades, a DTS leader in Buenos Aires, says, “Of course the DTS is changing – YWAM is a living organism, it’s alive, therefore it will be in continual change.”

What does that change look like? One of the most obvious developments is the Focused DTS – a DTS which targets a particular demographic. Location and language used to be the major options for your school. Today, however, the theme of your DTS can be tailored to your specific interests, talents and ministry calling.

For example, Paul at YWAM Harpenden in England is developing a Sports and Development DTS starting in February 2010. It is aimed at students with a passion for playing sport and an interest in pursuing sports ministry in a missions context. He explains, “Sport is one of the best developmental tools around. It can be used to further discipleship, community development, even peace-making. This DTS is for people who want to use sport to impact lives and communities around the world.”

Paul exemplifies YWAM’s “do first, then teach” principle – he has spent the last few years developing a sport for development charity which takes qualified cricket coaches to coach children in developing nations both in their game and in areas such as HIV/AIDS awareness and healthcare. The Sports in Ministry DTS will take students through the discipleship program with practical education alongside which will result in coaching qualifications. These qualifications will be put to use on outreach at the Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Find out more about this DTS at: www.ywamharpenden.org

“Do first, then teach” is a foundational principle and an important characteristic of emerging DTS programs – for the students. YWAM Australia has been purposeful about involving their DTS in outreach at their successful “Youth Street” ministry, right from the beginning of the school Youth Street leadership team member, Daniel Norris says, “The DTS has a weekly involvement with our “Youth Street” program as staff, not as students and they are given staff responsibilities to help out the team. This allows them to put into practice the things they are learning each week. For example, if they are learning about hearing God’s voice, they have the opportunity to share the revelations they have been getting with the kids that are being discipled through Youth Street; as disciples, they are discipling others.” Is this an effective strategy? Ryan Booker, also on this team, says, “From our last two Youth Focused DTS’s we have seen two Youth Street programs planted. I want to see DTS take on outreaches with a very clear purpose, and for the lectures to help them minister to that focus. ” For more information, go to: old.ywam.org.au

This principle is applied with even greater impact at the Hindu-focused DTS in Varanasi, India. This DTS is contextual to the Hindu culture and community and was birthed to disciple Christian believers who come from a Hindu background, and also to prepare those who are called to minister among Hindu people groups. “The DTS is adapted to share the love of Jesus among unreached Hindu people groups. Students experience contextual immersion in the Hindu community that they have come from, or which they wish to work in,” says Enoch Prem – DTS co-leader. “While DTS centre values say a DTS should be run in the cultural context of the nation it is in, we mainly see that DTS looks like a western import, particularly with the linear monologue teaching. Hence, there is a high failure rate in this culture,” he explains. “We were more interactive with the teaching – the students went on a mini-outreach every two weeks. They sat on the floor in a traditional Indian learning posture, and used the local style of worship, incorporating common symbols such as incense, lamps and flowers. The students also ran their own house fellowship in preparation for outreach among the unreached”. For more information, see : www.hindustudy.com

DTS was always designed to equip students for long-term ministry. What seems to be emerging are DTSs equipping students for a specific ministry. DTSs like this, which “engage their passion and engage the spheres of society” will be on the increase in the future, according to DTS leader, Jared Hoover from Townsville, Australia, where they run a 4-Wheel Drive Adventure DTS which meets the need for outreach in the remote outback communities of northern Queensland (see www.reeftooutback.com ).

Focused school are not the only developments in DTS. There will, of course, always be lots of room for students who are in the process of discovering their calling. This is the kind of school offered in Cimarron, USA where the traditional DTS operates, but its schedule stretches to accommodate college students or working people whose situations do not allow them to attend a full-time program for 6 months. The ONEDTS takes a year : the lecture phase takes place over one summer and the overseas outreach picks up the following summer. In the meantime, students live out the lectures by actively serving in their local community and continue in close relationship with the other participants through prayer and worship. More information is at : www.ywamcimarron.org

Hellen Santos da Guia, from the DTS Centre in Brazil comments on the future of the DTS this way – “Today, we have a challenge in our DTSs : to practice missions in the post-modern world. It is not possible to walk to the future using the same way as the past. Men like William Carey, Hudson Taylor and Cameron Townsend answered the challenges of their time in an innovative way. We must do the same.”

YWAM’s organic, innovative nature will lead us to give new shape to the DTS without compromising the essence of what it is. The future of the DTS, and of YWAM, will undoubtedly involve changes to the outside shape – the way we communicate truth; but not the inside essence – the values that transform lives.

A Moment in YWAM

DTS students in North India celebrating the meaning of Easter through redeeming the Hindu festival Holi by throwing coloured paint and water at each other celebrating Christ’s victory over evil.’

Send pictures of your interesting moments in YWAM to : iy@ywam.org