Community Living... Kind Of Like Hogwarts.

This community I live in is a very interesting thing and I rather enjoy it… a lot. I think some people maybe imagine Hogwarts when I tell them about my community and really have no idea what I am talking about haha. So for an overview I live in a small village in East Germany known as Herrnhut. YWAM Herrnhut is a training base where people come from all over the world to get to know God and then go out to the nations to make God known. We drink coffee, we read our Bibles, worship, have fun and dream big with God to reach those who don’t know Him. Like Hogwarts, it actually is a very magical thing, I think. We live in a castle, in the middle of a forest and go on adventures together quite often. But the magic isn’t in the castle or the forest and we don’t wave wands to get our way. Rather, the “magic” is who is in us. It is a beautiful thing to live with people from all over the world that recognize Christ in us and live to honor and worship the God that gave it all so that we can have life. We definitely aren’t perfect, but by Our Father’s grace we are able to radically pursue Him in freedom. Encouraging and challenging each other to step into all that God has for us as individuals and a community.

The past few weeks I have really been able to experience what it is like to be on staff and be apart of this community. Because my first priority right now is being a student I don’t really get the full measure of being a staff member, but a couple of weeks ago my former outreach leader Tiana asked me to be a part of the prayer team for the week that leads staff prayer times in the morning. I was a bit nervous, but excited. This was my first time to really jump into a staff responsibility. So four of us met and prayed every day this week that we led to ask God what was on His heart for us to pray into. I was very hesitant to really contribute because I was surrounded by people who just a few months ago were my leaders. People that I really admired and respected. I still felt like a student and they were superior staff members. But they really encouraged me to share and challenged me to bring everything I had to the week.

It was such an amazing week! God led us to pray for “our generation”. We dug in and asked God what He saw in our generation that could be used for His kingdom and how we could personally and as a staff challenge our generation to rise up and take ground back in our world that Satan has a hold of. He gave us words and visions of an army rising up that stood for righteousness and holiness, rooted and established in our identity as children of the King of Kings. He challenged us to really call this out in our generation and showed us that it started in our own lives. That is exactly what my fellow staff member did for me this week.

I don’t think they realize how much it meant to me that they challenged and encouraged me. They gave me the opportunity to contribute and the freedom to give what I uniquely had to offer. They believed in me and stood behind me in agreement of what I had to offer. After I led our entire base in an intercession time leaders from our community that I really admired encouraged me. It is such an amazing feeling, despite fear and hesitation, to step into more of a leadership role. To step into what God has to offer.

I hope I never forget this week! It was an amazing reminder of why I joined staff! To speak truth into the lives of others. To challenge and encourage them to step in and really believe that God has placed things inside of them that only they can offer to the world. To disciple and serve others by taking joy in their growth and success even more than I do my own. I believe that when we walk in freedom and confidence of who we are and who’s we are it gives others around us permission and releases them to do the same.

The awesome thing is you don’t have to be at this “magical” place to impact lives for our Father’s kingdom. If you really know that Jesus Christ is in you and you are in Him. Just by being you and pursuing God you will give others the permission to do the same. 

Try it ;)

Just for some extra info:

As a base we also recently had a 24 hour fasting and worship where we directly sought God and asked what He wanted to speak to us as a base. It was an amazing time of seeking the Lord! He spoke to us a lot about striving for holiness in our every day lives and how He had so much more in store for us. We ended the praying and fasting by celebrating our community with a Love Feast! This is where we all get together as staff, have a nice dinner and simply thank God for what he has given to us as a community and enjoy each other.

This fall here in Germany a Marriage Of The Arts DTS and a Revive DTS will begin! The number of applications for the schools has been unreal! We have cut the prices of DTS in half because we felt like God has asked us to be even more reliant on him and we are working hard to find accommodations for all the students! Feel free to pray for provision in housing!

There are lots of other things that go on out of this base besides Discipleship Training Schools. There are also secondary schools (like the one I am in), ministries that are focused on art and poverty, human trafficking and the sex industry, long term projects in India and Africa and much more!  

It is such an honor to be a part of this base and God’s kingdom! I am so excited for the future of YWAM Herrnhut and the continual advancement of God’s kingdom here on Earth!

I hope you guys have a better idea of the community I live in =)