Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!

The YWAM “DNA” is comprised of our purpose, beliefs and values and is the framework that helps us determine who we are, how we live and how we make decisions. This is the fifth issue of The Invitation where we have invited YWAMers to pray for our foundational values, three at a time. For January we will pray for foundational values #13 – 15. Please refer to https://ywam.org/about-us/values/ to see the purpose, beliefs and remaining values. Our values have been developed and refined over decades and are supported by scripture. YWAM cofounder Darlene Cunningham has stated that “These understandings are foundational to our tribe being who we are, and we praise God for the way He has led us.”

Listen to the Letter here

#13 – Be relationship-oriented

YWAM is dedicated to being relationship-oriented in our living and working together. We desire to be united through lives of holiness, mutual support, transparency, humility, and open communication, rather than a dependence on structures or rules.

#14 – Value the individual

YWAM is called to value each individual. We believe in equal opportunity and justice for all. Created in the image of God, people of all nationalities, ages and functions have distinctive contributions and callings. We are committed to honoring God-given leadership and ministry gifts in both men and women.

#15 – Value families

YWAM affirms the importance of families serving God together in missions, not just the father and/or mother. We also embrace the inclusion of single-parent families. We encourage the development of strong and healthy family units, with each member sharing the call to missions and contributing their gifts in unique and complementary ways. We uphold and celebrate the biblical view that God’s intent for holy matrimony is between one man and one woman.

Please join with The Invitation during the month of January to pray with us about these three values. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, January 10. If you only have a few moments to pray we would ask you to reflect on these values and pray that YWAMers would have full understanding of our values and that all teaching within YWAM will be true to these values. As you pray and contemplate these foundational values, we would love to receive stories from you regarding how these values have shaped your ministry or your life. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.

Prepare to Pray:

Before you begin to pray, pair up with someone in your group with whom you feel comfortable. Have a facilitator set a timer for 2 minutes. For the duration of these 120 seconds, you are invited to silently hold one another’s gaze.

It can feel uncomfortable to look into another person’s eyes for an extended period of time! Do your best not to talk or fool around, or otherwise distract yourselves, rather bring to mind the inherent worth of the person in front of you. Think of all the life events that have brought him or her to this place, the good as well as the challenging or painful. Consider her courage, her vulnerabilities, her giftedness and her limitations. Seek to see this person as God sees him or her, feel His longing for her to become all that He intends for her to be.

Don’t be surprised if this exercise brings some tears to your eyes or causes a deep compassion to rise up towards the person you are with. Take a moment to debrief the activity before you move on to prayer.

Pray for YWAM Foundational Values 13 – 15:

• Pray that YWAMers would have a full understanding of our values and that all teaching within YWAM will be true to these values.

Pray about Value 13: Be Relationship Oriented:

• The presence of sin has impacted our relationships with one another. Pray for YWAMers to be relationship oriented. Pray for restoration where needed.
• Pray for unity through lives of holiness, mutual support, transparency, humility, and open communication.
• Pray for YWAMers to be effective encouragers, but also effective in holding each other accountable. Pray for proper balance. Pray for YWAMers to hold fast to God’s word and to build loving relationships.

Pray about Value 14: Value the Individual:

• Praise God that every human being is valuable and created by Him, in his image. Praise Him for how He loves each of us.
• Pray for YWAMers to have confidence in their identity as a child of God and a believer in Christ. Pray for YWAM to portray these beliefs to the outside world well.
• Pray for effective discovery and development of spiritual gifts by YWAMers and our DTS students.
• Pray that YWAMers will have gracious attitudes towards sinners, as we are sinners ourselves.

Pray about Value 15: Value Families:

• Pray for YWAM’s Family Ministries. In many countries, YWAM provides marriage and parenting retreats, family mentoring, resource centers for families, outreaches for parents and children, and support for national initiatives to strengthen families. Pray for the family ministries workers that are faithfully serving their communities. Pray for wisdom. Pray for innovation. Pray for provision.
• Pray for YWAM’s training programs for people wanting to become equipped in family ministry and counseling. Pray for the students and teachers.
• Andreas and Angela Frész, who are currently leading YWAM Family Ministries International, will be handing over the leadership in June 2019. We are grateful for the work they have done, the tribe they have built all over the world. Pray for a smooth transition and for wisdom for the team that will be following in their footsteps.
• Pray for our YWAM Families. Being in missions as a family is both a blessing and hard work. Pray for our marriages and for unity and oneness in our families, and for God’s protection as we serve others.
• Pray for divorced Christians and their children. Pray for churches to love them well and for all impacted to recover well.

Pray for The Send:

• Pray for an upcoming event: The Send on Feb 23, 2019. Pray that those who attend will be activated into their evangelistic and missional calling. Pray that it would be a “tipping point” gathering that would spark a great wave of evangelism and missions. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JObabQXTF8  For More: www.thesend.org

Take Action

• Watch videos:
  • #13 – Be Relationship Oriented: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcu-qAejboY
  • #14 – Value individuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCljJ_r-r6Y
  • #15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am6yQ5MMREw
• If you are part of a YWAM location, spend a week focused on being relationship oriented. Fast as a group one day asking the Holy Spirit to further unite you. Ask the Spirit to reveal where there is sin or weakness regarding holiness, mutual support, transparency, humility, and open communication. Spend time as a group agreeing on ways to improve in these areas so that you can become more unified.
• Evaluate your YWAM relationships. Note those that are relationship oriented and those that are lacking. Commit to becoming more relationship oriented.
• Study Jesus in one or more of the gospel books and note specific instances and ways that He was relationship oriented.

• Study what scripture has to say about valuing the individual and discuss in a group: Genesis 1:27; Leviticus 19:13-16; Deuteronomy 16:18-20; Psalm 139:13-16; Mark 8:34 37; Acts 10:34-35; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 6:5-9; Hebrews 2:11-12; James 2:1-9
• Do something to value the individual on their birthday. (YWAM Perth, Australia does this well. Contact them for more information.)
• If you have not conducted a spiritual gifts test recently of the individuals at your location do so. Discuss how each person is uniquely gifted. Look at various combinations of spiritual gifts in each person.
• Consider what it means to be made in God’s image. Reflect on Scripture: Genesis 1:25 – 27, 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; Colossians 1:15 – 17 and James 3:9. Review what another ministry says about what it means to be made in the image of God: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-q-and-a/faith/what-it-means-to-be-made-in-the-image-of-god
• Find out more about YWAM’s Family Ministries: https://www.ywam-fmi.org/ Attend an event: https://www.ywam-fmi.org/events/
• Pursue a degree in family studies through the University of the Nations and the Family Resource Center.
• Subscribe to YWAM Family Ministries newsletter: https://www.ywam-fmi.org/
• Learn about the House of Oneness, a teaching that comes out of extensive research on strong families: https://www.ywam-fmi.org/resource/house-of-oneness/. What is your family good at? What characterizes your family? What is an area that needs attention? Discuss together as a family what you see.
• Read books:
  • When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself, by Steve Corbett, Brian Fikkert
  • Broken, Yet Whole, by Bram de Blouw
  • Marriage Savers, by Michael J. McManus
  • Divorce and Remarriage in the Church, by David Instone-Brewer
• Attend a Significant Marriage conference: http://www.thesignificantmarriage.com/events.html
• Read articles about creating meaningful family legacies:
  • https://www.ywam-fmi.org/news/multigenerational-legacies-the-story-of-jonathan-edwards/
  • https://www.ywam-fmi.org/news/god-sightings-in-our-family-history/
• As a family in ministry, you want to build the Kingdom of God together. You are a team. God has put together the members of the team and the composition is unique. Download the questionnaire from the book Families In Ministry and spend some time discussing how your family is working as a team. http://families-in-ministry.com/our-family-team/
• Share stories on Facebook and send email to prayer@ywam.org regarding how YWAM foundational values have impacted your walk with Christ, your family, your ministry or other aspects of your life.
• Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
• Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

How We Prayed:

December 2018 – Moscow

• YWAMers have a heart for praying for cities and geographic areas. YWAMers across the world lifted up the unique challenges of a unique city and its people to the Lord.

Future Topics:

• February 14, 2019: Two-Thirds-World Missionaries
• March 14, 2019: Two-Thirds-World Senders
• April 11, 2019: YWAM Foundational Values 16 – 18

Don’t Miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
• You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.