Newsletter

The Official YWAM Olympic OutreachIssue 8 June 2011

In February a team of three from a School Of Evangelism (SOE) in Norway arrived in Newcastle to do the outreach phase of their school. Ezra (from New Zealand), Linda (Norway) and myself (Newcastle, England) came to build relationships with local churches and ministries and to lay foundations for establishing a long-term Newcastle Forever team.

We lived in a part of the city known as Byker, which as a community is like destroying an ant hill: when you go beneath the surface you end up seeing more and more people. It wasn’t difficult to get into conversations and build relationships with the neighbours and others living around. Here we had the opportunity to share the gospel and see people start to open up a little more.

During our three months we joined Newcastle University Christian Union for its events week, seeing the students reach out to fellow students as well

as giving us a chance to invest into a few of the students who were running the week. A highlight was joining a church for its weekly Friday night outreach. Through this we saw about 15 people invite Jesus into their lives.

Looking back, we managed to start relationships with over 30 church leaders, as well as with a host of different ministries, and to see that YWAM is wanted in this area.

I have now started work as the Forever representative in Newcastle

and look forward to outreach teams coming, new team members joining, and seeing God’s kingdom come in a greater capacity in this great city.

Forever team member Andrew Carribine has spent three months in the Olympic venue of Newcastle. We find out why.

New in NewcastleForthcomingDiscipleship Training School (DTS) GatheringsThe current DTS Gathering ...is in the Olympic venue of Weymouth and the Isle of Portland 4–11 June 2011All DTSs, YWAM staff and YWAM associates welcome, for a day or the week! For more information, contact Rossie at rossie@forever2012.com

Advance noticeThe next DTS Gathering ... is in the Olympic venue of London 5–12 November 2011 All DTSs, YWAM staff and YWAM associates welcome, for a day or the week! For more information, contact Rossie at rossie@forever2012.com

On your Byker: the innovative and visionary 1970s Byker Wall is at the heart of the Byker community

www.forever2012.com info@forever2012.com +44 (0)1582 463322 Forever is a ministry of YWAM England & Wales and YWAM International. Registered Charity No 264078.

News flash: Newcastle Forever receives first outreach teams!Within a few weeks of his SOE finishing, Andrew has found himself coordinating four outreach teams – from England, Switzerland, and Norway … The Olympic outreach in Newcastle is truly under way!

The SOE team – Ezra, Andrew, Linda

Praise • Three new staff join

Forever later this month.• Forever Newcastle is

hosting its first four outreach teams.

• The planting of two new teams in London has moved much closer with the probable provision of accommodation.

• The outreach at the Mind Body Spirit festival has been greatly blessed and been a great blessing (full report next month).

Prayer• For the new staff as they

prepare to join Forever.• For Andrew in Newcastle

as he coordinates his first outreach teams.

• For breakthrough in finances for the team.

• For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the DTS Gathering in Weymouth and the Isle of Portland, 4–11 June.

• For all the preparations for this summer’s short-term outreaches (Get Out, Soul Survivor), and that more young people would sign up.

The whole world will focus on London during 2012 because of the Olympics – and so too will Megacities, a ministry of YWAM Perth that is partnering with Forever for the 2012 Olympic outreach. Anyone who wants to do outreach in London in 2012 can do it through Megacities.

Megacities will partner with London leaders over 12 months and provide a catalyst to strengthen existing initiatives and create momentum for new ministries to emerge. Megacities builds a network of relationships with churches, NGOs and government, allowing us to place your team into a region of London where they can best serve with their gifts, callings and languages. Ministry opportunities are as diverse as the city. Every kind of team, person, and ministry is needed. Individuals can also come, and will be placed within a team ministering in the city.

London gets the Megacities treatment

In the past, Megacities has focused on cities such as Durban, Hyderabad, and Jakarta. Teams from all over the world have been a part of being a catalyst for transformation. Teams have consistently found that working

with Megacities enhances their outreach greatly, allowing them to link in quickly with the total work God is doing city-wide.

Last year, Megacities focused on Mexico City. Over 1,000 short-term missionaries from every continent worked with local churches. Together, we saw tremendous results: more than 10,400 people gave their lives to Jesus, hundreds of miraculous healings took place, and multiple long-term ministries were started across the city. Churches saw radical growth and testified about the great challenge and inspiration they had experienced, motivating them to pioneer new ministries.

The invitation and challenge is issued: would you consider organising a team to come to London for outreach in 2012? For further details, contact us at info@megacities.org.au or visit the Megacities website – www.megacities.org.au. You can also check out a video at www.vimeo.com/11801013.

In an exciting development, London will be the 2012 focus for Megacities. Team leader Shirley Brownhill invites the world to London in 2012.

Taking up the challenge

Olympic outreach snippets

YWAM first got involved in an Olympic outreach in the 1972 Munich Games. Out of those Games, YWAM Norway and YWAM Hurlach (Germany) were born.

YWAM has been present doing outreach at every Olympic Games since.

The largest number of YWAMers present at an Olympic outreach is 4,500, at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Focal pointsEach month, we will bring you the latest from some of Forever’s focus areas. On this page, Lucie Barnsdale looks at the Social Justice focus area ...

I am very excited about the latest developments within the Social Justice team.

I have a new team member, Sarah, who is coming from the USA at the beginning of July.

Two months ago, I started to volunteer with Azalea, which is an outreach project to women and children caught up in prostitution in Luton. This has been going really well, and the plan is to plant a similar project in Stratford, East London, by working with the churches and organisations that are already ministering in the area. Suitable accommodation in the area to house the team has become available, and so we will be moving over the next couple of months.

In June, I am in San Francisco for a Not For Sale Abolitionist Investigator Academy. (Not For Sale is an organisation that we are partnering with. Not For Sale equips and mobilises people to deploy

innovative solutions to re-abolish slavery in their own backyards and across the globe.) This will be a week-long, 40-hour training course on investigating trafficking, and

will be a good opportunity to meet others involved in this area across the world.

Stories from our Olympic outreach pastAt the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver ...

Together with the organisers and allies of the “Buying Sex is not a Sport” campaign, YWAM volunteers stood silently in opposition to the demand for paid sex. They brought attention to the issue by standing in strategic locations outside strip bars, brothels and even the entrance to the ice hockey games, wearing shirts and holding signs reading, “Buying Sex is Not a Sport”. The groups had two appointed speakers, to explain what they were doing if anyone asked.

The nations are coming!

Nations that have expressed an interest in or are definitely sending at least one outreach team – 25 so far:

ArgentinaAustraliaBelgiumBrazil China EcuadorEgyptEnglandFinlandFranceGermanyHong Kong IndonesiaMaliMoroccoNetherlandsNew Zealand Northern IrelandNorway ScotlandSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSwedenSwitzerlandTaiwanUSAWales

www.forever2012.com info@forever2012.com +44 (0)1582 463322 Forever is a ministry of YWAM England & Wales and YWAM International. Registered Charity No 264078.

Focal points... and on this page, Helena Kittle reports on the Youth and Children focus area.

balloon modelling.One of the other highlights

of last month was the first meeting of the Children’s Consultation. People from all

sorts of organisations and children’s work backgrounds joined together to pray and discuss how to reach out to children during 2012. We met in Romford and thrashed out ideas and plans for not only reaching children with the gospel, but also, significantly, how to mobilise Christian children into outreach during that time.

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The past month has been very busy. Here are a few highlights.

Right at the beginning of the month, we ran an ‘All Age Service’ in a church in Norfolk. It’s a great way to sell the vision to all ages, with some real challenges to be outward-focused as a church wherever you are in your community. We had a fun time, including discussions, stories, testimonies, and even a Christening for good measure!

The More Than Gold Youth working group also held a ‘Youth Forum’. It was a time of young people aged 14–24 coming together to pray, worship, and dream about reaching their generation during 2012. Despite being a small group, the young people came up with some brilliant ideas, both generally and for their specific communities. We had them make timelines to think through what they’d need to do for their ideas to become realities, and to finish off the day we were able to join a practical workshop on face painting and

In the July issue ... outreach at the Mind Body Spirit festival “Several people would ask, ‘How did you do that? How did you get that information about me?’ And we were able to tell them it was God.”