YWAM Herrnhut DTS

Discipleship Training School

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“I always loved going fishing, but I thought I would only catch little fish until I did the DTS at YWAM Herrnhut. It changed my life forever.

On my outreach we started an orphanage ministry that rescues little kids from being drowned in the river or abandoned in the wilderness by their relatives, who thought that these children were cursed because their teeth grew in from the top first.�

Nicca (18) DTS-Student

You can hear it in their music, identify it in their fashion, and see it in their eyes: today's young generation lives in a demanding and unsympathetic world. Their misuse and abuse of sex and drugs has led to more premature deaths than ever before. The majority are being raised in splintered families, some with only one parent, others with double sets of parents, and many with a stepmother or stepfather. Before reaching adulthood, every fourth young person will be abused by someone they know. Absolutes are old-fashioned, truth is relative, and all your secrets are online. Triumph and joy have been trampled under the weight of life‘s frustrations and disappointments. And, in the temperamental onslaught of popular opinion, it seems contentment and satisfaction are unreachable.

Whether or not we want to acknowledge it, we are already neck-deep in the turbulence of this young generation. We must find a way to bring hope and purpose into the chaos.

With incredible resources at their fingertips, young people are taking globalization beyond politics and economics. Leaders of prestigious universities around the world have labeled this group "The Great Generation."

They are connected through Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, World of Warcraft and other virtual communities.

Education and knowledge are accessible to anyone with an internet connection through the pages of Wikipedia and online universities. Young people are linked whether they live in New York, Mumbai, Dubai, Nairobi, or Shang Hai. They have similar hopes, dreams, and heroes. They listen to the same music, watch the same movies, and recognize some of the same brand names like Coca-Cola and Disney.

Both businessmen on Wall Street and rural farmers in China have cell phones. Airlines promise to take you to more destinations faster than ever before.

We know that today’s youth are capable of changing the world! With this Discipleship Training School, we will help you discover God’s vision and dream for your life!

Did you know that more than half of the world‘s population lives in cities? These cities reflect a lonely world, stripped of community and relationship. As desperate people compete for their piece of the pie, the cost of living and crime rates rise. Whether rich or poor, the inhabitants struggle daily with money, temptation, and feelings of isolation. In the face of crushing debt and skyrocketing unemployment, people turn to homelessness, prostitution, and drug addiction. They live in an anonymous world: if they disappeared overnight, no one would notice or really care.

Did you know that there are more than three billion people who have never heard the name of Jesus?

These people live in the "10/40 Window," a region of the world stretching from Morocco in Northwest Africa, through the Middle East, and across Asia. In this zone live some of the poorest of the poor. Mired in horrible living conditions, famine, and war, these people are dominated by the tenets of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. More than 50 percent of the population in the 10/40 Window is under 18. They usually don‘t have access to education, and often begin working as early as age eight to supplement their family‘s income.

If this world is important to you and you would like to change it, then this school is for you! Your age or level of spirituality don‘t matter. Are you prepared to let God use you? If you have questions about the future, or already have some answers and are looking for confirmation for the next steps, then join us for the Disipleship Training School in Herrnhut!

Come as you are: bring passion, a desire to reach the lost, and we will equip you to step boldly into the world.

will see with His eyes and dream His dreams.

Young people from all over the world, totally committed to reaching the unreached with the love of Jesus, come together for this Discipleship Training School (DTS). The DTS is for anyone who longs to make a difference in the world. It will change you forever.

A DTS is more than just another school. It is an opportunity to dedicate six-to-seven months of your life to focus entirely on Jesus.

Our emphasis is the tangible relationship God wants to have with you, not random facts about religion. You will meet God: you

The DTS is designed to deepen your passion for God. You will experience Him in new ways and learn essential concepts about God's character. In the three-tofour month lecture phase, you will be discipled by teachers from all over the world. We also provide further training in creative/artfocused areas such as photography, music, and video production.

The second part of the DTS is the outreach phase. This is your chance to put everything you‘ve learned into practice. God will use you to preach His gospel and serve among the poor and destitute. Outreach is a dynamic time in which you will experience God’s healing, direction, and the ways he moves in people‘s hearts.

Outreach locations are in areas of the world’s greatest need: the 10/40 Window.

My outreach changed me forever. Before we left Germany, we were all excited about serving in China, but we had only raised half of the total estimated budget. The entire team prayed for the funds, feeling confident that God would provide everything needed to get the eleven of us to China. With full knowledge of our financial situation, base leadership gave us their blessing and sent us out, promising to pray for us. The day of our departure, we went to the airport with only half of the money. We had faith God would bless our finances if we began doing his work. We flew to China, excited for God’s adventure and full of joy.

After six weeks, we were short on money again. We didn’t know how we were going to finish outreach. We called the base and asked them to join us in prayer.

During our time of intercession, a team member had the impression that we were going to literally eat money.

The next morning we went to a small bakery that had less than ten loaves of bread sitting uncovered on a glass shelf. Using our last bit of money, we bought a loaf for breakfast.

Back at our house, we were drinking coffee while our

teammate Alex cut the loaf in the kitchen. Suddenly, Alex started screaming hysterically, “There’s money in the bread!”

We ran into the kitchen to see. On the counter, was the cut-open loaf of bread. There were ten rolls of cash baked into the bread-10,000 yuan (about USD $1500) altogether.

After a moment of stunned silence, we started screaming and jumping around.

God had miraculously provided for us! There is no other possible explanation! After the vivid impression we received of ‘eating money’ God had given us the money in a way none of us could ever have imagined.

Throughout the outreach we saw God’s protection, supernatural healing, and open doors for us to share the gospel. We didn't have to worry about money for the rest of outreach, and even had some leftover when we got back to the base.

If God is calling you to do a DTS and you don’t have enough money, dare to take that step of faith and go anyway. God loves providing for His children, and your faith will grow exponentially as you see how He works in your life.

Emily (29)

Melody (18) “I’ve grown so much the past seven months. I’ve been broken down and built back up again. Now I am right where God wants me, and that just happens to be exactly where I’ve always dreamed of being. I know that I have the power to make a difference, and with that comes the responsibility to do something about it. This is the beginning of the rest of my life with God.” Annababe (23) “I’ve never experienced God’s love in such an intense, powerful, and intimate way before. He has the most beautiful heart, and seeing just part of it is something that changed my life and is something I will always cherish.”

David (27) “DTS compels you to examine, justify, and stand up for everything you believe in. During this time, there are no excuses for complacent Christianity. First you make yourself right with God, then you go into the world and demonstrate your commitment to serving God’s Kingdom.”

Becca (24) “Doing a DTS has definitely been a life-changing experience, even if not exactly the change I was expecting.

When I first decided to go, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but it has turned out to be a enormous turning point in my life.

I grew so much both spiritually and personally. The DTS is something I will never forget.”

Nicole (24) “Shortly before outreach, I sprained my ankle during the Team Building weekend. After a week of it not getting better, it was jeopardizing my plan to go to India. The whole DTS prayed for me until I was healed. The next day I was running in Berlin, a week later I was hiking in Switzerland, and a month later I was dancing in India.”

Mona (24) January ‘09: “If we can really make a difference in this country, I can’t go back to normal life.”

March ‘09: “I can’t go back to normal life!”

Chelsea (22) “Doing a DTS was the best decision of my life: it’s more fun than student life in college, more exciting than any vacation, more enriching than any leadership conference, and more eternity-focused than the Peace Corps.”

Ulla (27) “Before I went on outreach, it was always hard for me to believe that I could change the world. But in Ethiopia, I helped save little kids who were supposed to be killed!

Now I know that God can use me to bring change and to make a difference in the world.”

Christopher (24) “I never dreamed that God would have me take His word to Pakistan.

As outreach was coming to its last days, I was invited to preach at an evangelistic crusade. It was a huge challange for me. As I stood in Okaras Cricket Stadium that night, preaching God’s Word to approx.

20,000 people, I felt small, humbled, and inadequate. God did indeed use me far bejond anything I had expected.”

It began in 1960 with an ordinary young man and an extraordinary vision. Loren Cunningham described it as a waking dream. He saw a map of the world with waves crashing onto the continents, advancing inland until all the nations were covered.

Loren says, “As I watched, the waves became young people of all races... talking to people on street corners and outside bars. Going from house to house. Helping the lonely and the hungry. Caring for people everywhere they went . . .”

That God given vision has become a reality. Loren started Youth With A Mission in 1960. Since then thousands beenininvolved

My outreach team have worked the West worldwide in fulfilling Christ’s Bengal state of India, focusing on orphans and commandment to “Go into all the unreached people groups. This ministry emworld and preach the Gospel to braced the boys of the Howrah Train Station. every creature” (Mark16:15).

Over 3.5 million people go through this staYWAM tion every day, and it isisaPeople common dumping ground for unwanted children.

This leaves over YWAMers are all ages – young people, families and retired persons. a hundred boys ranging from age 7-17 living We comeThey fromspend many ethnic and in quasi-tribal societies. their time educational backgrounds, from sniffing glue, stealing from train passengers, and denominations andmoney. countries. collecting plastic many from the trash to make We love Jesus and thank God for I was blessed to spend a week with these guys. allowing us to play a part in helping I fed them both spiritually and physically, gave to fulfill the Great Commission. them the means YWAM to bathe,hasloved them with over on 20,000 fullsongs and games,time and staff was totally annihilated and annually trains by them in Cricket. approximately 32,000 short-term

While I workers was there, I met ainnine-yearto minister over 850 locations countries. old named Bipo.operating His mother had,inin170 desperation, sent him to a school that would feed and

educate him. However, the school staff was abusive. Knowing he couldn’t go home, Bipo ran away to the train station. One day he asked me to pray for him, which I felt privileged to do. After I prayed, he looked at me and simply said, “I want to go home.” Bipo had been trying for months to collect 250 rupees to help offset the cost that would burden his family if he returned home. 250 rupees is about five U.S. dollars. I immediately replied, “If what you say is true, I’ll take you.”

I had the joy of spending the next three hours traveling across Calcutta with Bipo by my side. I wept most of the way there, because after telling me that he never slept soundly in the train station, Bipo fell asleep in my lap. Upon waking, he said, “That’s the first peaceful sleep I’ve had in a long time.” What a great picture of Christ’s love for all of us: protecting us, giv-

ing us rest and comfort, and taking us home.

Jesus was tangible and alive in that moment.

We finally found Bipo’s family. After talking to his mother, I found out that Bipo’s father is a heroine addict and drunkard, so the responsibility to provide for the family falls entirely on her. She said that all she needed to support Bipo and his sister was a scale to sell vegetables in the market. Hers had been stolen. I bought her the nicest scale I could find.

Five dollars gave Bipo his life and family back. Five dollars and someone who was willing to say, “I care,” showed Christ to the forgotten.

Brady (21), DTS-Student

Believing that we were the ones God had been waiting for, the Ethiopia outreach team took decisive action to prevent the murders of children believed to be cursed, established a cafe for four women who desperately wanted to escape lives of prostitution, and began a discipleship process for a group of young men who live in a place called Garbage City.

Knowing that six children were due to be killed within the first few weeks of outreach, we raced down to the Karo tribe to save them. The Karo believe in an ancient superstition called Mingi (untouchable). In certain birth circumstances, Mingi children are believed to be cursed, and therefore must be removed in order to protect the tribe. The kids are either abandoned in the wilderness or thrown into the river.

It truly was a rescue mission. We committed ourselves

to establishing an orphanage called Drawn From Water. As we continue to work for the end of this despicable practice, the tribal elders have agreed to let the parents decide whether to surrender the children. As of March 2009, nine children were saved and living in the orphanage.

On our way to the Karo, we stopped in a town called Jinka.

We befriended four girls who had suffered family hardships and resorted to prostitution as their method of survival. It was obvious they wanted to escape that lifestyle, so we asked God how we could help them. The girls shared a dream they had of running a small cafe. That’s how the Rahab Project was born: we decided to disciple the girls and give them all the tools they needed to start their business. We were able to witness their decision to leave prostitution and take advantage of

the opportunity God gave them to start anew.

In Addis Ababa, we wanted to find the poorest of the poor. We found them in Garbage City, Addis Ababa’s only landfill. God gave us eyes to see past the filth, flies, and trash, and recognize our brothers and sisters in Christ. We gave them gifts, ate with them (our food and theirs), shared the Gospel, and prayed we could somehow change their circumstances. God answered our prayers by connecting us with other YWAM bases that will help us start a DTS for them. In time, other YWAM teams will get them out of Garbage City, mentor them in spiritual growth, and help them find a means to support themselves financially.

By submitting to God´s instruction that we answer our own prayers, we did not leave the responsibility to fight for justice in someone else’s hands.

In recognizing that He has empowered us to do His work, we stepped into these people´s stories and made a way for God´s redemptive power to be seen in Ethiopia.

David (27), DTS-Student

What are we? It is not easy to define YWAM. We plant churches, but we do not subscribe to a certain denomination. We prepare and commission missionaries, but we are not a theological seminary or Bible school. We send missionaries, but we are not a sending agency. We have mercy ministries, but we are not merely a humanitarian aid agency.

It seems like a contradiction! But we cannot put YWAM in a box because each ministry that we develop across the globe is directly tied into the unique gifts and calling that God has placed in our YWAMers!

When the disciples asked, “Master, where do you lay your head?” Jesus answered, “Come and see.” They followed and saw wonders.

The word “organization” really does not reflect who we are. We are more a dynamic community, a growing movement of people of all ages from all over the world. YWAM is made up of thousands of missionaries who don’t receive a salary and who make daily decisions based on God’s direction. People describe us as a walking miracle, because without God no logical argument can explain our mission.

The Story begins in 1960 with an ordinary young man and an extraordinary vision. Loren Cunningham described it as a waking dream.

He saw a map of the world with waves crashing onto the continents, advancing inland until all the nations were covered.

Loren says, “As I watched, the waves became young people of all races... talking to people on street corners and outside bars. Going from house to house. Helping the lonely and the hungry. Caring for people everywhere they went. . .”

That God-given vision became a reality.

Loren started Youth with a Mission in 1960.

Since then, thousands of people have been trained to fulfill Christ’s commandment to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

YWAMers are diverse – young people, families and retired persons. We come from many ethnic and educational backgrounds, denominations, and countries around the world. We love Jesus and thank God for allowing us to play a part in helping to fulfill the Great Commission. YWAM has over 17,000 fulltime staff and annually trains approximately 32,000 short-term workers to minister in over 850 operating locations in 170 countries.

The staff of Youth with a Mission strive to know God and to make Him known.

Many of us in YWAM are called to specific people groups and others to entire nations.

We are teachers, artists, pioneers, churchplanters and church leadership. We oversee medical clinics, work in orphanages, and attend to the sick.

Three-Fold Strategy There are three main ways strive to take the Gospel to all the world: • Evangelism - spreading God’s message.

• Training - preparing workers to reach others.

• Mercy Ministries - showing God’s love through practical assistance.

These ministries are implemented in many different ways by the basic unit of YWAM: teams, which can be small or large, mobile or localized, made up of short-term volunteers or long-term staff. Each of these teams is committed to a specific goal of evangelism, training, or mercy ministry, working in cooperation with local churches and sister organizations.