Category Archives: News

Help Prospective Mothers in Papua New Guinea

The Mommyhood Memos Bloggers for Birth KitsSometimes it’s amazing how much you can help, through something so little…

In rural Papua New Guinea one in seven women die in childbirth! Yep, that’s right, 1 in 7 women die in childbirth! That’s a shocking statistic to say the least. To give birth to a child a mother has a 15% chance of dying, can you imagine?

A friend of mine, Adriel Booker, in Australia works with YWAM Ships, a ministry that is currently working on delivering medical help into Papua New Guinea. She is a Mom, blogger and fellow YWAMer who has a strong passion for helping other mothers in need. To help expectant mothers in Papua New Guinea she has started a program called Bloggers for Birth Kits to help reduce maternal mortality in rural Papua New Guinea.

The way to help is so simple that anyone can do it…

For as little as a $2.00 donation you can purchase a Birth Kit. The Birth Kit is very simple, but according to the Birthing Kit Foundation can greatly help to reduce the incidence of infant and maternal mortality and morbidity. The kit includes:

  • 1 plastic sheet to provide a clean birthing surface
  • 1 bar of soap for clean hands during the birthing process and to clean the umbilical stump
  • 1 pair of plastic gloves for clean hands
  • 1 sterile scalpel blade to cut the umbilical cord
  • 3 cords / pieces of strong string to tie the umbilical chord
  • 5 gauze squares to clean the baby and mother

The kit is simple, yet effective. Adriel made up her own (which you can watch on the video at the bottom of this post), but I think the most effective way for us to help is to donate.

If you do want to help with this great project, and for only $2.00 who wouldn’t want to help, you can read more about it at Bloggers for Birth Kits.

This post was originally posted on my personal blog at Help Prospective Mothers in Papua New Guinea – Bill Hutchison

YWAM Oxford Responds to Christchurch Earthquake

With the latest Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand in February 2011 there were a lot of questions about the wellbeing of our YWAM Staff and Students in the area. Although YWAM does not have a full ministry centre in Christchurch YWAM Oxford runs a City Ministry House in the city, which was slightly damaged in the quake.

Youth With A Mission Oxford sent out an e-mail update about what’s happening there and the YWAM Centre’s response to the crisis.Here is the e-mail:

Dear Friends and Family,

Damaged Buildings in Christchurch EarthquakeThanks everyone for all your prayers and concerns.

As most of you have heard we are all doing fine here in Oxford. We definitely felt the earthquake, but no harm was done.

My main thoughts and prayers are for the city of Christchurch and just how we are to continue to respond as these events unfold. Last night we were able to send three vans in to Hagley Park where 100’s were displaced and without proper shelter in the rain. We brought 18 people back and were able to provide food, shelter and showers for the night. Today 9 of them have gone back into Christchurch in an attempt to resume their travel plans. The rest will stay here for another night and resume their plans tomorrow.

On another note, this weekend is our start date for our largest semester of the year. We have 55 students scheduled to come in this weekend to start our courses on Sunday. Domestic flights are running and international flights are scheduled to resume this afternoon, but will probably experience some delays.

Noah and Kate are doing fine at our City Ministry house in Christchurch, although the house sustained some damage.

Prayer Points

– How we as a community can best serve and respond as these events unfold

– That our network and communication lines will remain open

– Quick recovery of Christchurch city

– Comfort for those experiencing great loss, fear and trauma

– That our students would not be detoured from attending our courses

– That there would be minimal setbacks for the running of our schools (ie. possible delay of food supply and fuel as the immediate need is focused on the city.)

Thanks for your prayers!

Jeremy Slough

YWAM Oxford, Base Team Leader

You can connect to the YWAM Oxford Centre on their web-site, www.ywamoxford.org.

Image by Ann (Helen) Devereux

Global NT – The Bible in Six Languages

Usually when I talk about universal access I’m talking about technology. Is our web-site accessible, how does it look on mobile devices, does it work on low speed internet connections, etc…

The new Global New Testament though takes it to a much more basic level, making a single new testament bible including translations in six different languages:

  1. English (New International Version)
  2. German (Hoffnung für Alle)
  3. French (Bible Du Semeur)
  4. Spanish (La Santa Biblia, Nueva Versión International)
  5. Russian (Slovo Zhizny)
  6. Arabic (Ketab El Hayat)

A bible like this could be useful for many different audiences, but they are thinking that a few different types of people would be especially interested in it:

  • International Churches
  • Individuals interested in bible translation
  • Christian professionals for their waiting rooms
  • Hotels and Conference Centres
  • Immigration and Refugee Centres
  • International Bible Schools
  • and of course Missions Agencies like Youth With A Mission

Depending on where your YWAM Centre is located, and where it goes on outreach, a resource like this could prove to be extremely valuable as it helps to cross over many language barriers that may exist in communicating the gospel. It could, with proper preparation and training, make it possible for people with limited language skills to witness in a much more powerful way.

You can read more about it, and find out how to get your hands on one of these books by contacting the company that is printing them:

Introduction price per copy US$ 30: – or € 24: –
Generous bulk discounts available
To order, please e-mail: interbible@telia.com

We are seeking distributors all over the world. Please apply or give suggestions to:hanseric.hallzon@telia.com
Contact: R B S
Relationship Building Service
A non-profit registered organization
(Formerly Russian Bible Society (Sweden)
Box 1801, SE- 701 18 Örebro, Sweden
Tel. 0583-770 670 Mobil 0704 04 06 03

Follow by Floyd McClung–A Story of What God is Doing in the Nations

Follow by Floyd McClungAfter reading a review about Floyd McClung’s new book “Follow’” I’m thinking that this is a book that I want to pickup and read at my earliest convenience. The basic premise of the book is to answer the question, “How are we to think and live day to day as followers of Jesus?” He addresses many issues in the book, including:

  • obedience
  • identity
  • significance
  • church
  • sexuality
  • marriage
  • work
  • humility
  • faith
  • prayer
  • witness
  • sacrifice
  • and more …

The book is very practical and includes topics for group discussions at the end of each chapter, as well as personal, practical steps of application.

Here is Floyd McClung describing the book:

Here is the blurb about the book from the YWAM Publishing web-site:

Isn’t it time to stop asking, "What would Jesus do?" and start asking, "What is Jesus doing now?"

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who have stories to tell, and those who don’t. Those who, like Peter, follow Jesus on the water are the ones who will tell others their stories. Floyd McClung leads us through the liberating process of changing the focus of our lives from ourselves to Jesus so we can do life the way Jesus did in the New Testament – and the way He is doing it now in and through His followers. This Jesus is not safe, sterile, or sanctimonious. He is an untamed, passionate, compassionate Jesus who makes the pages of the New Testament live again.

Follow is a real-life, right-now guide to living life the Jesus way – a challenge to get out of the boat of dull religion and find the kind of adventure that happens to ordinary people when they dare to walk on water.

Floyd McClung has been a missional leader and church planter in Afghanistan, Amsterdam, America, and Africa. He is the author of numerous books, including The Father Heart of God. His books – which have sold over one million copies and been translated into over thirty languages – have inspired generations around the world. McClung and his wife, Sally, live in Cape Town, South Africa.

You can purchase the book through the YWAM Publishing web-site, and it is also available on the Kindle over at Amazon.com, where you can see an expanded preview of the book, including quite a few chapters that you can read in full.

YWAM Medicine Hat Ministry Centre Roof Collapse

entire centre section of the roof is collapsed under the snowWe had a report come in to us earlier this week that during the night of the 22nd of January that the roof of YWAM Medicine Hat’s Central building had collapsed. Medicine Hat has received and unusually large snowfall over the last few weeks and the roof was not able to take the weight. The roof simply folded and 1/3 of the building has collapsed.

Thankfully there was no one injured in the collapse.

YWAM Medicine Hat has been renting the building and was in final negotiations for the purchase of the property. The ramifications for the collapse of the roof is not yet known, but they would appreciate a lot of prayer right now about the situation.

They believe that this place is to be a missions base with prayer and missions going hand in hand. The ministry at Youth Wtih A Mission in Medicine Hat has been growing and they have seen a number of ministries growing and being birthed in the last number of years.

Until they know more they are not sure what will be happening. They are looking at possibly needing to find and rent a new facility. They would greatly appreciate your prayer and wisdom into the situation.