To know God. To make Him known.
You want to do something out of the ordinary that will completely turn your life upside down and open new horizons for you?
The Discipleship Training School (short: DTS) is a full-time course lasting several months that will redirect your life towards God and open new horizons for you. DTS is for people who want to follow Jesus beyond the ordinary and are willing to dare to step out of their comfort zones.
The goals of the DTS are your personal character development, the deepening of your relationship with God and other people, and the finding out of your gifts and calling. Intercultural experiences and a view of the world as a whole are also part of it. All this gives you a solid foundation for your future life, whether God calls you to join us as full-time YWAM staff, continue your education in the "University of the Nations," or serve Him in some other way.
Although there are many DTS with special interests (e.g. art, social justice), each DTS consists of two parts:
In twelve life-changing weeks you will get to know God and yourself anew and get a broader perspective of the world around you. The only condition is the willingness to engage in new things and to grow.
Teaching
In the one-week modules you will hear speakers who have authority and life experience in their field. They will challenge and stimulate your thinking and beliefs. Who am I? How has God gifted me? Who is God anyway? How do I live in the power of the Holy Spirit? How can I effectively share the Gospel? How can I change the world? You will deal intensively with these and many other issues. It is important to us that it goes beyond mere theory and becomes practical.
Living in the YWAM community
You will build close friendships with the other participants and have the opportunity to work on the basic questions of your life and faith. Eating and living together is a lot of fun, but will sometimes challenge you and bring you to your limits. Here you can see how authentic your life really is and where you still have to work on yourself. In the YWAM base, you participate in YWAM community events (e.g., worship and intercession) and contribute to practical areas of work.
There's nothing more exciting than being on the road with God! Now it's your turn: what you learned in the first part you can put into practice - as a team you travel to another country to bring God's love to the people there. Every outreach is unique, but you will definitely have deep insights and intense experiences that will accompany you throughout your life. You will get to know people and cultures that you would otherwise never meet and you will have many opportunities to do things you would never have thought you could do. Typical outreaches include children and youth ministry, street evangelism, development aid, church planting, mercy ministries and reconciliation between cultures and nations.
If you want to complete a degree at the University of the Nations, you must complete a DTS. The DTS also serves as orientation and preparation for future YWAM staff and is therefore a prerequisite for long-term participation in YWAM. A completed DTS is recognized worldwide within YWAM. The DTS is not limited to Germany alone, but is in many places around the world. Here you can find an overview: www.ywam.org.
Learning from each other, deep conversations around the table, building close friendships - all this works best when you live together. During your DTS, you live like a family and get to know yourself and your friends better.
Every week, experienced speakers come to help you think about important topics: Who am I? How has God gifted me? Who is God anyway? How do I live in the power of the Holy Spirit? How can I effectively share the gospel? How can I change the world? and much more.
After the lecture phase, your team will start to bring God's love to people in another country, to serve them and to experience how God can use you. Depending on the base, this outreach lasts eight to twelve weeks, which will give you completely new perspectives for this world.
More DTS locations under ywam.org.
Die Jüngerschaftsschule (die als fünf- oder sechsmonatiger Studienkurs bei JMEM angeboten wird) ist ein an der University of the Nations (UofN) registrierter Studienkurs (DSP 211/212), welcher nach erfolgreichem Abschluss den Teilnehmern folgende Möglichkeiten eröffnet:
Fast alle DTS-Kurse in Deutschland werden zweisprachig (Deutsch/Englisch) angeboten und werden mit internationalen Lehrkräften, Mitarbeitern und Teilnehmern abgehalten.
Einem dreimonatigen Schulungsblock folgt ein 2-3-monatiger Aufenthalt in einem anderen Land. Dort werden die Teilnehmer Gelerntes in die Praxis umsetzen und in Projekten vor Ort mitarbeiten, die u.a. folgende Inhalte haben: Kinder- Jugend- und Familienarbeit, Entwicklungshilfe, Gemeindebau und Evangelisation, karitative Dienste und Völkerverständigung.
Die DTS umfaßt mindestens 11 Unterrichtswochen mit jeweils mindestens 12 Unterrichtsstunden pro Woche, bzw. mindestens 16 Stunden bei zweisprachigen Schulen. Hinzu kommen weitere Aktivitäten wie Fürbitte und Anbetung, praktische Aufgaben, Kleingruppe, persönliche Studien- und Lesezeit, regelmäßige Einzelgespräche mit einem Mitarbeiter oder Mentor, Buchberichte, Präsentationen, Bibelstudien, Interessengruppen, evangelistische Einsätze und Wochenberichtsheft. Die Aktivitäten können sich von DTS zu DTS leicht unterscheiden. Eine volle Lehrwoche umfaßt ein Minimum von 50 Stunden geplanter Lernaktivitäten.
Eine DTS enthält mindestens 8 (und bis zu 12) Einsatz/Outreach-Wochen. Der Schwerpunkt der DTS-Einsätze liegt auf Evangelisation und umfasst mindestens 30 Stunden Dienst an Menschen außerhalb des Teams pro Woche. Der Einsatz umfasst außerdem mindestens 15 Stunden pro Woche weiterer strukturierter Lernaktivitäten wie Besprechungen, Entwicklungsgespräch, Teambuilding, Feedback, Austausch in der Gruppe, Gebet für Einzelpersonen und Dienst-Vorbereitung, und mindestens 3 Stunden Fürbitte und 3 Anbetungs-Zeiten als Team.
Je vollständiger Lehrwoche erhält der Teilnehmer einen Credit, sowie jeweils einen Credit pro erfolgreich abgeschlossener Einsatzwoche. Ein Teilnehmer kann somit für seine DTS 20-24 Credits erhalten, die einem Abschluß an der UofN angerechnet werden.
Die Lernerfahrungen einer DTS fördern u.a. das Wachstum in folgenden geistlichen Kompetenzen:
Die Lernerfahrungen einer DTS fördern u.a. folgende personale und soziale Kompetenzen:
