Author Archives: Bill Hutchison

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Join YWAMers around the globe in praying and hearing from God. He is inviting you!

In January of last year we began praying for YWAM’s Foundational Values, three at a time, once per quarter. This issue of The Invitation marks the completion of this prayer campaign. Please join us in praying for ourselves and for the whole YWAM family to live out these final three values: to depend on God, to practice hospitality, and to communicate with integrity.

According to Rita Pretorius, who provided input to The Invitation, “Be Hospitable” was one of YWAM’s first values, along with our motto “To know God and to make Him known.” Rita believes that “hospitality helped us, as YWAM, to stay a loving community and not to become an institution. Being hospitable is part of our DNA because it is not about programs or a method, it is all about relationships.”

Terry Sherman also noted that the biblical examples of Value 16, Practice Dependence on God, “are about God connecting people to make mutual provision – it’s never one-sided, but both parties are blessed in some way. It’s all about partnership and interdependence.”

And as we take a look at our final value, Communicate With Integrity, YWAM has teams that model and teach on this value in a relational way. Some of these groups are the College of Communication at YWAM’s University of the Nations, Create International, and Circle 18. Continue reading →

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God about the Mobilization of Two-Thirds-World Senders …

Before he left for India, missionary William Carey told his friend, “I will go down…if you hold the rope.” Like the person holding the rope for a mountain climber, the sender of missionaries plays a vital role in helping their friends succeed. Please join the YWAM family in prayer this month for those people who hold the rope for missionaries, who serve as senders. In particular, please pray for senders from the Two-Thirds World.

Last month YWAM’s monthly prayer day, called The Invitation, focused on the encouraging realities of how God is transforming the missions field into the mission force! Continue reading →

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God about Mobilizing Two-Thirds-World Missionaries.

For decades there has been a dramatic shift in the makeup of the global body of Christ. In the 1900’s, most Christians lived in Western nations. But today, most of the followers of Jesus are from Asia, Africa and Latin America. As one would expect, there has been a similar shift in the makeup of the missions force. In 2010, three of the top ten countries sending the most missionaries were from Asia and Latin America: Brazil, South Korea and India. Other notable sending nations included South Africa, the Philippines, Mexico, China, Colombia, and Nigeria. (Melissa Steffen in Christianity Today.)

This means that missions is no longer “the West reaching the rest.” It is “the reached reaching the unreached.” According to mission researcher Jason Mandryk, “Today the Majority World Church sends out as many cross-cultural missionaries as does the Western Church.” Continue reading →

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God about YWAM Foundational Values 13 – 15.

#13 – Be Relationship Orientated
#14 – Value the Individual
#15 – Value Families

The YWAM “DNA” is comprised of our purpose, beliefs and values and is the framework that helps us determine who we are, how we live and how we make decisions. This is the fifth issue of The Invitation where we have invited YWAMers to pray for our foundational values, three at a time. For January we will pray for foundational values #13 – 15. These are: #13 – Be relationship-oriented, #14 – Value the individual, #15 – Value families.
Continue reading →

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God about Moscow.

This month, please join the YWAM family as we pray for Moscow. With an estimated population of 12 million in 2016, it is the sixth largest city in the world and northernmost megacity. The primary religion is Christianity with the Russian Orthodox Church being the most popular and Muslims accounting for 14% of the city’s population. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in Russia and in Europe.

Some say that Moscow is a city of contradictions. On one hand, Moscow has provided economic stability for many migrants coming from other parts of Russia and former Soviet republics in recent years. Moscow also received worldwide praise for its hosting of the 2018 World Cup for soccer last summer. Historically, Moscow has attempted to leave behind the communistic days of Lenin and Stalin.

But on the other hand, Moscow has been involved in recent disputes with both some neighboring nations and the West. In recent years Moscow lawmakers have targeted evangelistic efforts and media boundaries limiting freedom of religion and freedom of the press. It is also a city with significant drug and alcohol problems, a high prison rate and much human trafficking.

According to Blair Carlson, formerly with the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, “The challenges of Moscow speak to the enormity and complexity of large European cities. We need to pray for the unity, vibrancy, and muscularity of the church in the great cities of Europe.”

Please join with YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, during the month of December to pray for Moscow. You are particularly invited to pray during our prayer day, December 13. If you only have a few moments to pray, please pray for unity and vibrancy in the church in Moscow. Continue reading →

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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God about North Africa.

“Jesus is God. It is the truth. I believe!” was the voice message left by a local North African last month. This simple declaration of faith is evidence of the deep workings of the Holy Spirit in North Africa. Seeing North African friends come to a saving faith in Jesus is often a long, hard fought battle entailing years of fellowship, food, storytelling, evangelism, Bible reading, and desperate prayer before the Lord! It is no small victory for the Kingdom of God when one believes. Please join us this month in prayer for the people of North Africa.

In 1991, the YWAM North Africa Regional Center was established in Southern Spain as a strategic springboard to North Africa. Predominantly Muslim, with little Gospel influence, the North Africa region includes Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia.

YWAM’s North Africa Regional Center runs a DTS and a secondary frontier school called Foundations In Intercultural Studies (FIS), as well as, offering hospitality and member care for long term workers in the region. The team is focused on sending new workers and teams into the region where there are over 130,000,000 unreached peoples. Continue reading →