Sustainable Missions

There is always a great deal happening with ministry and training here at YWAM Perth. This quarter we’re loving the zeal for the gospel that the School of Evangelism is bringing. There’s wonderful, fruitful collaboration happening with our Sports Ministry and local Christian athletes and youth with the Sports Plus Camp. God is bringing revelation and transforming lives on the DTSes. People are getting healed in the city as they are prayed for, and God continues to touch lives.

It’s a privilege to be a part of what God is doing here and in the nations.  As our staff continuously pour out in different areas of ministry, we’ve been strengthening our approaches to helping all of us remain resilient and supported in the midst of our missions call.

We thought we’d give you a little glimpse behind the scenes:

• Through our development of Ministry Circles, we’ve added extra layers of support for our ministry leaders, plus fortnightly times for our staff to connect in smaller groups and access pastoral care.
• Over the last few years, we’ve started offering regular mental health training for our staff and leaders facilitated by a local Christian counselling practice. The aim is to provide more insight into this crucial area, to be able to identify signs of when someone has a greater need for care, as well as to help us know how to look after our own mental well-being. On top of that, we continue developing contacts, resources and professional people external to us that we can refer people to.

"The Mental Health Seminar gave me understanding of some of my health struggles during my 30-year journey with YWAM Perth. It has given me some great tools to help me practise self-care and hopefully sustain an effective and fruitful call in missions."  - Steve

• In our environment of constant change and many comings and goings, we’ve recognised a need for further debriefing training for our staff and leaders, particularly around transition. Over the last two years, through this training, our aim has been to bring awareness to leaders of the impact of change and how to walk with staff through changes.

“There are a lot of transitions in missions, so you need to do a lot of debriefing to help people transition with changes like changing ministry or leaving one country going to another. This can help change to be a little smoother or help people be more aware of what they might be going through.”  - Darcy

• Another important area where we’ve sought to bring strengthening is partnership development. As a mission that relies on God’s provision for what He calls us to, we see the need for our staff to develop robust missions partnership teams to wholistically support their efforts. We’ve been working to bring together more partnership development resources for our staff and students, including seminars and access to resources. We believe in the power of partnership and its necessity for missions sustainability!

“I didn't expect this, but the seminar also went deep about our self-worth. It had a Bible study about how the worker is worth his wages, how the work we do is important and worth a salary even though it looks different from how the rest of the world is paid… I realised God just doesn't want me surviving, He wants me thriving in order to continue doing missions.”  -Gabby

With all of this, a big part of our approach is layering – as a community, working to provide as many overlapping opportunities for care and support as possible. It’s been encouraging to see how God has been using these layers to help us grow in strength and resilience as we make Him known!

Blessings,

Caleb, Ari and Mariecia

Directors of YWAM Perth