Compassion DTS (Fall)
The Call
“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” Henri Nouwen
What to expect
A YWAM DTS is for people of all ages (17+) who are serious about taking their relationship with God to the next level. It is a five month program blending classroom learning, small group activities, personal reflection, practical service, and community living, with the goal of learning to give your all for Jesus as you discover your part in God’s mission for the world. Come join us as we pursue God and His purposes together!
When
2023:
Sept 24 – March 2
Electives: Children @ Risk, Teachers for Transformation, Redeeming Love, Science
How much
$3,850 plus outreach
Tuition covers the cost of meals, lodging, guest speakers, and books. Outreach fees vary from $2500 – $4000, depending on the location and cost of airfare.
About this DTS
The Compassion Discipleship Training School invites you to see the world as Jesus does. Can you imagine the look in Jesus’ eyes when a leper fell at his feet? Although no one else would come near this man, Jesus was not afraid. Jesus leaned down to touch the leper. And in that moment, this man who had spent most of his life as an untouchable was healed!
Compassion starts with seeing the world as God does. But then it quickly moves to action. Jesus felt compassion for a hungry crowd. So He taught them. And then He fed them. When He saw a funeral procession for a widow who’d lost her only son, He not only comforted the widow, but took this young man by the hand and raised him from the dead.
Everywhere Jesus went, He was moved by compassion to teach, to help, and to restore hope. But the needs were overwhelming! And as He looked out over the crowds His heart broke. They were “so confused and aimless, like sheep with no shepherd. ‘What a huge harvest!’ he said to his disciples. ‘How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!’” (Mat. 9:36-38)
Are you ready to answer the call of compassion? Will you go where it hurts? The challenges today may look a little different. But the need for compassion has never been more urgent. Refugees fleeing wars and economic disaster. Aids orphans. Human trafficking. Widows. Unreached people groups. Broken families. People without access to medical care, clean water, Scripture or a home to sleep in. God’s heart is breaking. He is moved with compassion. And He’s looking for workers. Will you go?
During your three month lecture phase, you will learn about the needs in our world today and how you can help. Each week, you will also reach out to hurting people in Madison. And then you will go, spending two months overseas. Past DTS outreaches have gone to Mexico, India, Brazil, Africa and Eastern Europe.
The Compassion elective is a feature of our Fall Discipleship Training Schools. DTS is a 24/7 discipleship community designed to grow your relationship with God and your ability to share His message with the world.
Electives included
Each DTS follows the same core curriculum. However, you can choose an Elective that will provide supplementary teaching and training on a topic that you are uniquely passionate about. Not every Elective is available with every DTS, so whether you attend the Fall or Winter DTS could impact which Electives you have available to choose from.
Children At Risk
Throughout the world millions of children are orphaned through war, through AIDS, through extreme poverty. Every seven seconds a child dies from a preventable disease. Drug addiction runs rampant. Children are sold into prostitution or forced to become child soldiers.
They’re lost and they have no place to live. These children have no hope. And these are the ones that are on the heart of God.
More information on this elective
The Children at Risk Elective will focus on the needs of children around the world and the issues that put them at risk — sex trafficking, poverty, AIDS, abuse, child soldiers, and broken families. We will also focus on the heart of God who promises to be a “Father to the fatherless, who sets the lonely in families.” (Psalm 68:5,6)
For three months, we will examine strategies to help these kids and pursue ways to assist poor communities around the world. And then we will go, spending two months overseas. Past DTS outreaches have gone to India, Thailand, Myanmar, Uganda and Kenya, Tanzania, and more. On outreach, you may work with street kids, AIDS orphans, slum communities, sex slaves and refugees, as well as reach out to people of all ages through evangelism.
The Children at Risk Elective is a feature of our Fall and Winter Discipleship Training Schools (DTS). DTS is a 24/7 discipleship community designed to grow your relationship with God and your ability to share His message with the nations.
Teachers for Transformation
“As you go, disciple all nations,” Jesus told His disciples. “Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mat. 28:19-20). The fulfillment of the Great Commission is inseparably connected to education. And this world has never needed Godly teachers more than it does right now!
More information on this elective
The Teachers for Transformation Elective will equip you with a foundation for education so that you can disciple others effectively. You will discover God’s heart for children and the unique window we have to infuse His truths into their lives. Over 85% of Christians give their lives to God between the ages of 4 and 14. There is a desperate need to reach people during these formative ages. Many are lost and broken because they do not learn God’s ways as a child and as a result, do not know how to process life’s challenges.
The great American abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass once said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” We believe that God wants to raise an army of young men and women able to bring truth and love to this hurting world. This DTS is for anyone who has a heart for children and education regardless of their background or training. Would you be willing to answer the call in order to make an eternal impact in the life of children?
On outreach you will have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned during the lecture phase. The knowledge and skills acquired will be put to the test in the nations as you work with children in a cross-cultural setting.
The Teachers for Transformation elective is a feature of our Fall and Winter Discipleship Training Schools (DTS). DTS is a 24/7 discipleship community designed to grow your relationship with God and your ability to share His message with the nations.
Redeeming Love
A cry for freedom echoes around the world. It echoes behind dark curtains in Indian brothels. It echoes through African villages ravaged by drought. It echoes in the hill-tribes of Myanmar where young boys are kidnapped and forced to become soldiers. It echoes through the streets of Amsterdam where prostitution is the only way for women to feed their children. It echoes right under our noses on the American shores. As long as just one of us is bound, none of us is free.
More information on this elective
The Redeeming Love Elective will explore modern day slavery through a Biblical lens, learn from experts in the field, and provide opportunities to take action in the fight for freedom. You will learn about Biblical justice, God’s heart of compassion for the suffering, and His redemptive strategies for individuals and nations. Your journey begins with weekly classes that complement what you are learning in the other aspects of Discipleship Training School. Our DTS Lecture phase will train our hearts and minds to think as God thinks, and act as God acts.
After training, you will spend two months overseas. Outreach will take you to the darkest corners of the earth where the cry for freedom echoes the loudest. Past outreach teams have gone to India, Thailand, Cambodia, Uganda, Moldova, Albania, Mexico and Brazil. Past outreach teams have worked with street kids, refugees, slum communities, and victims of human trafficking, as well as sharing God’s love with people of all ages through evangelism.
The Redeeming Love Elective is a feature of our Fall Discipleship Training School (DTS). DTS is a 24/7 discipleship community designed to grow your relationship with God and your ability to share His message with the nations.
Science
Are you interested in computing, science fiction or the environment? Do you enjoy STEM subjects, but also want to connect with God and explore ways to make a difference in the world? Do you connect with God best when you’re in nature? If so, then the Science Elective is for you!
More information on this elective
A DTS elective is an opportunity to grow in your relationship with God along with people who share similar interests and hopes to you. In our Science Elective, you will get a chance to do just that.
Each week we will spend time chatting about how the Bible and missions can connect with science, with technology, with issues about the environment – and we’ll connect with some of the work going on around the world in YWAM in these areas. As you spend time exploring and growing in your faith in the DTS, you can also spend time with people who share similar passions to you and explore what could be possible.
Johannes Kepler (a 16th century Christian astronomer, inventor, physicist, and philosopher) said that science is the process of “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” As we learn about what God created and how He made it to work, we learn more about who He is and who we are in relation to Him. What could be more fulfilling and empowering than that?
The Science Elective is a feature of our Fall and Winter Discipleship Training Schools (DTS). DTS is a 24/7 discipleship community designed to grow your relationship with God and your ability to share His message with the nations.
