In this blog, it is our hope to give a brief explanation of YWAM North Idaho’s vision and values, so that you can get a better grasp of what makes us unique!
YWAM
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international volunteer movement of Christians from many backgrounds, cultures and Christian traditions dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Our purpose is simply to know God and to make Him known. When YWAM began in 1960, our main focus was giving young people opportunities to demonstrate the love of Jesus to the whole world, according to His command in Mark 16:15. Today, we still focus on youth, but we have members (known as “YWAMers”) of almost every age and many of our short-term efforts have grown into long-term endeavors that have impacted lives and nations.
There are eighteen foundational values of Youth With A Mission which comprise the expression of our basic beliefs. These shared beliefs and values are the guiding principles for both the past and future growth of our mission. Some are common to all Christians everywhere; others are distinctive to Youth With A Mission. The combination of these beliefs and values make up the unique family characteristics of YWAM—our “DNA.” They are values we hold in high regard which determine who we are, how we live and how we make decisions. Read more about YWAM’s vision and values at https://www.ywam.org/about-us/values/.
YWAM has a decentralized structure that encourages and embraces new avenues of transforming lives through training, equipping, and sending Christ-followers out into the world so that we may convey the message of the gospel and care for those in need. We are currently operating in more than 1,800 locations in over 180 countries, with more than 18,000 staff members.
YWAM North Idaho is one of these many locations. As a base, we also have our own unique calling, values and vision that God has given us for spreading the gospel to the farthest reaches of the world.
YWAM North Idaho Base Vision
By operating out of a simple structure and engaging daily in holistic discipleship, we aim to mobilize Christ-followers to communicate the gospel with Unreached people groups in Thailand through every means possible, all for the purpose of spreading God’s global worship to the ends of the earth.
So What Does That Mean?
At YWAM North Idaho, our ultimate purpose and calling is to worship the Lord by relentlessly working towards the proliferation of His praise among all the peoples of the earth. We have been called to do this primarily through the vein of training, equipping, and sending (what we call mobilizing) Christ-followers into the world, and specifically Thailand. Below are the unique ways that God has directed and called our ministry to live out the core DNA of YWAM.
Thailand
Firstly, at YWAM-NI, we are wholly devoted to one focus nation: Thailand. The Lord has called us to concentrate all of our outreach efforts in Thailand, primarily because Thailand is considered an unreached nation, meaning that these people have very little to no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Most have never even heard of Jesus’ name. We believe the Lord has called us to Thailand because it desperately needs devoted Christian missionary effort in order to adequately equip the Thai church to effectively share the gospel with the people of Thailand.
The Core of Our Vision:
Simplicity: One of the ways in which the Lord has directed our ministry is to strive towards a structure that promotes unhindered ministry to and for Thailand, as well as our home here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Simplicity will also encourage frequent fellowship with our community and the YWAM North Idaho family, while also championing intimacy with God. Simplicity primarily refers to our structure, which we want to be easy to join and easy to pass on when staff are called out of the ministry.
Holistic Discipleship: Another avenue through which we have been called to spread His worship to the nations is through holistic discipleship. This means that we aim to willingly open our whole selves to God and our family in Christ for the building up of our faith and walk with Jesus through the full ministry of the body of Christ. We believe that we are to all be actively involved in the sanctification process, which largely comes through being actively engaged and in relationship with His people. We strive towards this sanctification with one another; both students and staff are all called to this as followers of Christ seek to cultivate a culture of discipleship and intimacy. We seek to achieve holistic discipleship in both staff and students, as we train alongside one another for the task of completing the Great Commission (Mat. 28:18-20).
Mobilization: Additionally, our base ministries are all directly involved in mobilizing, which we’ve defined as inspiring, challenging, and equipping the Church to focus on God’s global purpose by aligning priorities, efforts, and resources so that Unreached people groups give their worship to Jesus Christ. In all that we do, our goal is to mobilize our students, community, and the body of Christ to worship the Lord and fulfill His command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Mat. 28:19).
YWAM-NI Unique Values
Intimacy: We define intimacy as seeking the Lord's presence, moment by moment, and submitting ourselves and our ministry to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We believe that we are called to prioritize intimacy, both with the Lord and with our community. These are not mutually exclusive: intimacy with one another will bring us to closer intimacy with the Lord and vice versa.
Sacrifice: We define sacrifice as doing anything and everything needed for obedience to God and the spread of His global worship. We believe that the things that have value in our lives will require sacrifice. The calling from the Lord as Christians and as YWAM North Idaho are of utmost importance to us, and thus we commit to sacrificing our time, energy, comforts, preferences and personal desires all for the sake of pleasing our Savior. We will choose to follow as He bids us to pick up our crosses and follow Him on the narrow path. We will not be satisfied with what might be considered good, but rather we will strive towards what is best: all for the fame of Jesus Christ.
Focus: We define focus as stewarding our calling by pursuing quality and effectiveness above quantity. This value is reflected in our ministry as focusing on Thailand and the unreached, mobilization ministries, and holistic discipleship. We believe that focus increases efficiency and productivity.
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