Wilberforce DTS and FCD

It's high time for an update so I thought I would introduce you to a couple of courses we are running here at YWAM Harpenden this quarter. The Wilberforce Discipleship Training School (DTS) and the Foundations in Community Development (FCD).

The Wilberforce DTS is our first All-Generation DTS that we've run and also our largest DTS yet with 28 students! All-Generation meaning just what it says, we have 18 yr olds, couples in their 20's, families with children, and even a Granny :) There is also an emphasis on justice and influencing all the spheres of society.
You can find out more about it here .

The FCD is a 12 week course with a 3 month outreach to work with a developing country. The leader, Annette, has worked in Cambodia for 8 years. You can find out more about it here.

The images below are the postcards I designed for them this past year.

Simon's House

About a month ago my friends Hayley, Colin, Pam and I went to Canterbury on the weekend to help out a guy named Simon. He is a Messianic Jew in his 50's or 60's he has had cancer so hasn't had much energy. We went to help him clean his house and the back garden (yard). We were able to clear out the entire yard and burn the extra stuff, so that he can actually enjoy his back garden again. He was so grateful, and I was surprised at how much 4 people accomplished in a day and a half.

My roommate Hayley is a part of the Forever Team which is our Olympic outreach team here at YWAM Harpenden, for more information you can go here www.forever2012.com. Hayley is the prayer coordinator for the Forever team and met Simon at a "More than Gold" prayer meeting. "More Than Gold" is a group of Christians from all over England who are networking, gathering, and working together to coordinate outreach to the nations and share the Good News before, during and after the 2012 Olympics here in England. They are made up of different Networks i.e. Prayer, Sports, Arts, Justice etc. It's pretty sweet how they are all coming together for the love of Jesus, truly working as the Body of Christ.

This week the Forever team is gathering all of the English Discipleship Training Schools (DTS's, like what I did in Norway a few years ago) and a few other teams from Europe to do outreach in Manchester, which is one of the Olympic locations. Last year I went with them to Cardiff, Wales (another one of the Olympic event locations). They do these gatherings every 3 months or so, to teach on evangelism and practice it. We also do a lot of worship and prayer and networking with local churches in preparation for the Olympics. I am helping with an art outreach and taking photos of the gathering, to help put a visual to what goes on at these gatherings.

Hope For Justice

A couple of weeks ago my friend Lucie and I went to a school near her hometown of Guildford to help with a human trafficking awareness workshop. We started the day listening to a guy named Ben who started Hope For Justice.  Then we split into different groups, and Lucie and I lead a session on photography with 15 and 16-year-olds. We got to share what we do and since none of them had taken any photography courses, we gave them some tips. It was very cool to see how much they were into it. We also looked at some images already used for awareness and critiqued them together.  They had a lot of really great observations. After, we gave them time to come up with some of their own photography ideas, then sent them out on their own to take photos. They did a great job. We edited the photos together, and they will be going up in a local prayer room for trafficking awareness.

2 weeks left!

For the last two and a half months I've been staffing the School of Web Design and Communication. Helping with design consultation and other various bits and pieces. We are in our last 2 weeks! We have 6 students - from L to R Kokwain from Nigeria, Nathan from Holland/UK, Fred from Tanzania, Seun from Nigeria, Ross from Ghana and Martine from South Africa. They are a great bunch with a wonderful sense of humor, a huge heart for worship, and are working very hard and excited about learning web design. They will use these skills in their respective countries and throughout the world to broadcast the good news of Jesus Christ! After the Christmas Holiday they will be starting their 3 month internship where they will get to use the skills they've learned these past 3 months to do some hands on practical web-design, helping other Christian ministries. I'm so excited for them! Please pray for them as they finish their last project and will have an exhibition of all they've done at the end of next week.

YWAM ENGLAND ARTS NETWORK GATHERING

Currently I'm gearing up for the 2nd YWAM England Arts Network Gathering. It's next Thursday-Saturday, Nov 11-13. We are gathering together as YWAM England Artists to encourage each other, pray and worship, do some art and seek God to see how we can collaborate more in the future...I'm SUPER excited about this!








It has been a wonderfully busy week! I lead lots of intercession and worship, we interceded for Diwali (Divali), a.k.a. the Festival of Lights, on Monday morning. Diwali, which means row of lamps, is a Hindu, Sikh and Jain 5 day celebration of light overcoming darkness, the triumph of good over evil. So I thought it would be a good idea to pray that during this time when they are with a sincere heart pursuing light over darkness that they would know Jesus is the light of the world!

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said,'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"-John 8:12

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

I would encourage you to continue to pray or find out more about Diwali. It never hurts to gain a bit more knowledge or pray for people :) And praise Jesus that He is the light!
Hope you are all well :) Blessings!

Christy

Interesting Look at the Way We Use the Web (Web 2.0)

I am staffing the School of Web Design and Communication (SWDC) and we are in our 3rd week now. The trainee's are great and I'm learning a LOT! We watched this in class today, check it out --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g&feature=player_embedded

Brighton, July 26-Aug 1

About 150 people gathered for 'Get Out' outreach, YWAM partnering with Soul Survivor (a church here in England). We split into 5 teams
Lithuania
Romania
Cambridge, England
Cornwall, England
Brighton, England

A group of about 25 of us went to Brighton to do outreach for a week.

Monday
We travelled by train to Brighton, where we stayed at a church called Gloucster Baptist, and prayer walked around the city, to get a feel and oriented to it.

Tuesday
After worship, we were able to bless a non-profit Community Café, just outside of Brighton, by giving it a makeover. It is run by Volunteers, so they don't get paid. Within the day we had repainted and stained the outside and inside of the café. They were so thankful.