DTS Gathering reports

Every three months or so, Forever oversees the gathering together of Discipleship Training Schools (DTSs) from across the UK and even parts of Western Europe.

These Gatherings aim to:

• bring together DTSs from around the UK and Europe to know God more and in a different setting and then to make Him known.
• learn from each other – both in terms of the accumulated knowledge of different DTSs, but also in terms of living together in close cross-cultural community for a week.
• give the trainees a focused week of teaching on evangelism and then send them out to do it. The hope is that during the week each trainee will have their eyes opened about what evangelism can be, and have their fears blown away as they get out and do it.
• bless the local church through our service to them.
• prepare the way for a YWAM team to be planted in the future. This means by preparing the ground spiritually, but also in networking with local churches and also in seeing some trainees grasp the vision of the team and join it.
• through our evangelism help local non-believers move closer to Jesus.

Logistics

The basic format of the week is to start each day with worship and/or intercession, followed by teaching on evangelism from one of YWAM’s evangelists.

The afternoons vary, but include outreach in the city. There is also time to recount stories to do with the outreach, plus some time for small-group processing.

The evenings include several nights of outreach.

Outreaches

Outreaches might include any, some or all of the following:

• Painting and decorating of either a church building or community building
• Treasure-hunting, where we asked God to give a name or an impression about a person and then to lead us to the right person on the streets so that we can minister to or pray with them.
• Litter-picking, to bless the local communities.
• Door-to-door visiting in partnership with a local church, asking the occupant if they were willing to answer a survey about spirituality, and then seeing whether doors opened for wider discussion about our faith.
• Working alongside a school or university’s Christian Union.
• A late-night outreach which involved handing out coffee and water to young people coming out of the clubs and bars in the city centre, and where necessary helping them if they were in need.
• Any other suitable outreach effort!

The aim with all these outreaches is to partner with the local churches and Christian organisations in serving the local communities and demonstrating Jesus through our words and actions.

To find out more about the Gatherings that have already happened, click on the links.

• March 2010, Cardiff DTS Gathering
• 30 October-5 November 2010, Newcastle DTS Gathering
• 26 March-2 April 2011, Manchester DTS Gathering
• 4-11 June 2011, Weymouth and the Isle of Portland DTS Gathering
  
• 5-12 November 2011, London DTS Gathering
• 17-24 March 2012, Coventry DTS Gathering

Forthcoming Gatherings are happening as follows:

• Glasgow, 27 October-3 November 2012

Again, to find out more about these forthcoming Gatherings, click on the links.

These Gatherings are open to anyone who has successfully completed a DTS – including current and past YWAM staff and YWAM associates. It’s a real chance for you to reconnect with your YWAM DNA.

We’d love to have you join us!