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

“The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is the foundational building block in Youth With A Mission, the cornerstone of the mission” says YWAM founder Loren Cunningham. Not only is our DTS foundational for YWAM, according to Elena Ciobo, a DTS coordinator, “It is the one part of our YWAM family that holds us together in unity amongst our great diversity.” Unique to YWAM is not only the diversity of our staff and students, but diversity of DTS programs focused on anything from motorcycles to surfers, starting in any month of the year, in locations from Alberta to Zimbabwe with over 65 different languages spoken. This is YWAM’s model for disciple-making.

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. . . “

Luke 9:23 (ESV)

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of September to pray for our DTS programs and the process of disciple-making. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, Thursday, September 14.

If you have only a few minutes to pray, please pray for our current DTS students that they would be discipled well to be effective witnesses for Christ.

If you are praying with a group or if you have more time to pray, please see below for the complete list of prayer suggestions.

Prepare to Pray:

Before your prayer time, you are invited to participate in a reflection process using clay or play dough. The purpose of this time is to be reminded that our formation process does not end after DTS! All of us, including those staffing and supporting the DTS, continue to be in a process of becoming more like Jesus. This meditation – which might take about 20-30 minutes, including the time of feedback – can help us to posture ourselves as fellow learners, part of a discipling community whose teacher is God.

In order for everyone to take part, you will need to provide everyone with a small quantity of clay or play dough that is readily available from craft or toy stores, or easy to make using a recipe you can find online.

Take some time for everyone to begin working with the clay. Become familiar with its feel in your hands. Notice its texture and the way it both resists and yields to your touch.

You can then use this script to lead the group:

“Call to mind the creation story, where God shapes the human from clay, gently molding and shaping each fold and indentation. Take a few minutes to experience yourself as being molded by God.”

[Pause for a few minutes]

“Hold this image in your heart as you continue to mold the clay. Notice how it feels in your hands. Notice the feelings and/or images that emerge for you. As you handle the clay, feel free to form it into a particular shape if one comes to mind.”

[Pause for a few minutes]

“Reflect on how you experience God shaping and forming you. Where are the places in your life that feel resistant and where are you malleable? Work with the clay for a while, engage in the process and pay attention to what comes to you, without censoring yourself.”

[Pause for a few minutes]

“Continue to hold the questions in your heart of how God is shaping and forming you. When you have come to a sense of rest with the clay process, take a few moments to gaze at the object you have formed. What has this process revealed to you? How have you felt God moving in you during this time?”

Allow a time of silence for reflection or journalling. Then give the opportunity for people to share with a partner the ways God spoke to them during this time. After a few minutes of sharing in pairs, give an opportunity for feedback in the larger group. You might like to close with some prayers inviting the Spirit of God to continue forming and shaping you, as individuals and as a community.

(This exercise was drawn from the work of Christine Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman, in their book ‘Awakening the Creative Spirit.’)

Pray for DTS, Disciple-making:

• Praise God for our diversity of students and staff and for the diverse DTS programs we are able to offer.
• Pray for DTS students to be challenged to embrace their true identity in Christ.
• Pray for DTS students to obtain clarity regarding their holy calling.
• Pray for strength of character for DTS students.
• Pray for students to obtain a greater understanding of God and of His Word.
• Pray for potential students to find a good match for a DTS program.
• Pray for overall health of YWAM’s DTS program so that the strength and future of YWAM is solid.

“As the DTS goes, so goes the mission.”

Darlene Cunningham, YWAM Co-founder

• Pray for our DTS leaders and staff around the world that they would increasingly be trained and equipped in their roles in order to effectively disciple and train others.
• Pray for the International DTS Centre personnel that they would find relational favor within the YWAM family as they continue to serve, support and strengthen our DTS.
• Pray that each of the 100s of DTSes that we offer would stay true to the YWAM vision, values and ethos.
• Pray for biblical discernment in disciple-making within YWAM.
• Pray that YWAMers would be fruitful in making disciples.

Take Action:

• Share the YWAM primary website regarding DTS with a young person who has never done a DTS. Challenge them to take this step. Pray for them. ywam.org/dts
• During the next DTS at your location find a new DTS student and sit down with them and pray for them.
• Reach out to a YWAM location with whom you have little or no contact and ask them how you can pray for their current or next DTS.
• For more information contact YWAM International DTS Centre www.ywamdtscentre.com
• Review material about DTS and disciple-making at other YWAM locations. Identify three things you could to do improve the DTS at your location.
• Spend a season with another location to experience their DTS program.

• 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

August 2017 – Families, Singles and Marriages

• 190 people reacted to The Invitation on Facebook. It was shared 39 times. One person in particular noted the importance of praying for singles.
• YWAM Canberra also shared a photo of their prayer time over on Instagram using the hashtag #praywithywam.

Future Topics:

• October 12, 2017 The Hindu World (The Invitation’s Second Anniversary issue)
• November 9, 2017 Partner Churches
• December 14, 2017 Pyongyang

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.

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

The Back to Jerusalem movement began in the 1920s when the Chinese church received a vision from God to take the Gospel to all unreached people groups between China and Jerusalem. Chinese Christians understood that the spread of Christianity had generally taken a westward path and had reached as far as China. Their mindset was that a Back To Jerusalem effort from China westward would complete the circle around the entire globe, ending where it all began, in Jerusalem.

Through decades of persecution, where the primary work being conducted was often underground, this movement has continued. The contemporary Back To Jerusalem movement started in 1983 when Simon Zhao was released from prison. Simon had been one of the leaders of this movement in the 1940s and 50s. During his time in prison he prayed daily “God, the vision that you’ve given us has perished, but I pray you’ll raise up a new generation of Chinese believers to fulfill this vision.”

The world can do nothing to a Christian who has no fear of man.

Brother Yun, The Heavenly Man

The current movement has a goal to have 100,000 missionaries sent out across the globe, primarily in the nations between China and Jerusalem. Many of these nations are within the 10/40 window and are primarily Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu. There are approximately 5,100 unreached people groups and tribes in these nations. The Back to Jerusalem movement helps the Chinese church train and send Chinese missionaries into unreached areas of the globe.

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of June to pray for the Back to Jerusalem movement. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, June 8.

Prepare to Pray:

• Watch this short video about the Back to Jerusalem movement:

• Ask God to reveal a key prayer request to you that He wants you to pray over and over. Pray this prayer as a breath prayer holding this topic before God throughout the day. Write out a short phrase to repeat in pace with your in and out breath, to pray whenever it comes to mind throughout the day. For example, as you breathe in, you pray: “Merciful and gracious God,” and as you breathe out, you pray: “Have your way in China and westward toward Jerusalem” (or whatever key prayer request the Lord gives to you).

Pray for the Back to Jerusalem movement:

• Pray for continued growth and strength of the Chinese house-church networks so they can train and send 100,000 missionaries to the 10/40 Window and across the globe.
• Praise God for the growth of the Chinese church. Praise Him also for the Chinese Christians that willingly go, knowing that they may give their life so that the lost can hear the good news.
• Pray that the Back to Jerusalem movement will be protected from people who would want to organize and control it.
• Pray for the Chinese government, who have good historical reasons for being suspicious of Christianity because it was often intertwined with foreign governments and their political and military ambitions.
• Pray for the government to recognize that Biblical Christians are trustworthy citizens. Many Christians go out to other nations or to minority tribes within China in the course of their work or as a result of government initiatives.
• Pray for these workers to understand how to be an ambassador for Jesus. Also pray for the many who are wanting to start businesses or engage with other economic activities as part of their missions calling.
• Pray for excellent training to help Chinese missionaries with cross-cultural sensitivities, language learning etc.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

Isaiah 48:10

• Pray for financial and prayer supporters to partner with the Back to Jerusalem movement. Pray for the provision of Bibles and of supplies so that Back To Jerusalem can provide for people when disaster strikes and people have the greatest needs.
• Pray for social change in the 10/40 Window through the impact of the gospel.

Take Action:

• Consult the Back to Jerusalem website for more stories, information and prayer concerns: backtojerusalem.com
• Pray about the Back To Jerusalem movement in a deeper and ongoing manner:
  • Fast regularly
  • Send intercession and spiritual mapping teams to China and 10/40 Window nations and pray on site.
  • Learn about the interesting history of the Back to Jerusalem movement in “A Captivating Vision,” Christianity Today; April 1, 2004 (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/april/5.84.html).
• Read books:
  • The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun about the Back to Jerusalem movement.
  • I Stand With Christ by Eugene Bach and Zhang Rongliang.
  • Back to Jerusalem: Called to Complete the Great Commission by Paul Hattaway.
• If you sense God calling you to partner with the Back to Jerusalem movement in some way, allow Him to lead you to discern where and when.
• Conduct research on:
  • The 10/40 Window to learn more about these nations. (Start here:
    • https://backtojerusalem.com/home/about/)
  • Chinese church history
    • https://web.archive.org/web/20120425132306/http://www.chinasmillions.org/religion/004b3a.html
• Become a Back to Jerusalem Gatekeeper: https://backtojerusalem.com/home/gatekeepers/
  • Provide Bibles: https://backtojerusalem.com/home/support/isis-bible-project/
  • Purchase tea: https://storehousetea.com/collections/back-to-jerusalem-teas
• 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.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

How We Prayed

May 2017 – Spiritual Formation

• YWAM Champagne, France reported that they were very grateful for the proposal for a time of silence.

April 2017 – Growth – Persecution

• YWAM Cape Verde prayed and reported that they are grateful to receive The Invitation in Portuguese.
• Several YWAM locations shared that they utilize The Invitation to share information about YWAM with the students and staff at their location.
• Multiple locations reported praying for the YWAM worker kidnapped last year.
• YWAM Central African Republic reported that receiving The Invitation stimulates them to pray for matters beyond their area.
• A YWAMer from Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa was inspired by 1 Corinthians6:19-20 and asked herself “Am I willing to give it all and give up myself?”
• The Indonesian translator for The Invitation was moved by the response of love the people of Indonesia showed to a Christian governor who lost an election. (Shortly after this outpouring of love he was imprisoned.)

Future Topics:

• July 13, 2017 Two-Thirds-World Workers, Financial Support
• August 10, 2017 Family, Singles, Marriages

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, hash tag #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.

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

Since the beginning of the year the focus of our monthly prayer times has been growth. Last month we prayed about the possible parallel increase in persecution. As we experience both of these realities – an increase in numbers and an increase in trials – it is crucial that we put our roots ever deeper into God.

Silence can be a gift to us in this regard. Silence offers us an opportunity to become more aware of God and more aware of the truth of our own hearts. When things are going well, as when our numbers increase, we are tempted to rely on our own strength. Silence can safeguard us from the pitfall of self-sufficiency by keeping us in touch with our great need for God. And when things are difficult, as when we face trials and persecution, we are tempted to panic and try to save ourselves in our own way. In silence we are reminded of the greatness and nearness of God.

In any case, as YWAMers we are often a people of action and it is easy to find both fulfilment and distraction in our activity. When we practice silence, we make space for God to meet us beyond all possible distractions. God invites us to know Him and, in knowing Him, to know ourselves and to become the God-imaging, God-empowered people He made us to be.

To remain in silence for more than a few minutes can be uncomfortable for us. We are used to noise and chatter and in the quiet we often find our minds buzzing with all sorts of thoughts. In order to make space for God, we encourage you to join us in this month’s practice of silence – whether as a community, or individually – trusting that this deep listening will lead to a fresh springing up among us of God’s abundant life.

Prepare to Spend Time in Silence (for the prayer time facilitator if being facilitated as a group):

This month’s prayer time will focus on making space to hear God’s voice, listening, and being attentive in silence. Here are some practical tips to help those facilitating the prayer time.

• Decide ahead of time if you want the group to stay together, doing the same activity, or if you will let individuals choose for themselves which activity in which to engage. This is important in order to save time. If you want to let people choose which activity to do you may want to have the three options written out, either as a PowerPoint slide displayed on a screen or wall or on a handout. If the instructions are only verbal you may have to clarify and explain a few times, which would take away from the amount of time you could spend in silence.
• As a facilitator please help set the tone of the time by explaining the expectations to the group as you begin. You may want to emphasise the expectation of silence in the room (if you are staying in the same room) or of not talking to each other if the group is going outside. This may be challenging for some.
• Please be sure to give all the instructions at the beginning of the time of silence in order to avoid interrupting the group with further instructions. Include in the instructions a specific time to gather back together again.
• Consider ahead of time how you are going to process and receive feedback from the group. We have included some possible processing questions. Decide who will facilitate the processing time and how you will record the feedback.

Spend Time in Silence – The Practice of Silence

1.      Choose an Activity Option:

As part of your time of silence, you are invited to consider one of the following three activities as a way to practice “making space for God.” If you are participating with a group, we recommend you all do the same activity so that afterwards you can share together about your experience of God through that activity.

• Option A: Take a walk outside, in silence.Begin by simply noticing how you are feeling physically and being present to the world around you. Practice curiosity and a deep listening to your intuition. Let this time be a journey of the heart, noticing where you are being invited to walk and where to stay for a while. Try to let go of any goals you have for this time (such as to reach a certain destination). Even if you walk only a few steps and simply notice what you see, that is enough.After spending time slowing down and being present to what is around you, become aware of any questions or reflections that come to your mind. Each season has its own particular questions to ask: for example, spring might cause you to reflect on the fullness of life and time for play. What draws your attention and what questions does your time outside invite you to ask at this particular time of your life?Finally, once you have enjoyed this time of reflection, ask yourself how are you moving in this journey of life with God? You might choose to mirror your response in the actual movement of your legs and feet as you walk (if you feel hurt, you might walk with a limp; if you are excited, you might bounce; if you are uncertain, you might mirror that in the way you walk). Then ask, how do you want to be moving through life in this season? You could move in that way for a short while. How might God be speaking to you through what this brings to your mind?
• Option B. Get comfortable and keep silence wherever you are.Be sure you have your journal and some pens or pencils. You may want to light a candle as a symbol of God’s presence. Get comfortable in your chair, or on the floor. Take a few moments to settle into this time and notice how you are feeling. Pay attention to the part of you that finds silence difficult, and to the part of you that looks forward to being with God in this way.After spending time slowing down and becoming present to yourself and to God, begin paying attention to what comes to your mind. Are you aware of questions you want to ask the Lord? Is there something going on in your life that the silence offers you an opportunity to think about? You might reflect on how you have been turning towards God in recent times, and how you have been turning away from Him. Speak with Him about this.In the quiet, you may well find that many random thoughts jump around in your mind, distracting you. If it helps, write down things you need to remember so you can stay focused during this time. Then simply return to an attitude of openness and listening to God. How might He be speaking to you through the things that come to mind? You could journal about this.
• Option C. Reflection on a painting.Finally, you may choose to spend your time in silence considering a painting such as this one, based on the story of Jesus and his disciples in the boat during a storm (Mark 4:35-41).

  

  
  Consider projecting this image so everyone in your group can see it, then settling into a silent time of reflection.
  • As you first look at the painting, ask yourself these questions:
    • What grabs my attention right away?
    • How does the scene change for me, as I look at the painting?
    • What is surprising to me about the painting? What questions does it raise for me?
    • Which of the characters do I most identify with, and why?
    • What would it be like to be in the boat in such a storm?
  • You could also consider reflecting on the following questions:
    • What are the storms in my life right now?
    • In what ways have I overlooked – or been aware of – Jesus’ presence with me?
    • What is His invitation to me in those stormy places? And what is my response?

2.       Conclude Silence Activity:

In conclusion: Whichever activity you choose, at the end of your time simply express gratitude to God for your awareness of His presence, for what He has revealed to you, and for the grace to move toward Him. 

3.       Process Questions as a Group:

Once your time of silence has concluded, here are some questions to help your group to process:

• How was the time of silence and listening different from having a specific topic to pray for?
• What challenges did you experience in the time of silence and listening?
• What insights did you gain from this time of silence?
• How do you think a time of corporate, worldwide silence and listening like this could impact the mission?
• What do you think God thought and felt as we took time around the world to be silent before Him?

4.       Close the Time of Silence:

You may like to use this as a closing prayer:

Lord, thank you that you are not a silent God. Thank you for your desire to communicate with your children. Please give us patience to wait in silence and the ability to quiet our hearts before you. Please train our ears to hear your voice. Help us to be aware of the noises and distractions in our life that may keep us from being close to you, and give us the grace to be still and know that you are God.

Take Action:

• Find out more about spiritual formation from YWAMers:
  • https://ywammontana.org/spiritual-formation-for-extraverts/
• http://www.ywamsalem.org/tag/spiritual-formation/
• Attend training on spiritual formation:
  • http://www.ywamseamill.org/spiritual-deepening/
• Plan another spiritual formation event for your location.
• 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.
• Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.

How We Prayed

April 2017 – Growth – Persecution

• YWAM Melbourne prayed for our Egyptian brothers and sisters from the Coptic Church after bombs exploded in multiple churches on Palm Sunday.
• YWAM Madison and YWAM Melbourne prayed and invited others to join them through Facebook. YWAMers from Homer, Alaska also posted that they prayed.
• Others posted on Facebook that they prayed specifically for Christians in Nigeria, the Middle East and for the Hazara people group in Central Afghanistan.
• YWAMers at YWAM Europe conference prayed for the nations.

Future Topics:

• June 8, 2017 Back to Jerusalem
• July 13, 2017 Two-thirds-world Workers, Financial Support
• August 10, 2017 Family, Singles, Marriages

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, hash tag #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.

Photo credits: Nick Kenrick and Carol Jacobs-Carre, Flickr