Since my last post we have been up to our usual standard of intensity, with another outreach team, a couple of CLAN Gathering Young Adults meetings and a visit to the hospital!
The outreach team were with us from 30th Dec until 20th Feb, almost two months with them! They were from Seamill, on the West coast of Scotland, with nationalities ranging from Sweden to the States, and that was just the leaders! They were a reasonably crazy bunch, with lots of enthusiasm and a good dose of Spirit led obedience! Good combo! They were led by Claes and Sarah Ljungemyr, friends who have been in Seamill for a few years now, and it was great to have them in Aberdeen to work together and hang out with our friends! Every time we meet people from YWAM Scotland we have a great time, mainly because there are so many great people in YWAM Scotland and we miss them all!
The team were very blessed to have the use of Old Macher's manse, which is vacant as they look for a new minister. We do not take this for granted as they have some very strict(rightly so) critera for people to use church property! However because of this we made ourselves available to the church for various projects they are running, the most notable for our team was a friday night drop in kids night. There are roughly 50 to 60 kids every friday night, most of whom do not know Jesus yet. There are so many opportunities to reach out and show them the love of God, and the team were privileged to be a part of this fantastic outreach.
I am also privileged to be part of a fantastic organisation, YWAM! Deb Zoe and I have booked to go to Herrnhut, Germany in April for a 3 week conference entitled DNA Infusion, which is all about YWAM's history and value system as well as hearing where we are as a mission and where we are going to. In preparation for this I have been reflecting a bit on the foundational values YWAM bases its conduct and structure on. As a value based movement each base is free to interpret the values as they see fit, realising that they are God given for integrity and direction. Integrity because they are a great measure for how we are functioning day by day, and direction because they can lead us through tough times in ways that aren't easy, but ultimately bring us closer to God and more fully into our destiny as individuals and bases.
I would like to focus on one of these values now which God has been highlighting to me:
15. VALUE FAMILIES
YWAM affirms the importance of families serving God together in missions, not just the father and/or mother. We encourage the development of strong and healthy family units, with each member sharing the call to missions and contributing their gifts in unique and complementary ways.
The last few weeks have been strange for me in work terms, as I have not done very much "ministry" but have focused on my family, and as so often when God is trying to make a point, it hasn't been on my terms! Two weeks ago Deb went up to Fraserburgh for a couple of nights to have a kind of retreat, time to focus on God and rest a bit. This meant that I was looking after Zoe, including going to parent and toddler groups! This was quite an experience, and lots of fun too! Then last week Deb got sick, sick enough to call out the GP, who referred her to the hospital! Without going into too many details, Deb had a chest infection and sinusitis, and because of some complications, and the pregnancy, they wanted to check her out thoroughly. She ended up spending a couple of nights in hospital and coming home with a big bagful of pills! Through all of this it would have been so easy to look at the work that needs to be done, and the time spent looking after Zoe and Deb and get frustrated. But God in his wisdom had started me thinking of value 15 before the events of the last fortnight, and through the events has given me deeper revelation on why we are called as a mission to value families. It has been a tough time, but we are over the worst now and I think we are stronger for it as a family, and ultimately if our family is suffering, YWAM Aberdeen is suffering!! Also we have had the blessing of Deb's mum Liz up for a few days to take some of the pressure off. She has done a powerful amount of cleaning and cooking, as well as spending lots of quality time with her favourite(and only) granddaughter!
Families are great!
Well I think that is enough info for one post!!!
Ian
Great stuff Ian, Enjoying your exploration of YWAMs Foundational Values. Not too sure how Fraserburgh qualifies as a 'retreat'! Glad that Deborah is better.