YWAM Bases: Decentralized
In YWAM you will find a wonderful diversity of ministries that aim to both know God and make Him known. Two of the eighteen values that we have at Youth With A Mission are to maintain a decentralized structure and prioritize visionary and novel ministry endeavors. These values have encouraged and inspired an incredibly large array of unique ministries under the umbrella of Youth With A Mission. Here at YWAM North Idaho, the Lord has given us a special ministry calling and structure through which we aim to glorify Him. This blog aims to articulate the values, vision, and ministry calling that is largely unique to our base!
YWAM-NI: Focus Nation - Thailand
At YWAM-NI, we have been called by God to focus all of our outreach efforts on Thailand. We have an intense passion to minister to those in the world who are considered “Unreached” and currently, 87.9% of Thailand's population falls into this category. Unreached is a specific term used to represent those who have very little to no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; these people typically do not have adequate Christian resources and therefore do not have a valid opportunity to respond to the Gospel. For example, these people do not have Christian peers (less than 3% of their surrounding population is Christian), Christian churches available to attend, and they have either no Bible translations, or small translated portions in their native language. We believe that the Lord has called us to send all of our outreaches to Thailand since there is a desperate need for devoted Christian missionary effort in order to adequately equip the Thai church to effectively share the Gospel with their people.
Because we have the blessing of narrowing our focus, we are uniquely able to train and equip our DTS outreaches and long-term missionaries with tools that will increase productivity and effectiveness long-term. For example, every staff member is required to study the Thai language every day of the week so that after two years of staffing, that individual will be conversationally fluent in Thai and better equipped for leading outreach teams to the nation and doing ministry there long-term. Additionally, we teach basic Thai language skills to our DTS students so that when we go on outreach, our students will be able to speak with the Thai people in their native tongue and build relationships, opening more doors to sharing the Gospel. We are also able to learn about the specifics of Thai culture and the predominant belief systems which exist in Thailand: Animism and Buddhism. We seek to gain a deeper understanding of the Thai people’s history and culture so that we will be increasingly effective in fostering long-term effectiveness while demonstrating to the Thai people that they can maintain their uniquely beautiful culture and language while still accepting Jesus Christ as the one true God.
YWAM-NI Unique Values - Sacrifice, Intimacy, and Focus
At YWAM North Idaho, we have chosen sacrifice, intimacy, and focus as distinguishing values which we hope will mark our lives and our ministries. We define sacrifice as doing anything and everything needed for obedience to God and the spread of His global worship to the ends of the earth. Our callings 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 in order to complete them with excellence. At YWAM North Idaho, we choose to follow as the Lord bids us to pick up our crosses and follow Him on the narrow path.
We define our second value, intimacy, as seeking the Lord's presence, moment by moment, and submitting ourselves and our ministries 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 to the Lord and vice versa. At YWAM North Idaho, we take the value of intimacy incredibly seriously.
One of the unique ways this value is manifested is through the ministry of Community Life. This ministry is primarily entrusted with the growth and overall health of the community of staff and students at YWAM North Idaho. Community Life strives to promote intimacy with one another and with God in a holistic way by emulating Christ in our relationships through radical service and love for one another. We recognize that our intimacy with one another depends on the sacrifices we are willing to make just as Christ made sacrifices for His Church. Instead of seeking to meet a minimum standard of friendly affection, we are seeking to embody the full meaning of community as exemplified to us in the Bible. Additionally, we are not interested in relationship building only within our “operating hours.” But rather we want to see one another as family and develop authentic relationships that continue beyond our responsibilities to the ministry we have each been called to by the Lord.
Finally, we define focus as stewarding our call by pursuing quality and effectiveness above quantity. This value guides our decision-making and the scope of our ministries to prevent us from becoming overwhelmed and unproductive. We believe that by focusing our efforts, attention, time and resources, we will win more authentic and long-lasting worship for the Lord. Again, the primary way this is demonstrated at YWAM North Idaho is our focus on the unreached and especially the nation of Thailand.
YWAM-NI Core Pillars: Simplicity, Discipleship, and Mobilization
At YWAM North Idaho, our ministry is done through a simple structure in order to 1) disciple Christ-followers and 2) mobilize them to passionately obey God’s command: “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19).
YWAM-NI Core Pillar - Simplicity
Compared to other bases, the structure and layout for our base is very different. In order to promote increased community involvement, relationship building, and holistic discipleship, we strongly encourage staff and students to get out into the community, instead of remaining on campus, developing a kind of “bubble” between our base and the Coeur d’Alene community. We encourage our students and staff to go off base to do their school and staff work at coffee shops and other local businesses. We also encourage our students and staff to attend a variety of churches in the area and partner with pre-existing compassion ministries for the purpose of creating unity within the Body of Christ which thrives in our local area. We are a 15 minute walk and three minute drive from downtown Coeur d’Alene where there is always warm coffee to be shared and plenty of people to meet! We also encourage our staff members to live off-base, meaning separate from our student housing and classroom space (which is our central classroom Hub on 4th Street).
YWAM-NI Core Pillar - Discipleship
All of our ministries are highly involved in and promote intentional discipleship. We define discipleship as willingly opening our whole selves to God and our family in Christ; discipleship comes from the word “disciple” which speaks directly to one being trained or taught. We get this principle from Jesus when He said, “Now go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to do all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). At YWAM North Idaho, we strive to be a body of believers who strive after discipleship as a lifestyle. Discipleship requires intentional time, energy, and commitment as we open ourselves up to encouragement and the building up of our faith, as well as critique and exhortation to live in a way that glorifies Christ by obeying His commands. We recognize that discipleship can be an uncomfortable process, but we believe that this is the primary way through which we are refined to become more like Christ so that we can reflect Him to the world around us. Discipleship can be seen in YWAM North Idaho’s culture, as well as a key component of our training schools.
The Discipleship Training School is the backbone to all of YWAM. DTS is a prerequisite to all other YWAM secondary schools and for anyone interested in joining staff for a YWAM base. The DTS is designed to produce spiritual maturity in the student through discipleship, help the student come to know God more intimately, and equip them to actively and zealously go out into the world to make Him known to others. DTS is made up of a core curriculum that does not change from one YWAM base to another, however each DTS does have unique qualities and opportunities for the student. For now, we’ll just speak to the unique qualities of our DTS at YWAM North Idaho, but for more details about what DTS is and the core curriculum, visit our blog entitled “What is the Discipleship Training School?”
YWAM-NI Discipleship Training School
Our DTS students are taught four unique classes repeatedly each week. These classes are in addition to the curriculum requirements for YWAM DTS. These unique classes are: Bible Overview, Apologetics, Perspectives/Missions, and Inductive Bible Study. Additionally, students also have Thai language class twice a week to prepare them to go on outreach in Thailand. Another unique thing about our DTS: students know what outreach location they will be going to before they arrive because it never changes! Most other YWAM bases have a handful (some more some less) of nations that their DTS outreach teams travel to during the second half of DTS to do ministry. At YWAM-NI, all of our DTS students go to Thailand for the entirety of outreach. Finally, our DTS also places a strong emphasis on unreached-focused missions teachings as well. Our next DTS will begin in the fall of 2021 (most likely at the very end of September).
YWAM-NI Core Pillar - Mobilization
All of our base ministries are directly involved in mobilizing. For us, mobilizing means 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).
At YWAM-NI, we are pioneering a ministry which uniquely engages in mobilization called No Compromise Ministries. This ministry seeks to awaken God’s people to obediently participate in His global purpose by educating, equipping, and challenging the Church to zealously dedicate themselves to reaching the unreached people groups with the gospel of Jesus. Our hope is that this ministry will contribute to the growing fire for a global missions movement that will bath the earth in God’s praise. No Compromise Ministries will not compromise the Great Commission’s call for any selfish ambition, but rather will choose to faithfully follow the Lord and give our lives as a sacrifice for the goal of winning global worship to Christ. The staff who pioneered this ministry are hard at work teaching and training believers in Coeur d’Alene to engage in the Great Commission.
Long-term Relocation
YWAM North Idaho will be relocating to Southern Thailand long-term in 2022. To learn more visit our blog titled, "YWAM NI Is Relocating."
There are so many more things we’d love to share with you about the distinctive aspects of YWAM North Idaho, but for now we hope that this gives you the broad picture! If you have specific questions or would like to get in contact with us, you can email info@ywamnorthidaho.org or call +1 (208) 582-4312.
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