Our Experience With YWAM
Noah attended a YWAM DTS at the Oakridge base on the North Island, far up on the northern tip in 2000. He lived on a dairy farm during his lecture phase. While Noah was participating on his outreach on the South Island of New Zealand in 2001, he and his team went from town to town, volunteering and speaking at churches. It was in the city of Christchurch that Noah felt God speak to him about coming back and living and serving in that city someday. He wasn’t sure what form it would take, but he knew in time God would reveal His plan. When Noah met Kate in 2005, he shared this calling from God with her. Kate then decided in January 2007 to do her DTS in New Zealand, to get a feel for the country and see what God had in mind.
Kate participated with YWAM through a Marine Reach DTS, on the North Island also where she lived on a medical ship docked in Tauranga. While in New Zealand, she volunteered with a local youth group and local food outreach program. For outreach, they sailed to Fiji, where they traveled around the outer islands, offering free medical care and spiritual teaching to isolated villagers. During the last month of her outreach, her team lived on a remote island off the coast of Vanua Levu with a small village.
YWAM was a great experience for both of us, as we were both challenged to grow in new areas, made lasting friendships with international friends, and were a part of making God known in our specific areas of influence during outreach. Upon Kate’s return to the States, we kept the dream in the back of our minds, always wondering about God’s timing for the move back to New Zealand. For Noah, it had been almost a decade of preparation and growth since being given this prompting.
What We’re Doing With YWAM
It wasn’t until January 2009 that we felt God release us to pursue NZ. As we prayed, brainstormed, and researched in preparation for the move, we got reconnected with a particular YWAM base near Christchurch—Oxford, and we were quickly invited to stay in their city mission house. It was a perfect match. YWAM needed someone to operate out of the house and our desired lined up with their vision. In May 2009 we found some cheap tickets and took a whirlwind trip to Christchurch where we scouted out the house, met up with a wide-range of contacts in the city and attended a national YWAM conference at Oxford.
We moved to Christchurch, NZ in May 2010, where we currently live in the YWAM house and are partnering with the staff and students there at YWAM Oxford. We have appreciated their welcoming of us into their family! The home was given to YWAM Oxford a number of years ago with one condition—that it would be used for ministry. It has gone through a series of ministries + residents over the years and now we will have the freedom to work out of it ourselves, continuing the vision to see it operating as a mini-base in the city. We currently operate as a hospitality house for traveling missionaries and DTS staff/students who are coming into the city for outreach opportunities.
In addition to hosting teams, we attend the weekly staff meeting at YWAM Oxford—which is about 50 minutes outside of Christchurch city. Although we are not official staff, we are under the wing of YWAM and serving them by running ministry out of their house.
On Fridays we connect the students with local outreaches in Christchurch. Because YWAM is short term and the students are always coming and going, we hope to act as a bridge between short term evangelical outreaches and the long term discipleship that needs to take place among people they minster to.
We also took on the project of maintaining the YWAM Oxford website and facebook page.
What’s the house like? It’s a regularlly-sized home, but has several spaces ideal for hosting teams. There are multiple rooms outfitted for any incoming teams. The main living room and kitchen area is large and open, which will facilitate worship, prayer, community meals, team meetings and general hangout time. We also use one of the bedrooms as a prayer room, where people can have quiet, worshipful times, read the word and pray. The large fenced-in yard area will serve as an general hang-out space, where we can host BBQ’s, have quiet time, etc. The backyard also has ample space for growing a vegetable garden, which is something we are both looking forward to!
The house itself is in need of repair due to wear and tear from previous residents and uses. Our first goal is to completely clean out the house, garage and yard, and then revamp it with repairs, upgrades and our personal design elements so that it is a comfortable and inviting space for incoming teams. If you would like to seed into this area of the house ministry, we welcome any donations, as YWAM is only partly funding some of the repairs and upgrades.
Although we are staying in a rent-free home, there are additional costs we pay monthly, including hefty utility bills, internet, phone lines, property taxes, as well as the continual costs for clean-up and repairs we do here. If you would like to help with monthly fees of running the house, again, please make your way up to the SUPPORT tab.
