Youth With A Mission | Perth, Australia
Newsletter 2020.
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WESTCOAST NEWS TRANSFORMATION GAINS MOMENTUM IN JAKARTA
CARING IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC
MY TIME IN MISSIONS
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SEEING FAMILIES HEALED AND RESTORED page 7
Caring in the Midst of a Pandemic THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS BROUGHT FAR-REACHING AND UNFORESEEN IMPACT AROUND THE WORLD. FOR US, LIKE SO MANY OTHERS, THIS HAS BEEN A DIFFERENT SEASON THAN WE HAVE EXPERIENCED BEFORE.
Young people in Jakarta respond to God's call at a gathering following Megacities
Transformation Gains Momentum in Jakarta SINCE 2002, YWAM PERTH HAS SPEARHEADED MEGACITIES INITIATIVES IN CITIES AROUND THE WORLD. MEGACITIES PARTNERED WITH THE BODY OF CHRIST IN JAKARTA, INDONESIA FOR A YEAR IN 2008. GOD CONTINUES TO MOVE AND TRANSFORM THIS INFLUENTIAL CITY. Megacities calls together believers from the nations to join a year of focused partnership with the city, engaging through evangelism, mercy ministry and training, touching on all spheres of society. Teams work closely with local churches, ministries and organisations, strengthening existing works and helping to launch new ones where
needed. The aim is to serve as a grassroots catalyst for transformation. Over 800 missionaries converged on Jakarta over the course of 2008, serving in every region of the city. Visiting teams shared the gospel, met needs and taught on topics including evangelism, mother and child health, primary health care and discipleship. Along with many other forms of ministry, a major focus was training churches how to adopt local slum communities. Slum adoption includes building relationships, community development, meeting needs and sharing the gospel. Many churches took on this challenge and hundreds of people, particularly young people, began reaching their city in new ways. Shirley Brownhill, leader of Megacities, reflected that “Megacities came into a praying Church who had been trusting God for city and nation transformation for many years. Megacities was an answer to prayer and helped
them put their prayer into action. It was a privilege.” A major take-away was “Seeing the Church reach and care for the communities outside the Church. God began to speak to them about ways to care for the poor and needy. The majority of these new initiatives were started by young people.” What touched Shirley’s heart the most was “How God’s love changes the hardest heart. God is powerful and his love is irresistible.” Shirley emphasised the power of prayer. “As we prayed, God brought relationships and favour in many spheres of society, opening doors which had previously been closed. Every time we prayed, God moved and many people were touched by God. What previously seemed impossible in a city like Jakarta was turned upside. God did miracles.” Seeing God at work Dr. Iman Santoso, a key Christian leader in the city and founder of Transformation Connection Indonesia, played a major role in facilitating this (continued on page 2)
Although the pandemic has presented YWAM Perth with many challenges, we firmly maintain our commitment to reaching those in need. Knowing God and making Him known continues to be our priority. We have found many ways to care for and love our neighbours within the parameters of social distancing and maintaining community safety. When it became clear that we would not be able to include an outreach component with our January quarter training programs, we offered alternatives to those students. Some chose to remain on staff at YWAM Perth, either for the three months of their “outreach,” or longer-term; others returned home. Although we have had to suspend on-location training for our April and July quarter schools, we have begun offering training online. As a missions community, we have continued to engage in focused prayer, worship, teaching and fellowship, though done primarily through online formats, in light of social distancing requirements. Snapshots of how some of our ministries have continued to reach out during this time: (continued on page 3) 1
WESTCOAST NEWS
JAKARTA, (continued from page 1) partnership. In early 2020, Megacities staff from YWAM Perth met with Dr. Santoso to hear his reflections on what God did through the year of Megacities. In his view, “The operation of Megacities is something new. Because one year is not just a short visit, and the youth from different nations encouraged and inspired the young people [of Jakarta]. The result is many churches were stimulated and the result is also many conversions and healings. It is amazing to see all of this; and youth are being mobilised.”
Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash
He noted that “Almost 1,000 unbelievers became believers, and, if I’m not mistaken, also more than 400 healings [took place]. So it is truly the Holy Spirit that is at work. It is inspiring to see young people from the West especially, and other nations, have a heart for the poorest of the poor in Jakarta. Be-
01 Jakarta is a growing city of
over 10 million people 02 Young people from Jakarta and overseas serving together
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fore the program, we actually researched the poorest of the poor in Jakarta areas. And then, these teams came and ministered there, with good works and social needs. And so the people in Jakarta were impressed. And the poor, maybe for them it was their first experience seeing so many young people come from all over the world to visit them.”
Statistics from 12 Months of Megacities in Jakarta
931 salvations 485 instant healings 12,725 heard the gospel 299 Bibles given 18,245 received prayer for need 31,405 received teaching 11,405 received health care & mercy ministries 2,934 hours of prayer and worship 3,476 materials distribute 848 people in 83 teams ministering in the city
The centrality of prayer was key for transformation, in Dr. Santoso’s observation. “Learning from our experience in 2008, I think one of the most important things is to mobilise prayer, because we are facing the power of darkness.” Seeing a Generation Mobilised Many of the Indonesian young people who served alongside Megacities teams — helping to share the gospel, meet needs, facilitate ministry, translate and more — are now leading in churches, spheres of influence and marketplace ministry in Jakarta. Their time serving with Megacities has sparked ongoing work with slum communities, children’s ministry, campus ministry and disciple-making. Osbert A., who worked alongside Megacities, now leads a ministry called Quickening. He commented that “The youth picked up the momentum. So after Megacities many people started to respond to whatever they felt God lead them to. Whether ministry, per-
sonal calling to operate together, or just to go by themselves, but they just took from Megacities and they created momentum forward.” It was encouraging to see how God answered specific prayers. Rommy S., who worked with teams throughout the city, shared how God had transformed a redlight district where they had done a lot of prayer and evangelism. “The biggest impact I can see is I was working in the West area of Jakarta before and there’s a place called Kalijodo. It is a prostitution and gambling area, but five years ago they just demolished the place and changed it to become an open park and a skateboard park for the public to come.
“It is amazing to see all of this; and youth are being mobilised.”
For some young people, like Andreas A., shift happened in engaging the lost. “Everything that I knew about ministry was in the church. I was a worship leader and also I was speaking and preaching. And then somehow when I went with Megacities, I saw it’s not just in the church we can do ministry. I found out that there are so many people that need help. So it was the first time with Megacities for me to reach out to people who were not Christian.” Novelinastasia S., who had served with teams in West Jakarta, shared similar thoughts, “It made me realise that I need to know more about Jesus, and it’s not just pray for the church or something like that and read the Bible, but you have a mission, you carry a mission to go out and to bless people.” Many who had worked with Megacities commented on how many Indonesians have gone into missions since. Ps. Eddy Sangian, who facilitated translators and served throughout the city, observed “Until now I have seen there are many missionaries now from Indonesia, especially in the young people. There are many young people who have done mission… there are many missionaries that got impact from Megacities. They shared the gospel, they helped the ministry, they helped poor people — that is the impact.”
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Eka K., who now works in campus ministry, reflected that “Working with Megacities made me trust that actually city transformation is possible, but we need to work together as a Body of Christ in unity.” BY JESS ERIKSEN WITH ANNE-KRISTEN BREIT 2
WESTCOAST NEWS
Director’s Word Especially in times like these, of global health impact, things may feel uncertain. The norms and routines we took for granted are removed by circumstances outside our control. We are reminded again that life is not ours to control, but we draw strength knowing the One who continues to rule and reign. Now we’re witnessing the affects of another virus, except this one doesn’t impact only our bodies, it impacts our souls. Protests have erupted throughout the United States, alongside large-scale demonstrations in numerous cities around the world, bearing witness to our deep longing for love, justice, reconciliation and peace. We have spent many hours over the last months interceding for the lives and nations affected. One of our sayings within the Mission is “We know what to do when we don’t know what to do.” When faced with uncertainty, we listen attentively to His voice and follow His direction. As a mission we continue to love and serve in the ministry of reconciliation that Christ has called us to. This season has also brought about new forms of training to serve and equip the greatest need as people are striving all over the world to reach their communities. We hope that in the next months border restrictions will lift and we will be able to receive staff waiting to return, as well students whose courses have been delayed. In this issue of the Westcoast, we’re excited to share some stories of lives being changed in the nations. God bless you. We’re standing with you in prayer. Blessings from the team at YWAM Perth, SHIRLEY AND PETER BROWNHILL
PANDEMIC, (continued from page 1) Australian Relief and Mercy Service has been able to distribute items such as food hampers and devotionals. After dropping the items off and getting back in their vehicles, staff called the families who had received the items to pray for them. ARMS has also taken this time to strengthen connections with local churches and social workers. Operations has overseen our community life and food distribution. With observation of strict social responsibility measures, they have gone into the city with food for the homeless and to the government-assisted housing in our area to deliver homemade soup. They have come across people who asked for multiple bowls of soup and seemed very hungry and grateful. Natalie Polk, who serves with PPS, shared that “On one of those phone calls, I was chatting with a mum who was telling me how, because of her circumstances, she had been restricting her intake of food to make sure there was enough for her other children. As I immediately thought of ways to help, we connected with a local church that was donating food hampers to those in need. When I went to drop everything off at this mum's door, her response was, ‘Thank you! I was just praying about what I was going to be able to feed the kids tomorrow.’ God is good and providing ways for us to connect even in this complicated season.” Frontiers continues to reach out in a variety of ways. They still do English conversation practice sessions with those they are reaching, but do it online. As they don't meet at a specific location anymore, those who live further away or have families actually find it easier to join. So they plan to expand and start sessions for people all around the world. Frontiers also runs Discovery Bible Studies with spiritual “seekers” from around the nation, pointing them to Jesus through His Word. Karen Teoh, who serves with Frontiers, shared that “Besides that…we talk to people when we go to the supermarket or when we go for walks, and chat to our neighbours. One of my teammates has been consistently meeting with one of her neighbours and saw him get healed after praying with him.”
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01 Packing food boxes for distribution 02 getting creative when we can't do handshakes or high-fives
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Perth Pregnancy Support is doing most of their ministry through online meetings, holding their Childbirth Education Classes through video conferencing platforms, as well as making lots of phone calls to connect with the mums in their care. Christian Education Ministry have been able to put preschool online, making daily interactive videos for the preschool children, including daily class and lesson times. The team is excited that they are making Preschool on TV, a project they have been wanting to get off the ground again for a few years. The idea is that they would take lessons from their Biblical curriculum and make a TV show, which would be available for other children anywhere, as well
as teachers and parents. Now they have the context and the time to do this. Counselling ministry has started “call counselling.” They call people consistently, provide a listening ear, encourage them, share God’s Word and pray for them. They have seen God move in amazing ways. Lisa Popping, a YWAM Perth staff who serves through counselling, shared that they saw “… a single mum getting a permanent contract at work and, on top of that, free child care. Another lady we met on evangelism 10 weeks ago got set free from alcoholism and now we are seeking God together on the phone in new ways. God hasn’t stopped moving!”. BY JESSICA BORDEAUX 3
WESTCOAST NEWS
Capturing Hope and Beauty 03 Capturing locals interacting in Vietnam 04 Taking photos to start conversations
01 01 Boats on the Thu
Bon River 02 Printing photos to
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of the ways we shared the Good News was by putting Vietnamese Bible verses on the back of each photo print.”
bodians had chosen not to be passive in their faith, but instead sacrificed much to see their nation and South East Asia come to know Christ. The team was privileged to hear their stories, join them for ministry times, and help to document how God is moving. The team hopes that by sharing stories of how God is using Cambodians in missions, people from other nations will also be inspired that, despite challenging circumstances, God can use them too.
bless a family
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PHOTOJOURNALISM IN VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA The Photo Storytelling Seminar returned from their outreach right before COVID-19 prevented travel. They spent time in Cambodia and Vietnam, using photography to connect, bless, document and serve.
As part of the team’s ministry in Vietnam, they gave people free printed photos of themselves. Tirza Hartono, who led the team, commented that “People love it and we desire for people to see their value, the way God sees them. Because of the language barrier, we were pushed to be creative in how to share the Good News. One
In Cambodia, the team set out to meet some “heroes of faith” in that nation. Only 60 years ago, Cambodia experienced deep suffering and genocide under the Khmer Rouge. YWAM workers have since served refugees there, some of whom are now working full-time with YWAM. Their stories of redemption and restoration left the team very encouraged that the Cam-
BY TIRZA HARTONO WITH JESS ERIKSEN
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WESTCOAST NEWS
INTERVIEW
My Time in Missions ROMANO MANTEL, SWITZERLAND
God calls people from all nations, ages and backgrounds to be a part of His purposes in the nations. Each person’s call is unique.
“Why don’t you do a DTS?” Instantly, I got really attracted to it. So I went home and did research. The things that really got me the most was I had a legitimate desire to know Christ more and to grow in that. At that time, my one questions was that if God is real, I really want to experience Him.
Q. What were you doing before you joined Youth With A Missioin? I am from the east side of Switzerland, and I finished a four-year apprenticeship as a carpenter.
Q. How did you grow in your DTS? I really started to experience God in a real way. I can say now that I actually heard His voice. It’s just amazing when God chooses to speak. And then on outreach, by seeing the power of God, where people chose to give their lives to Him or see healing — that led to closeness with Him and that is where I definitely feel He changed me the most.
Q. What led you to do a Discipleship Training School? I was confronted with the question of “What is life all about?” So when I was talking to one of my friends at church, I said “I would like to do one last adventure before getting stuck into the system.” She asked,
Q. Since you’ve been on staff, what training have you had?
I think the biggest training would be staffing a DTS, which I’ve staffed two and led five. I’ve learned so much by growing in character and discipleship from those. My more official training was in the two schools for staff: the MDS, Ministry Development School, and MLS, Ministry Leadership chool. Q. What are some places you’ve been to on outreach? I’ve been a lot to Southeast Asia. I’ve been seven times to Nepal. I’ve also been to Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Malaysia and Africa, which was in Zimbabwe. Q. What ministries have you served with at YWAM Perth? The first few years were a bit random in between staffing and leading schools. I did help out in
Property quite a bit. But the most I’ve committed with has been Appropriate Technology. Q. What was your favourite thing about being in missions? It’s just the privilege of really experiencing faithfulness, the breakthroughs, the power of prayer and the ability to go and minister to people — which is a gift. It’s a part of missions. It’s something I found a privilege to be a part of. INTERVIEWED BY CHRISTIE SMITH
Encountering Hope at Language Exchange GOD MOVES HEARTS IN JAPAN It is encouraging to see how God moves behind the scenes, especially in nations or situations which appear resistant to the gospel. Looking at statistics, Japan is a nation that appears to be spiritually “hard ground.” But statistics don’t always tell the whole story. One of YWAM Perth’s long-term pioneering teams has planted there in the city of Kobe. The team does a lot of evangelism, runs Discovery Bible Studies and
aims to see a disciple-making movement started. In the future, they trust this will develop into a missions-sending movement to the surrounding cities and the nations beyond. One of the staff, Peter M, shares this story of how a young woman, Senna, came to faith through an encounter at a weekly language exchange in the city. Even though this was the first time the team had met her, it was immediately clear that God had been at work in her life. “She had different influences that made her interested in the Christian
Her first words when I met her were: ‘I want to become a Christian.’ faith. One was a Japanese Christian who she met at her work once and who left a very strong impression on her. He was very kind, she said, and he shared his faith with her. God had definitely worked in her and prepared her to become a believer. [Now] She is always very keen to meet with us for Bible studies or just for chatting,
and she is discovering her own goals and visions for her life more and more since we met. God is also working in her relationships with her family a lot. I think it is really her heart which is interested and willing to pursue and follow God.” BY JESS ERIKSEN
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Invited to the Table HOSPITALITY HAS A UNIQUE WAY OF CONVEYING VALUE AND CARE. The Bread and More (BAM DTS) Discipleship Training School gives people opportunity to use the power of hospitality to demonstrate Christ’s love as they grow in discipleship. Majo Rudd, the leader of the BAM DTS, and her team recently returned from outreach to the Philippines, Taiwan and Singapore. Throughout their travels to these nations, they were able to aid local feeding programs, serve at two weddings, lead teachings on evangelistic tools such as open-airs and do evangelism through cooking classes. Majo shared a story from her time in Taiwan. “We partnered with a new pioneering YWAM base. We did English cooking classes for the community. Anyone could come, and while things were baking in the oven, we would talk to them and share the gospel. It was very relational and they would ask us [about Jesus].” When talking about strategy, Majo shared,
“We weren’t making the fanciest meals — we made pizza one night — but it was just super relational.” Majo went on to explain about the longterm pioneering team there had encountered resistance from the locals towards God and the gospel over the past two years. Through the DTS team’s visit, the long-term team were greatly encouraged as they saw the people they have made great effort to connect with, walk through their doors willingly to attend cooking classes. The DTS team was grateful to be able to use hospitality to help soften spiritual ground as they came alongside the long-term missionaries.
01 Taking the gospel public 02 Cooking together 03 Connecting with the community
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BY ERICA HERMAN
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WESTCOAST NEWS
Seeing Families Healed and Restored EXTENDING CARE IN PERTH
nounced cancer-free by her doctors!
Since its founding in 1984, YWAM Perth has intentionally engaged with the city through prayer, evangelism and mercy ministries. This has taken, and continues to take, many forms. Australian Relief and Mercy Services (ARMS) is one of the local YWAM Perth ministries that serves the community by meeting both practical and relational needs during times of crisis.
The government had graciously provided her a home in the city as refuge, but the landscaping outside needed a lot of work. As the team continued to care and serve through multiple visits, they started to see major changes in the landscape outside, but also in the hope that the family shared inside the new home.
After hearing one woman’s story from a local domestic abuse shelter, several YWAM Perth staff from our health care ministry and ARMS rallied to help meet her needs. Alison* was carrying the weight of illness, past and current wounds, and division in her family. On top of raising five of her six children, keeping up with her cancer treatments, and processing the split with her partner after many years of being together, she shared her grief over her oldest son moving out due to a breakdown in their relationship. The YWAM team was able to visit her five times throughout October and November to pray with her and attend to many of these needs.
Planting and Harvesting in Evangelism RESPONDING TO GOD IN MOZAMBIQUE The gospel takes us not only to large cities, but also isolated villages. It may be teaching someone about Jesus for the first time planting seeds of God's truth, or seeing someone decide to follow Him. On a recent outreach to Mozambique, the Sports Discipleship Train-
Caring for family
At first, Alison showed hesitancy to trust the team, as she had been hurt by Christians in the past, but as the team of YWAMers continued to serve and love her, she softened and received
their apology for how Christians had misrepresented God and His character. From there, they were able to pray for healing for her rare type of illness and by the second visit, she was pro-
ing School travelled to a remote village where they saw a harvest from seeds others had planted. The team was visiting a local family, sharing the gospel and personal testimonies of God’s love. Others from the village joined in to listen. One man, named Pereira, was listening intently. At the end, he and five others accepted Jesus that day.
God!” Sifra Loonstra, one of the DTS students, recounts.
“[He] shared that two years ago, two missionaries came up to him to tell the same story about God, but back then he did not know what to do with it. So he pushed it away as far as he could. But he said that the moment we started sharing about God, his heart just felt like it was set on fire. The only thing he wanted to do was serve this
By the end of five visits, Emma Taylor, one of the YWAM healthcare workers, summarised the impact of the relationship built throughout the five weeks. “Alison would share her struggles. Taking care of six really young children and then one child that she cared a lot for, but didn’t have good relationship with. So we were able to come alongside her in prayer, then see God come through in all these prayer points: like seeing her healed from past wounds from the church; seeing her healed in her true identity coming from Christ; seeing her healed of cancer and seeing her relationship restored with her son. When we first started going, he wasn’t there and then by the time we ended helping, he was living with them again in good relationship.” BY ERICA HERMAN * Name changed for privacy, story told with permission.
“He asked us how he could live like a Christian in daily life. After we explained this, he told us he really wanted that and wanted to do the same as we were doing — going to people to share about God!” Sifra explains that, “After this house visit, we [went] to another house to share about God there and unexpectedly he came to join us!” Pereira met up with the DTS team for ministry for the remainder of their time in the village. He even expressed interest in becoming a missionary. BY AMANDA BOND
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CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS
2 Longest river in India 5 Nation, fourth largest island in the world 8 Hudson Taylor was a missionary to this nation 9 Country formerly Ceylon, major tea exporter 10 The capital of this nation is Dili 12 Tagalog is widely spoken here 14 Capital of Kenya 16 “Land of Smiles” 17 Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Ho Chi Minh 18 Capital of Indonesia 19 Papau New
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DOWN 1 Its official languages are Kazakh and Russian 3 In 2018 lifted its ban on women driving 4 One peninsula, two nations: North and South 6 City on the Southeast edge of the Indian Ocean 7 Tiny island nation, almost completely Muslim 8 Khmer people make up most of the population 11 Mountain range across Nepal, India, China, Bhutan 13 Mogadishu is its capital 15 The theme of this crossword puzzle; the arc of nations surrounding the Ocean is called the Ocean Gateway.
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ACROSS | 2 Ganges, 5 Madagascar, 8 China, 9 Sri Lanka, 10 East Timor, 12 Philippines, 14 Nairobi, 16 Thailand, 17 Vietnam, 18 Jakarta, 19 Guinea DOWN | 1 Kazakhstan, 3 Saudi Arabia, 4 Korea, 6 Perth, 7 Maldives, 8 Cambodia, 11 Himalayas, 13 Somalia, 15 Indian