We are sorry that there was a typing error in the prayer information about Mozambique. The correct address to use if you want to make donations or ask about volunteering is:
Thanks again for participating in The Invitation.
We are sorry that there was a typing error in the prayer information about Mozambique. The correct address to use if you want to make donations or ask about volunteering is:
Thanks again for participating in The Invitation.
Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!
On March 14th a category three cyclone made landfall in Mozambique. Just six weeks later on April 25th another cyclone came ashore a bit farther north in Mozambique. Significant rains before and after these cyclones also impacted the neighboring countries of Zimbabwe and Malawi. Please join with Youth With A Mission’s global prayer day this month as we lift up the people of Mozambique and surrounding countries and evangelistic and aid workers in those areas, including YWAMers.
According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, cyclone Idai has affected over 1.85 million people with at least 130,000 people displaced over four provinces in Mozambique. A minimum of 112,000 houses were damaged or destroyed. At least 715,000 hectares of crops have been destroyed at the beginning of the main harvest season. Over 400,000 people have been reached with food assistance, while 10,000 people are being helped with ready-to-eat meals in the city of Beira. The death toll is over 750 in Mozambique alone.
Watch the story here through the eyes of a young YWAM girl who lived through the destruction of Idai: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47828862
YWAM locations in Beira and Dondo were directly impacted by Idai, making them strategically located to help others. YWAM Blantyre, Malawi is also assisting their neighbors and providing hope to people who have lost much. YWAM Muizenberg, South Africa has become a communication and coordinating point for YWAM efforts including disbursing donations and other resources, as well as working with other YWAM locations to coordinate the development and resettlement phase that officially began this month.
In addition to prayer, YWAM leaders in South Africa are asking us to be generous towards our brothers and sisters in Christ in Mozambique as they are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical supplies. See the Take Action section of The Invitation for ways to help, including sending teams for rebuilding.
Please join YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, this month and pray for Mozambique. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, June 13. If you only have a few moments to pray please pray for our brothers and sisters in YWAM Beira and YWAM Dondo as they seek to recover from this disaster. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed for Mozambique. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.
Consider these two short portions from Lamentations chapter 3:
“The waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish. I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: ‘Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.’ You came near when I called you, and you said, ‘Do not fear.’ You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
Lamentations 3, 54-58 and 22-26
In order to lead a group in their preparation time, it will help to have just these selected verses available for people to read, whether on a projected slide, or printed and available for each person.
These selected verses will be read aloud three times, either by one person or by someone different each time.
The first reading is an opportunity to simply notice which word or short phrase catches your attention. For a couple of minutes following the reading, allow time for people to speak out loud ‘popcorn style’ the word or phrase that struck them. Repetitions are fine, it is good to hear how God is speaking throughout the group.
The second reading is an opportunity to listen to the invitation the Lord may be bringing to you through these verses. This invitation may relate to the word or phrase you noticed in the first reading, or it may be something new. What is God inviting you to today? Perhaps He is inviting you to an attitude of compassion or trust? Maybe there is a step of faith He is inviting you to take? He may simply be inviting you to call on His name. Allow people a moment to jot this down in their journal.
The third and final reading is an opportunity to consider your response to this invitation from God. How does your heart respond to Him? In what way might you enter into the attitude or action to which He has invited you? You may wish to allow a short time of sharing as you move into prayer for Mozambique.
The human cost is immense. Many people are understandingly emotional: “I am not crying because I lost things, but what I experienced was scary. I want to run away from this city!”
Shephen Mbewe, former base leader YWAM Marromeu
May 2019 – YWAM Uyghurs People Group
Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!
Please join with Youth With A Mission’s global prayer day this month as we lift up a large Muslim people group that is facing a crisis right now.
The Uyghur [WEE-gur] people numbers around 15 million. Their traditional homeland is located mainly in Xinjiang [SHIN-jong] province in Northwest China. In recent years, small numbers of Uyghurs have responded to the gospel, and at this time there are a few hundred Uyghur Christians.
Historically, the Uyghurs and communist China have had ongoing conflicts. But recently, things have escalated dramatically. Under the guise of eliminating Islamic extremism, approximately one million Uyghurs have been detained in “re-education camps,” usually indefinitely. The camps are overcrowded and the Uyghurs are forced to learn communist propaganda. Some detainees have claimed they were tortured. Outside the camps, conditions are not much better. Families are being torn apart and some businesses have closed because owners have “disappeared.”
There is a very small Uyghur Christian community that is also being targeted and most leaders and strong believers have been detained. The Uyghur Christian fellowships, small and fragile to begin with, have been driven almost out of existence.
Although Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim and have been for about 1,000 years, historical findings show that there was once a strong Christian community among the Uyghur tribe. They had many churches and were also involved in taking the gospel to other Central Asian peoples. Many Uyghur Christians believe that God wants to revive the destiny of the Uyghur people in these days. They believe that this involves many Uyghurs embracing the gospel and taking God’s good news across Central Asia. They also believe that the enemy is doing his best to stop this destiny from becoming a reality.
Will you join YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, this month and pray for the Uyghurs? You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, May 9. If you only have a few moments to pray we would ask you to pray for the ending of this oppression and for Uyghurs to turn to Jesus in great numbers. Let’s pray that the Uyghurs would rise up with identity restored, healed and bringing the Good News across Central Asia and the world. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed for the Uyghurs. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.
Before you begin to pray, find a table from your classroom or dining room and cover it in blankets, drapes, or other fabric. It should be covered all around and right down to the floor. You may want to put additional blankets or cushions under the table, in the ‘tent’ you have created.
In groups of 3 or 4, have people sit in the darkness under the table for a few minutes at a time. While there, experiencing darkness, discomfort and confinement, bring to mind those Uyghrs who have been forcibly removed from their homes and families, who are persecuted and in terrible fear. Consider those Christian Uyghurs who are in detention even today. Allow yourself to imagine the loss, grief and fear they might be feeling.
As you experience the emotion of this place of darkness and great need, turn your longing towards God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – whose great desire and purpose is to rent open this darkness in order for the light of His presence to be made known. As you leave the shadows of the ‘tent’ where you have been sitting, you might want to make this declaration in faith for the Uyghur people:
“Through Jesus dark death has been destroyed and radiant life is everywhere restored!”
Remain in this heart place of identification and faith for the Uyghur as you move through your prayer time.
The Uyghur people in China stand in urgent need of prayer in this hour. Forgotten by the world, the Uyghur people’s only hope is that God would move mightily on their behalf.
Anonymous
April 2019 – YWAM Foundational Values #16 – 18
Cyclone Idai crossed the coast in central Mozambique on the night of March 14, 2019. The cyclone had sustained winds of 195 km/h (120 mph) and damaged or destroyed thousands of structures. The strong winds were accompanied by heavy rain and flooding throughout Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.
It has been estimated that there are over 1000 deaths attributed to the cyclone so far, with some estimating that it could reach into the tens of thousands dead. Around 1.7 million people are affected across South East Africa, with 100,000 people needing urgent rescue near the city of Beira. There is no running water or electricity in much of the area, and many homes have been swept away and roads destroyed by floods. Over 400,000 Mozambicans are estimated to now be homeless.
There are reports of cholera in the area, and there is risk of other outbreaks, including malaria, which is already increasing.
Two Youth With A Mission centres have been affected by this natural disaster. Thankfully no YWAM staff or students have reportedly lost their lives, but they are trying to recover from the shock of the disaster. Both locations have had the majority of their buildings severely damaged.
YWAM Beira runs a home for 29 boys and young men and a community school for over 600 students. Classrooms, dorms and other facilities have all been damaged.
YWAM Dondo runs a preschool for 68 children, a laboratory to diagnose malaria and a HIV patient care program and pastors seminars and much more. The classrooms, accommodation, laboratory, and clinic have all been damaged.
There are also many people in the communities around the Youth With a Mission locations that are in desperate need of help.
Youth With A Mission is engaging in a unified response to this crisis. YWAM has linked up with RescueNet and Mercy Air to ensure that they are giving the best response possible. Mercy Air has already done a flyover assessment and RescueNet Europe is on their way to provide some of the necessary assistance.
To allow for a swift and coordinated flow of resources YWAM Southern Africa has set-up a dedicated office managed by John Sulter and Dave Peter at YWAM Muizenberg, South Africa. The office will manage donations and communications for people wanting to donate to help, and for people or teams who may wish to volunteer in the rebuilding effort.
You can contact the office directly to find out how to donate and help at mzidai@ywammuizenberg.org.
The situation in Mozambique is very serious. We ask that you would please be generous towards our brothers and sisters in Christ in Mozambique. They are in desperate need of food, water, shelter, and medical supplies.
Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!
Before he left for India, missionary William Carey told his friend, “I will go down…if you hold the rope.” Like the person holding the rope for a mountain climber, the sender of missionaries plays a vital role in helping their friends succeed. Please join the YWAM family in prayer this month for those people who hold the rope for missionaries, who serve as senders. In particular, please pray for senders from the Two-Thirds World.
Listen to this month’s letter here.
Last month YWAM’s monthly prayer day, called The Invitation, focused on the encouraging realities of how God is transforming the missions field into the mission force!
But there is another side to this unfolding story. In many locations both in and out of YWAM there are hundreds if not thousands of amazing men and women from the Two-Thirds-World who are called to go the lost. They have proven character, they have a clear call, often they have been equipped for cross-cultural work, but what they lack are senders.
Senders are any believers intentionally focused on sending and supporting missionaries. In his book Serving as Senders, Neil Pirolo identifies six different ways we can serve as senders: moral support, logistic support, financial support, prayer support, communication support, and re-entry support.
The apostle Paul highlighted the crucial role of senders in his letter to the church in Rome. He wrote, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15, NIV).
Let us join together to pray for both more senders and more leaders (mobilizers) who will focus not only on launching the Two-Thirds-World missionaries but also on equipping the Two-Thirds-World senders. More believers serving as senders in the Two-Thirds-World will release another wave of amazing missionaries from the Two-Thirds-World.
Please join with The Invitation during the month of March to pray with us about sending Two-Thirds-World missionaries. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, March 14. If you only have a few moments to pray we ask you to pray for a Two-Thirds-World sending country that God puts on your heart (for example, Brazil, Nigeria, South Korea, or India). We would love to receive stories from you regarding how God touched your heart through this prayer. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.
Watch this video from Bevin Ginder that explains why praying for senders from the Two-Thirds-World is so important at this time: https://globalcastresources.com/2018/11/07/new-missionaries-from-new-sending-nations/