Destiny by Design | YWAM CE Resource

We throw around words in the Christian community; such as, calling, destiny, identity, gifting’s, but do we personally understand that these words are really ideas that we as Christians should live out in our everyday life? These are not just abstract ideas we hear about but can’t really understand. If we don’t understand for ourselves first, then how can we disciple those in our schools, churches, and our families? How can we disciple our DTS students in their callings, if we do not first know what the calling is upon our lives? How do we fit in into God’s Big Plan?

            That is what the teaching Destiny by Design was created to do, give Christians in or out of a DTS a chance to look at how they were designed by looking at their; Dreams, Experiences, Soulprint (personality), Identity, Gifts, Networks. Taking these different parts of someone’s life and showing them how God has weaved them all together to create a tapestry that fits perfectly in God’s big plan.

            This course takes it one step farther because it is not all about us. We do not find out what our calling is, what our gifts are, what our dream is, so that we can stay focused on ‘us’. God created us and called us all to be ambassadors to a hurt and broken world. Once you know what you are Designed to do, you then turn around and use what you’ve learned as a natural way to share the Gospel by asking the people around you about their Design, always pointing their design to the Designer, Jesus Christ. Street Evangelism or evangelism in general has always terrified me, always! After our teacher for Destiny by Design explained how you could use this approach in evangelism, I was amazed asking myself “Is it really that easy? I can do that!”

            Destiny by Design uses different teaching practices so the participants in the course do not just sit and hear a lecture. Some of the things participants will do during the course are; draw, color, create skits, fill out questionnaires, listen to the voice of God, use clay/playdough, watch movies, and share to partners, small groups, or the whole class. This helps participants process what they are hearing in more than one way, an example, in one activity participants are asked to draw their dream, sometimes participants draw things and they don’t know why they draw them, but throughout the week things are revealed that help them understand why they drew their dream that way. If you had just asked a participant to tell you their dream they would have missed what was hidden, but still placed there by God for a purpose.

            About Me: I am a single mom working with YWAM Cluj-Napoca, Romania. My daughter (Aliya, age 7) and I have worked in Romania for over 5 years in the administration department. This past May I had an opportunity to go to Amsterdam and do the Teacher’s Training for Destiny by Design, this program was led by Gwen Bergquist the writer of this curriculum. It was a great opportunity to learn and study under Gwen. Part of my design is as a teacher and I am looking forward to being able to call out other’s Designs through this program.  

-Hannah Martin

YWAM Romania

This article is part of a series from people we consider YWAM CE resources. People who are able to teach in our schools. You can find more articles by clicking the YWAM CE resource tag. You can see who in our region is able to teach on which topics by going to http://ywamce.com/teachers-in-ywam-ce/

Leadership | YWAM CE Resource

Training Young leaders, equipping and helping them to discover their potential and gifts as well as building a Godly character in them is my heart’s passion. I became a church pastor at the age of 21 and knowing all the trials I have gone through helps me to understand the need for discipleship and support among the young people in order to emerge as leaders. 

The first thing that comes to mind when I am invited to teach or preach is that what I am going to share has to bring a challenge and encourage growth in God’s Word and being like Jesus in the character of the ones who will hear the teaching.  Leadership is the most natural topic that comes from my heart.  This is because of the gifts and call God has placed in my heart, because of my experience as a church pastor, Leader of YWAM Albania as well as my business experience.  

My teaching's main focus is speaking about the leader’s character and the challenges he goes through in order to become the leader that God wants him to be. 

Some of the topics I cover throughout the teaching week are: “What does mean to be a leader?”, “The personality attributes of a leader” “The principles of a good leadership”, “Leader’s responsibilities”, “ Types of Leadership”, “The price and the risks a leader’s life goes through”, “The trials a leader goes through and conflict resolution”. 

While I teach, together with students, we observe the life of leaders from the Bible’s characters, in order to understand the phases they have gone through and how did they grew as leaders. I assign students to watch a specific movie which describes very clearly the difference between a good and bad leadership style and at the end we see these clearly through discussion. There are many leaders in the world, but not all of them practice the right Godly leadership style, so we need to be careful whose example we follow. I like to have an interactive teaching by asking questions and give time for comments from students. 

One of the challenges I give to students is “If God calls you to serve as leader, say yes to Him despite the hindrances or weaknesses you see.  The world today needs visionary leaders “crazy for God” who believe in big dreams and work to fulfill them.”  

-Alket Sako

YWAM Albania

This article is the first part of a series from people we consider YWAM CE resources. People who are able to teach in our schools. You can find more articles by clicking the YWAM CE resource tag. You can see who in our region is able to teach on which topics by going to http://ywamce.com/teachers-in-ywam-ce/

CELG 2015 | Report from Yohanan

Dear YWAM CE 

Greetings from sunny Budapest. 

I hope this finds you all well.

Rachel and Ashrey (who is almost running around our apartment!) and I are just ending the hot summer - having guests, hosting teams, and doing our best to prep for the fall.

We had a great time together with many of you in beautiful, rustic Porto Astro, Greece for the CELG. It was fabulous to be hosted by Hellenic Ministries (with whom YWAM has been partnering for almost 4 decades), to enjoy great food, time in God's presence, good fellowship together, and a chance to swim and kayak in the Mediterranean. 

It was beautiful to see almost all of our nations and bases represented! We had YWAMers of many ages as well, from several little ones all the way up to people a bit older ;) We shared food and conversation late into the night, every night.

We talked some about shared/ plural leadership, about the life cycle of a missionary, and about what leadership will look like in YWAM CE going forward. 

We had a lot of other good content as well in the CELG and came away feeling even closer relationally. 

I left our time together with a question though:

Where in our lives does God want us to give Him space for more of His presence to dwell?

 It is so clear through the scripture that He wants His presence to dwell outside the temple. Matt 27:51 shows the veil being torn from top to bottom which meant that the presence of God was no longer just in the temple in Jerusalem, but now WE were the temples, each of His followers. 

In Acts, after the stoning of Stephen, the believers were caused by persecution to bring the Word of God and the glory of His presence out into Samaria, Asia, and Europe among other places. In those early days of the church we see the fingerprints of His presence in prisons, arenas, Synagogues, places of business, and even pagan temples. We see the believers challenging principalities, and seeing both Jews and Gentiles being filled with the Holy Spirit (one of the expressions of God's presence.) His presence and His ways continued to move further out from Jerusalem to the ends of the Earth.

God's presence impacts our hearts, our minds, our relationships, and our environment. We should see change, and increase, and truth increasing anywhere we go. This is not just about what we are called to do; it is about who we are in Jesus and what we are becoming as a result of our relationship with Him. This should touch our lives, our families, our work, our expressions of hospitality, all areas of our lives!

I believe God wants more of His presence in more of our lives. I believe this will have both internal and external implications. For some of us, this will lead to a shaking of our foundations (a vision I have had repeatedly as we pray for Central Europe) as it describes in Hebrews 12:26-27:

English Standard Version (ESV)
... but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

I believe what will last will be purified foundations upon which we will build better and better buildings and structures. He wants the best stuff to remain even after challenges and difficulties. 
Some Questions:

• What Is God shaking in you? 
• What areas of your life need to be more transformed by the power and presence of God? 
• What is His agenda for your life right now? 

Some more news from our time together at the CELG: 

We got to pray out the CELT. Mirjam, Chris, Helga, and Wolfi have served for many years very sacrificially. We have been so honored to work with them. We will be making some announcements soon about what kind of group will replace them. God continues to speak to us about shared leadership and how we can move more in that direction. We will be convening some new teams in the next months to see how we can best share leadership in Central Europe. 

We also will start to use the word "area" instead of "region." We have been challenged by the Founder's Circle to use less corporate and hierarchical language, and this will help us to sound less like a business and more like a group who is engaging with geographical, spiritual needs. So we are now the "Central European area", not the "Central European Region."

We spoke more about how to build circles. This is something I will be discussing more in smaller groups and then we will send out a larger document about the "best practices" of developing regional/ area circles. We want to have a few of them off the ground well enough that we can describe what we need to do them well. I recently heard Lynn Green describe it as fixing a car while we are driving it. Sounds like fun huh?

One other key word that was spoken had to do with dry ground and God having already planted seeds that will grow, even if we cannot see them growing yet. What an encouraging word!

Our time together was rich with God's presence and with growth in community and togetherness. We look forward to seeing what God continues to speak and do in our region moving forward from the CELG and our wonderful time together in our future gatherings!

Many blessings,

Yohanan