winter 2010-11 Number 112
our mission : make Jesus known!
We’re known for it Summer Outreach Stories A report from one of our new GET OUT youth teams this year
A time of change…
New things brewing and ministry ideas
40 YEARS OF YWAM IN ENGLAND ...Lynn Green shares on his reflections from the past.
Going for it! A WARM WELCOME TO YOU in this latest edition of Advance! CARL TINNION YWAM England National Leader
Known For It Campaign
You will have noticed that we are a bit late in producing this and so I hope you can accept my heartfelt apology. Our editorial team, Jeremy Weightman and Jono Edwards, who have diligently served in this on going publication have moved on to new challenges in their lives, both in YWAM and beyond. I want to take this moment to thank both of these men for their patience and faithfulness in producing the Advance over many years. We love you guys. So we have had a lot of change which as I mentioned in my last letter has forced us to re- evaluate all our communications. This latest Advance reflects the beginning of this change, but the next issues will be in a new format filled with vision, challenges, prayer guides and more. As we come to the end of this celebratory time of 50 years of YWAM, this edition will reflect on where we have come in that time. One of the metaphors we have been toying with in our PR and communications is to use a VW camper van as a symbol of our message to GO into the nations for Jesus as we tell the YWAM story at Christian camps, events and outreaches in
PART OF OUR NEW PR DRIVE has been to explore our core message as YWAM and make sure that all of the communications reflect our DNA and focus as a mission. Recently, a guy called Joseph Avakian, based in YWAM Hawaii, did some work on this and we have used one of his slogans on the front page of this latest Advance. "It's about Jesus. And we're known for it!" is a great slogan and we feel it best describes our passion for world missions. The countless numbers of YWAM missionaries that have gone into every corner of the globe carrying the good news is our story over the last 50 years. Our mission is Jesus...hearing His voice and obeying no matter what the cost. And we are known for it! So keep a look out in magazines and national advertising over this next year. We don’t want to become a glitzy marketing machine and to be honest we cannot afford to anyway! But we do want to get our message out there into the body of Christ so that more young people will hear about us, find out about the DTS and other missions opportunities and begin to work out their calling and destiny.
order to mobilise a new movement of British missionaries. A camper van might sound a little strange for a missionary symbol, but it is part of YWAM England’s early story involving Lynn Green as a young man getting a vision to minister to hippies in Afghanistan. There was an open door at that time called the ‘Hippy trail,’ and it was in dire need of people willing to live amongst these hippies to live out the gospel. Lynn was miraculously given a camper van and our founder, Loren Cunningham, simply said, ‘You should go!’ So a few people went with him and they filled it with petrol and drove all the way from Switzerland to Afghanistan! This kind of extreme trust and faith in God best defines who we are as a movement today. In each new generation of YWAMers that enter our ranks, the hope is to instil this desire to seek God for direction, vision and strategy for the future.......and then just GO FOR IT! More and more young people are joining YWAM and we are simply teaching them to risk hearing God’s voice, and ultimately: To Know God and make Him Known. Our prayer is that in subsequent Advance publications over the next few years we will be able to report on this new season of growth and pioneering. It is a journey of hope and perseverance for the sake of all that God is doing in Europe and beyond. We invite you to stand with us in faith as we look to the future and to the coming Kingdom of God.
FOR INFORMATION OR ADDRESS CHANGES, CONTACT: YWAM, Highfield Oval, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 4BX, England. Tel: 01582 463216 Email: enquiries@ywamengland.org Website: www.ywamengland.org THE ADVANCE TEAM Carl Tinnion, Lisa Cuellar and Paul Bulgin. Photography Nic Barella and Ulani Couper. Advance is published by YWAM England. © Copyright exists on all material in Advance and nothing within it may be reproduced wholly or in part without written permission. Youth With A Mission England & Wales is a registered charity number 264078.
YWAM England 50th Anniversary Report This summer, YWAM Harpenden welcomed over 800 visitors to its site for a 50th anniversary celebration in traditional style with a classic afternoon tea. Sandwiches and cake were beautifully laid out alongside hundreds of scones topped with cream and jam, as YWAM alumni, current staff and friends from all over Western Europe gathered to rejoice and reminisce over cups of tea. Western Europe is a region full of diversity and this was expressed in the opening ceremony. Artists from YWAM’s Arts network in London painted a canvas onstage, creating a picture of welcome to the audience who represented nations from all over the region. Ceilidh dancers added an ancient Celtic flavour to the gathering but this took on a modern twist as an energetic performance combined video drama, carnival dancers, and drumming which inspired the audience to get to their feet and join in. The celebration morphed into worship, where God was honoured in several languages and a special feature was a song inspired by the Jubilee Covenant written by worship leader, Lisa Cuellar.
After receiving some brilliant teaching from Loren and Darlene on the morning of the second day, the afternoon was dedicated to presentations about the efforts of YWAM based in the nations of Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Wales, Italy and Scotland. The news from YWAM ministries in Western Europe demonstrated the challenges and the joys of serving Jesus in a post-Christian, multicultural society. YWAMers told of the free gift of an iconic new training centre in Rostrevor, Ireland; of church planting among some of Amsterdam’s many unreached immigrant people groups; and of pioneering teams who are rebuilding YWAM in Italy through projects like the Alpha course among Catholics in Milano. Wait, there’s more… In Paisley, Scotland, YWAM is on the streets offering hope and opportunity to the bored young people whom they see as the next generation of missionaries. In Hamburg they partner with the Salvation Army to bring God’s love and freedom straight into the brothels of one of Europe’s largest red light districts. Continues Page 5…
When we arrived, we didn’t know anyone.
YWAM England 40 yrs on. I don’t reminisce much, but couldn’t avoid it recently – and it was a lot of fun… After a while, the memories just naturally overflowed into thanksgiving and praise to God. As most of our friends know, we celebrated YWAM’s 50th anniversary at Highfield Oval in September. Marti, my wife, and I saw people we hadn’t seen for decades. One of our former YWAM staff came with a DVD of a Middle East Field trip from 1976—I was surprised at how much we all looked like hippies! That 50th celebration coincided neatly with 40 years of YWAM in the UK. It was just over 40 years ago I came to my first short outreach in
London and then just a few months less than 40 years ago, Marti and I arrived, newly married, with vision to set up a School of Evangelism. It never crossed our minds we would still be in England 10 years later, let alone 40! When we arrived, we didn’t know anyone. A few short-term teams had made contact with churches here and there. Reona Peterson (now Joly) developed a mailing list of those people, and that is all we had to start with. Although we
didn’t have any concrete evidence that our vision was from God, we did have an unquestioning confidence (at least most of the time), that we were in the will of God and that He would enable us to start multiplying disciples of Jesus who were called to reach others with the Good News. YWAM had no income at the time, and we had a very small amount of support from Marti’s home church and my parents. Within a
year or so, my parents sold their business and joined YWAM. So that was the end of most of our support! It is hard to recall how God provided for us since for the most part there were no great financial miracles in those first couple of years. God met our needs little by little. We knew it was a big step to start a full-on School of Evangelism like we had attended in Switzerland, so we tried to take an intermediate step and advertised that we would be starting an “Evangelism Training Team.” At first we rented just four bedrooms of a house in South-East London, but soon quite a number of people joined our team and we were able to rent the entire house with its 10 rooms. Our team spent most of its time in outreach in the West End of London where the Salvation Army allowed us to use one of their buildings as a coffee bar. All Souls Church, Langham Place also provided shortterm accommodation
for our larger numbers over the summer. At the time we had no idea that team housing at the base of the Post Office Tower was such a miracle. There are too many miracles to recount here, but as the next two years passed, God led us to base our team with churches in Crawley, Sussex. Then God opened the door for us to rent a wonderful manor house at the edge of Crawley; it had been a Dr. Barnardo’s Children home. That is where we started the first School of Evangelism. We quickly outgrew that place and needed more space. Our first really big financial miracles occurred when we then purchased Holmsted Manor and started evangelism and discipleship schools. From that point, we had seen the fulfillment of our original vision for our time in the UK. But something else happened because as you may know, we are still here in England and our time was not finished—but that’s another story.
YWAM England 50th Anniversary Report continued… And the DTS is being re-pioneered in the tiny nation of Wales, with the vision of reviving that nation’s missionary heritage, while in London they are preparing to welcome the world to the 2012 Olympics with outreaches planned before, during and after the Games intending to change people’s lives forever! Take a deep breath! That’s just a glimpse of what God is doing! YWAM in Europe is building on a heritage that includes some of the most significant moments in missionary history, with hope and faith for a fresh revelation of God’s Spirit to see Europe do its part to complete the Great Commission! On one of the evenings, Loren presented a Bachelor of Science diploma to University of the Nations graduate, Sosthene Maletoungou, the first UofN graduate from the Central African Republic, before sharing his dreams for the future of YWAM. On the final morning the 50th celebrations in Harpenden wrapped up with the same symbolic acts which have united YWAMers together across the world this year. Participants shared communion and signed the Jubilee covenant reaffirming their commitment to obey the call of Christ to reach the whole world with His message.
devotional:WE NEED ONE ANOTHER! Val Clark is a New Zealander who has been with YWAM UK for over 25 years. She and her husband, John, came to England in the early 80s and then went on to pioneer the work of YWAM in Ireland with their young family. Val now lives in Harpenden, and we think she is a legend to honour and esteem highly.
As I was asked to write a devotional for this issue of Advance, I found myself with a complete lack of inspiration and direction. Being rather a ‘last minute’ person, I thought clarity would surely come before the deadline. I pressed into the Lord more and began to realise that I was carrying ‘clutter’ in my mind. I was concerned for a situation where I wanted to be effective as an intercessor. But in my heart I knew I was struggling with a judgmental attitude and seemed unable to get to a place of victory. Does that sound familiar? What would bring me into freedom? Why was I not able to leave my concerns with the Lord?
Very clearly one morning the Scripture popped into my mind, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed.” (James 5:16). Immediately I went to a friend and did just that. Finally, relief came and I have been able to pray without being under the weight of concern that had been a very heavy load. We Need One Another! Praise God for one of the many privileges of being part of His family. That verse in James continues: "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."
NEW THINGS IN Part of our mandate as YWAM is to equip and release new ministries and young leaders. Here is an update about a brand new ministry that we are excited about. It has come about because a few YWAMers began to dream about using their music in missions and to glorify God. We are supporting these guys as they work out this vision and we also hope that more initiatives like this this will emerge in the years ahead… Evergreen is more than just a rock band. Evergreen is an experiment in seeing what happens when people play creative and diverse music inspired by faith in order to go beyond our human limits to bring love and hope to a dying world. The idea of ‘evergreen’ had been in our minds and hearts for a while but finally came together in October 2009 when
American Colin Gruetznacher and me (Andy Sloan from the UK), started the band. We then joined up with Lalo Lima from Mexico and and Nathan Sperry from the USA in the autumn of 2010. We have played shows in cities like Blackpool, Cardiff, and St. Albans. Now after self-releasing a demo called “Some Things Stay the Same,” we are headed back to the studio. This November we are headed up to Belfast to record a new five song EP with Tre Sheppard. The new album will be out in February 2011.
teaching:BIBLICAL RESURRECTION Ina Steyn is from Namibia and has been in YWAM for over 15 years. She spent many years training up young leaders in Scotland and is now based in Harpenden engaged in intercessory ministry and teaching around the world.
"Voskrisenya" is the Russian word for Sunday. Its direct translation is actually "Day of Resurrection." Since I was a missionary in Russia, this has always been a tongue-in-cheek joke to me—the fact that the communists unknowingly declared the Resurrection of Jesus during 40 years of atheism! For centuries people have thought of death as the final and absolute end of life. But in Christ a new door has been opened into eternity. Death no longer has the power to throw us into misery. Resurrection is indeed the triumph of Jesus over death. How did death become part of our lives? What does death look like? When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandments, the human heart was afflicted with Death and Corruption. The focus—the axis of the heart (and the Bible uses the word Heart interchangeably for Spirit)—has changed from being directed upwards towards God and heavenly matters to being directed downwards and horizontally toward earthly matters and others.
Resurrection corrects these perspectives that have gone askew. Resurrection confronts the hold of death. Resurrection raises us upwards into heavenly places again. This is not primarily a positional change, but rather a work of salvation within the human heart, a return upwards to God and heaven. Resurrection becomes a well from within from which life can flow into circumstances and life. Several scriptural stories of resurrection have gripped me in the last few years in my own longing to see resurrection power in circumstances crippled with sin, addiction, and depression—as well as in lives lacking victory and joy. From Jairus I learn to really plead with Jesus for the life of the dying: Lord, please, my little daughter is dying! His prayer was a desperate cry, but with focused expectation of life. His intensity of faith brought about a complete change for his family. In John 21, Jesus called Peter and the disciples away from the fishing waters, because life after Resurrection cannot continue as usual. A completely unexpected new life was unfolding. I pray that I may recognise the Resurrected Lord in my changing circumstances (unlike Peter and John), and not miss out on the unthinkable new. During the 40 days Jesus walked on earth before His ascension, He taught on the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). I believe real Kingdom realities can only be birthed once
Resurrection is a practical reality in our inner beings and outward ministries. I pray for Resurrection power on YWAM England bases and outreaches as we engage and
reach out to those that don't know Jesus. May we confront the belief systems of the youth as we see eternal change in the lives of those we disciple—springing forth with Resurrection Power! Jesus is the Life and the Resurrection (John 11:25)!
YWAM YORK:building project update…
After many months of getting surveys done and applications in, we are at long last in a position to purchase St Barnabas Church hall, the building which over the course of the next 12 months will be transformed in to a modern and fully functional community centrem providing an office, prayer room, lecture hall and also a kitchen and café area for YWAM York. It will not only be used as a facility for our YWAM Community, but also it will be open to local groups and organisations such as the Brownies, ballet and karate to use. We also plan to develop a range of programmes and courses to serve the local church and youth in the area. Over the next six months we need to raise the final £50,000 in order to complete the building and upgrade work and we are also looking for people to partner with the ministry of YWAM in York on an ongoing basis. For more information please contact Jennifer on: 07852233065 - jennifer@ywamyork.com
Summer 2010 Report:
This summer saw our new partnership with Soul Survivor come to life in the form of the GET OUT missions! This new partnership is about promoting and leading missions trips for teenagers in the summer, as well as local outreach during the Soul Survivor camps. After a 3 day orientation camp at Harpenden we sent out 6 teams totaling 120 teenagers which is really exciting. These teams went to Lithuania, Cornwall, Romania, China, Cambridge and Brighton. Here is a report from the leaders of the Brighton team. One way our team was able to bless and encourage the churches in Brighton was to prayer walk the city and write down impressions of what people were getting in prayer for different churches there. The team also spent an entire day painting a café run by volunteers for the community. While one group renovated, yet another group worked with a programme called Anti-Freeze that has a homeless ministry
there. This programme had two parts during our outreach: one part was a centre where homeless people can get food, use the internet and chat; the other part required team members to go on the streets and find homeless people to bless with sandwiches, chocolates, and hot drinks. While passing out the drinks and working in the centre the team could share about Jesus. Another aspect of the outreach included different kinds of evangelism. One approach was pub ministry where the band Evergreen performed and YWAMers talked with people about Jesus while the band played. There was also street evangelism including worship on the streets and taking surveys about what people thought about faith. Overall this time was a blessing for all of us working in Brighton. It is an amazing city with loads of potential and hospitable churches, and we are looking forward to seeing what God does there in the future.
Up for a new challenge? There’s a big wide world out there and a ton of opportunities for mission, outreach and evangelism! Don’t stay in...
Get Out! 2 Weeks Summer Missions Trips 2011 22 July – 6 August
There are opportunities to serve across the UK and around the world. Check out all the info at: www.soulsurvivor.com/getout www.ywamengland.org/involvedsummer.shtml
Soul Survivor is registered in England & Wales. Registered Company No. 03991111. Registered Charity No. 1080720. Youth With a Mission Limited is registered in England & Wales. Registered Company No. 1049516 Registered Charity No. 264078