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I generally find that when I blog about Youth With A Mission (YWAM) here, people are less likely to read.  I’ve asked a few people about this, with some interesting feedback.  Many express surprise that I am a missional minded Christian, yet part of an organization like YWAM.  Many cite stories and experiences they have had that show YWAM’s failings and weaknesses.  Many are legitimate stories, as we are a flawed community like all others.  However, YWAM- especially in the YWAM Canada format context that I know best- more often than not defies these isolated incidences.

This past week, my wife & I, along with all of our staff (most of which we share life with in intentional community) headed out to Pinawa, MB for the YWAM Canada Rendezvous, our national staff conference held every 2 years.   In addition to hearing about the innovative and deeply incarnational models of ministry emerging both locally & globally through our various centres, the workshops led by our national staff (many young leaders) revealed a depth and emphasis that is often unseen.  Topics such as environmentalism & mission; justice & responsible engagement with poverty & colonialism; missional-incarnational church planting; stories about justice & First Nations communities; etc. There were sessions on helping us better understand and engage practices such as centering prayer and Lectio Divina.

The diversity of our community was also thrilling.  With a large portion of our French Canadian staff attending, as well as a strong showing from our Korean ministries, we dedicated to have all sessions translated- and not simply from English to French/Korean, but with English being the secondary language at times.  This may sound like a small thing, but it was/is far more spiritually significant than many realize.  There were also people of all ages, from babies to seniors and everything in between.  And there was a deep sense of connectedness and true family.

YWAM is not without its faults.  However, most people outside of the mission largely see or hear about situations that are exceptionally noticeable.  Some expressions of YWAM, due to their cultural centrality and more significant availability of resources (and thus communications), get far more time in the spotlight than is reflective of our international family.  YWAM turns 50 years old this year and it should not be ignored that throughout that history we took (often unwelcome) stances on issues that today are just beginning to be addressed in many circles.  YWAM has always affirmed that women can and are called into any and every kind of leadership in ministry & the Church.  YWAM has always affirmed that ones race or nationality does not make them more likely to be the “recipient of missions”, but that God calls all people from all nations to the nations for His purposes.  YWAM has practiced a counter-cultural emphasis on community, simplicity and missionality long before the ideas were “popular”.

Again, none of this denies the challenges that we have and continue to face as a mission.  However, I hope people will begin to realize that YWAM represents a 50 year history of people who have given up almost everything to radically follow the call of Christ in their lives.  YWAM Canada, I believe, is particularly poised and engaged in the unique challenges of post-Christendom.  This is why I am such a PASSIONATE advocate for our Justice Discipleship Training School (JDTS), which has a few more openings in it.  Finally, the emphasis on missionality has returned our focus on the local, sadly sometimes to the exclusions of our global vocation.  YWAM and other such organizations are truly gifts to the church to help keep that balance in place.

While not the highlight of my entire retreat, the following video was thrilling for me.  Growing up in a rural hunting region, I would NEVER have fed a wild deer.  However, the region we were in was protected and so the deer represented a few generations of human-adapted herds.  So no harm done and I was able to experience something of a Franciscan moment:

Oh deer! from Jamie Arpin-Ricci on Vimeo.