Training

Training is one of three strands of ministry weaving throughout all YWAM does. YWAM’s training aims to equip Christians to serve others in everything from agriculture to linguistics, from drug rehabilitation to cross-cultural ministry. Every training program reflects YWAM’s purpose: to know God and to make Him known. Training within YWAM can be run either as a separate local program or as a part of YWAM’s University of the Nations (U of N). The basic YWAM school that is a requirement for applying as YWAM staff, and which serves as a prerequisite to all other U of N courses, is called the Discipleship Training School (DTS).

A “YWAM school” is usually an intensive learning program in which students concentrate on one subject at a time, and combine the learning of theory with practical application. YWAM schools usually last between three and nine months. Many have both a “study” phase and a practical application, or “outreach” phase.

As YWAM Founder Loren Cunningham put it when YWAM’s training was first beginning: “In our training we’d stress relationships with God and with each other. We would use a floating faculty of experts who would come alternately to live with the students in the village lifestyle of Asia and the Pacific. The emphasis would be on learning through doing.”

For many YWAM students, the intensive learning combined with community living–often with fellow students from many nations–makes for a life-changing experience.