Knowing God

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“To Know God and make Him Known.”

YWAM is committed to know God, His nature, His character and His ways. Its from the overflow of knowing and enjoying fellowship with Him that we seek to reflect who He is in every aspect of our lives and ministry.

I heard Joy Dawson speak on this in 1978 with a passion that was strange to me.

As she shared with so much conviction about ways to get to know God my heart filled with faith that this is something I could also do. Vividly I remember walking into a bookstore and asked for the biggest notebook they have because I knew He was BIG and therefore I needed a BIG book. So for the next 3 years I made God my study and filled those pages with Bible verses and insights and revelations about who God is. Oh the joy of knowing Him. It was like a doorway of fellowshipping with this Trinity God and treasures were unlocked.

As Joy always reminds us “He is the event! The Bible is not primarily about man – it is about who God is.” I also discovered why it needed more grace for Moses to leave God’s presence than to go up the mountain. I went for a 30 day retreat alone with God on a mountain and it was more difficult to leave that place  than to have begun. My Mom said to me a week afterwards: You need to come down from the mountain because you never leave your room!”

Here are a few of the ways of how to get to know God (learned from Joy Dawson):

Let us acknowledge to God how little we really know Him. Tell God that you want Him to be the supreme desire of your life and ask Him to increase your desire and begin to seek Him. I love the way that Jeremiah reminds us “You will find Me when you search for Me with your whole heart (Jeremiah 29:13)

Begin to pray the prayers prayed by those who went before us. These are some of my favorites that have helped me to hunger and thirst for Him continually.

“As a deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God! My soul thirsts for you” ~ Psalm 42:1-2

“O God You are my God, early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You, in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory” ~ Psalm 63:1-2

MarietteAnother focus is to study the ways of God which are the principles by which He operates. His ways reflects His character. Meditate on and obey His word. I quickly learned the difference between knowing His acts from His ways. As I studied His ways it became obvious that it needed deeper digging and more time spent with Him.

If we want the imprint of the nature of God on us then the study of His Son is imperative because He carried the imprint of His Father. From 2 Peter it is clear that it is the knowledge of God and not the knowledge about God.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)

~ Mariette Louw has been a leader and speaker in YWAM for many years both in Scotland and internationally. She currently lives in Glasgow. 

Street Art Evangelism

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street art

‘What’s you biggest dream?’ I asked the man.

‘My biggest dream is to be in heaven and see angels,’ John answered. ‘And I hope that if I was to go to heaven, I would feel at home there.’

‘Well I believe God has a home for you in heaven. Could I pray for you?’

‘Yes, that would be great. I have anxiety and depression that I have been hospitalised for. I’ve not been able to work for six months. It’s awful.’

‘I’ll pray for that now then…’

 

‘What’s your biggest dream?’

‘Good question. I think my biggest dream is to be happy,’ Matchek from Poland answered.

‘That’s a very general dream, what if you were to be a little more specific?’

‘I have gone through a lot of change in the last year and I dream about feeling peace in my life…’

‘Well I believe God wants to give you His peace. Can I pray for you?’

 

‘What’s your biggest dream?’

‘To pass my exams!’

‘Are you studying here in Edinburgh?’

‘Yes, but we are from Thailand and China’

‘Oh wow! Well I believe in God, and I believe he wants to bless you guys, would it be ok if I pray for you and for your dreams?’

 

During the Mission Explore Weekend in Edinburgh we took to the streets with the youth to do evangelism. We were there to talk to people about their dreams and to offer to pray with them. We got to speak to loads of people: Koreans, Qataris, Swiss, Polish, English, French, American, Thai, Chinese, Singaporean, Scottish, etc and nobody I spoke to refused prayer.

It struck me how many people I met that don’t have anyone at all that pray for them. What a blessing it was to be able to share God’s love with them in such a simple way and see their faces light up as they encountered the living God on the streets!

Mission Explore Weekend (part 2)

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Last weekend we had a Mission Explore weekend in Edinburgh. It was a great time with a bunch of youth from Scotland, Wales and Scandinavia. One evening we did some exercises in hearing from God. The youth both got to hear from God for themselves, and for each other.

ME all

As we asked God for words for each other, one of the guys felt God say that he sees his friend as a warrior. Another heard God say ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ over her friend, and that God meant that he has so much he wants to say to her but there aren’t enough words to explain to her how much he loves her.

Everybody was encouraged both by what God had said, but also that it was so easy to hear from God.

The next morning we split into small groups to do treasure hunting. We started by sitting down and asking God who he wanted us to meet when we went out, what they would look like, where we would find them, and even what their names would be. Then we went out in our groups to try and find them.

When the groups came back and we asked ‘did you find your treasures?’ it was great to hear how group after group had found the person God had spoken to them about.

One group was looking for a man who would be sitting on the street. They had a clear description of what he would look like and what his name was. They went out and found him and decided to buy him a meal from McDonald’s. As they gave him his meal and talked to him, they found out that they had all the details right and it also happened to be his birthday. They got to pray for him and he was very thankful.

Another group was looking for a man in a bright yellow jacket with hip problems. They found him explained what they were doing, and asked if by any chance he had a problem with his hip? Yes, he did. So they were able to pray for him and he and his wife were very thankful.

It was wonderful to see the young people stepping out in faith as they listened to God and then blessed people on the streets of Edinburgh!

 

Mission Explore Weekend in Edinburgh

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Our Mission Explore Weekend in Edinburgh has just finished: it’s been an action packed weekend, full of God moving in and through us all. We spent time in God’s presence, worshipping, praying for each other, washing each other’s feet, listening to God, eating together, doing evangelism, eating together and sleeping on church floors – all in a weekend with a bunch of youth going for it with God!

ME all

 

On Saturday afternoon we were out on the streets doing evangelism. We had four different groups: one group was asking people to join our chalk street art project and draw or write down their biggest dream, another group was handing out treats and bible verses, another group was playing the swap game (which is a game where you start out with a pen and go up to somebody to ask them if they want to swap the pen for something of higher value, they might give you a different item, which you then try to swap with somebody else. Once you have something nice you pray about who God wants you to give it to and then you go and find them and bless them). And the last group was giving out Gospel bracelets (a Gospel bracelet is a bracelet with differently coloured beads which represents different parts of the Gospel story).

We have lots of testimonies from the time of evangelism, but here is one: One of the groups that were giving out bracelets got talking to a couple about what their dreams were. To begin with the man said his biggest dream was to be happy, but as they dug a bit deeper, it came out he had problems with anger and that he dreamt of being free. They spent a long time talking to this couple and, using the Gospel bracelet, they got to share the Gospel story and got to pray for both the man and his wife who were very thankful.

Passion for Jesus

On Saturday morning we asked God for an increased passion for Jesus and boldness to take risks with Him.

In the evenings we had time to worship and listen to God together, and to talk some about who God is. Here are some of the things the youth took away:

‘I connected with God when I was drawing. I had lots of pictures in my mind as I was listening to the songs.’

‘God speaks in different ways and I can hear from him’

‘I was given an encouraging prophetic word, about how God sees me’

‘God has a plan for me, even when there seems to be no way; he still has a plan for me’

‘I was inspired by the outreaches and the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone’

‘I made new friends’

‘There was such a sense of family’

After an intense weekend we are all tired but also very thankful for all God did.

Nepal Updates & Links

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From the YWAM International Facebook page:

Below is a list of YWAM locations with teams currently in Nepal that have reported they are all safe. We also have heard that all YWAM Nepal members are accounted for. Let us know in the comments if you have received reports from any others. Also please continue to pray for all those affected!

YWAM Kona

YWAM Denver

YWAM Salem

YWAM Colorado Springs

YWAM Honolulu

YWAM Montana Lakeside

YWAM Perth

360 Maine

YWAM Las Vegas

Create International

Welcome to Tribe!

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Matt Whitlock, who started the Tribe (a network for YWAM alumni/friends to gather to be missional communities all over the world and work out the Great Commission in their spheres of society together) is coming to Scotland this week! We would love for you to come along to listen to him and connect in with YWAM Scotland in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Check out these links for more info about the Tribe: https://ywamtribe.com/
And this link for more info about Matt Whitlock: https://www.matthewwhitlock.com/sample-page/
or if you want to watch some of his messages you can see some of them here: https://www.matthewwhitlock.com/speaking/watch-matt/
If you are able to get to listen to Matt – it will be really worth going.
Tuesday 21st April 6.30-9pm Tribe Gathering in Edinburgh at Bristo Baptist Church
Tribe Edinburgh - April
Wednesday 22nd April 6.30-8.30pm Tribe Gathering in Glasgow at Champion Life Church
 tribe glasgow april 2015
Please spread to word to anyone you know in Glasgow who are interested in YWAM, have been connected with YWAM in the past, etc – ANYONE that is interested in missions is welcome to come!

Meet Lee

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Here’s a short interview with Lee, our centre manager at YWAM Seamill. Maybe grab a coffee and have a read!

Hi Lee, could you start with reminding us of what Seamill does?
Seamill is a huge 110 year old building on Scotland’s west coast. We have a permanent staff of usually between 20 to 30 people. We are a YWAM centre and most of our work is to run courses for people to further their walk with God. We run two DTSes every year, we also run one bible school per year , we have a course for people who work in some of the tougher nations on the planet and every year we run a retreat – again for frontier missions workers. We also have teams on base reaching out evangelistically into the local community.

And how does your role fit into making all that happen?
My role as part of the leadership team of the community is to basically make sure the building is operating as it should, that we have heat and electric, and comply with what the Government asks us to do to keep the building safe. To make sure we comply with fire regulations. I believe what I do is make sure that we as a community can hold a space open for people to come here and to meet with God.

Tell us about what a regular day looks like!
It’s kind of tricky to describe for me – each day is different. We have a list of the things that each year we have to make sure we do to make sure we comply with what our insurance company, the government and its agencies demand that we have for the building to be safe. I may be looking at getting the asbestos in our building inspected to make sure it is safe (it is), getting someone to inspect our lightening rods, booking trades people to come work on our heating, our gas, our electrics, our building. Looking at our budgets making sure we are spending within what we estimated. I’m also involved with leading our community meetings on base and involved with staff training on our DTSes. So as I said very very diverse.

When and where did your missions journey start?
I had been in a bad relationship which had just ended and I needed something new. I had friends that had done some stuff with YWAM so I went on a short term outreach to St Petersburg, Russia. I did a week’s training at Holmsted first as part of the trip and was given an application form for a DTS. I knew then that I would quit my job the following year and so I came on the DTS in 1995. Those first years God went after me. I had not been in good shape before, but God started working in my life and refining my character.

I staffed a couple of DTSes and met my wife. We got married in ‘98 and led a DTS together in ‘99. We went to Ukraine on outreach and saw God do some amazing things. People got healed, heroin addicts got free from addiction, and lots of people met with Jesus. It was Book of Acts type stuff.

In 2002 we left England to do the Leadership Development School at Seamill and Mariette Louw asked us to stay and lead DTSes with her at Seamill. So we did. I became the DTS team leader and kept working with DTS. Then in 2011 God said to stop being involved with DTS. I love DTS so that was a big deal for me. Two years ago I was asked to be part of the base leadership team, and that brings us to now.

For people that might be interested in doing what you do, what opportunities are there to get involved? (and how can they find out more?)
There are many opportunities here. We are looking for a Centre Manager to do basically a lot of the things that I described above. We are looking for practical people who love God, love the challenge of helping with preserving a beautiful 100 year old building, and love seeing God’s Kingdom advanced, who have a heart for people and seeing them blessed. We are looking for folks who love to serve. You can find out more on our www.ywamseamill.org

It feels alive

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Frank, thank you for making this wonderful website for YWAM Scotland – tell us about it.
A website is a voice that should speak for you, when you are not there in person. There are many elements to it and they all tell the story of Us. We wanted to portray all of YWAM Scotland for this season – we felt it should be warm, welcoming and friendly, yet unique, determined, bold and without “frillyiness”. And though we live in a most beautiful country, we didn’t want to end up with a postcard for tourists. So we worked hard to get the colors, the fonts, the textures, the visuals and the text to all express that and I think we succeeded.

Often people perceive design as making something look pretty; to me it means making something work. “Are we answering the questions that brought people to our site? Do we connect those that have a call to this nation or a certain ministry with the right people? Are we clear about who we are as a mission in this nation and who we are not?

And it has to work on a practical level and be future-forward – adapting to how we take in information and serve the many digital devices with different screen sizes and ways of interacting. The best navigation is the one people don’t have to think about – if they intuitively, with the least amount of clicks, find their answer.

One of the best compliments I had, was: “ It doesn’t feel static, it feels alive.” We hope that it will “live” well out there and promote the heck out of all of that YWAM Scotland has to offer.

Tell us a little about yourself – what do you do? What does being in missions look like for you?
One of the milestones during my DTS (Seamill ‘95) was a huge portion of grace God heaped on me. He called me out as a “man of excellence”. At the time this did not seem such a big deal or unsual – growing up in Germany the expectation to aim for perfection is very high. Only later did I understand that excellence is the near opposite of perfection – one can never be reached and leads to constant failure. The other allows you to do the best you can with the tools and understanding you have right now – and then do it better next time.

That is what I want to do – learn more, get better and serve God. If that is through discipleship, hospitality, leadership, coordinating events or communication – my almost 20 years in mission so far has stretched me, thrown me in uncomfortable situations and been ever so rewarding.

What has the process of getting this website up and running been like?
This project has been going on for just about a year – including finally conquering WordPress; what started out as a software hate relationship is turning into a friendship.

I think our biggest job was to get a grip on what YWAM Scotland is at the moment. We have a new National Leadership Team and they spent a great many hours and cups of coffee to get to know all the different teams and bases. That helped tremendously – one of my biggest fears was that we would forget someone and what kind of message it would send to that person.

And boy is there a lot going on. Our next task was to organise all that into a format that made sense, especially to those not within the YWAM family. Once we had identified some groupings it became a bit easier – it just makes sense that those with an affinity for arts quite like meeting like-minded people, the same for those with a prayer ministry or a heart for families.

It also shows that we are not all things to all people and that is OK. But we are also not limited by it and leave room for pioneers and individuals and teams that carry a particular calling. Scotland has a built in heart for hospitality and we want to welcome them in and look after them and help them do well.

So the site will continue to grow and evolve and I am quite chuffed by what we have accomplished already.

Friends of God – not slaves or servants

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We got the chance to sit down with Rachel Adamski, the leader of the February DTS starting at Seamill in three weeks.

Tell us some about the DTS.

We have trainees from five different nationalities, and God has been speaking to our staff team about how we’re called to be friends of God – not slaves or servants! I look forward to seeing our group grow as we learn to live out of that truth.

Our midterm outreach will go to two different location and work alongside other ministries in the UK. For our long-term outreach we will go abroad for eight weeks. We’re still determining the locations but it will be to somewhere where the language isn’t too big a barrier as the heart of the school really is to share God with people.

What do you most look forward to with the DTS?

I look forward to getting out into the community and starting a new ministry in the local area together with the DTS. We will pray about it as a team, do some research about the felt needs in the area and go from there. Most of the staff on our DTS are part of our Overflow Evangelism team here at Seamill, and we regularly see people encounter God on the streets, on trains, in pubs, and so on, all the time. So we’re excited to see how God will work through us and the trainees during the DTS.

Are there still spaces?

If you don’t require a visa for Scotland, then YES! There is still space and we would love to hear from you!

See https://www.ywamseamill.org/17-2/feb-dts/ for more details.

There was such a freedom to be yourself

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Emelie has recently finished the School of the Word and Spirit at YWAM Seamill:

‘In the SWS we would read the Bible and that might lead into worship or a time of some kind of response etc. It was always different and led by the Holy Spirit. There was such a freedom to be yourself. I would definitely recommend doing the SWS to others, especially to people that want to grow in their understanding of the Holy Spirit and that want the Bible to come alive.’

Check out the YWAM Seamill website for more details: https://www.ywamseamill.org/sws/