Starting last month in January, YWAM locations across the globe are joining each other in prayer on the first Thursday of each month. For each prayer day, half of the time will have a reflective focus that all participating YWAMers will explore in prayer, and the second half, at least for YWAM in these parts, will concern our vision and our focus in our nation or locale.

For the February prayer day, the prayer focus was “Practicing Forgiveness.” A few days before, we all received an email with various reflections, testimonies, and challenges from different YWAM leaders sent out by the YWAM Prayer Day mailing list. The day itself has shown itself quite special for us, as it’s a time when all of us from YWAM Northern Ireland (Belfast and Closkelt bases) as well as our colleagues from YWAM Ireland (currently totaling three families) gather to worship, pray, and fellowship together. After a time of worship, we joined YWAMers around the globe in asking God to challenge us to forgive as He forgives and then respond accordingly.

Following some reflection, we then really prayed into our future as YWAM in the North and South of the island of Ireland. Over the past few months, our communities have been under the impression that we need to move towards greater unity and that our efforts in our ministry need come together to work with greater synergy. This was a time when we continued to explore that in prayer. In the 90’s, YWAM had a greater presence in the Republic of Ireland with various ministries, including a steady flow of Discipleship Training Schools. We’re looking at the possibilities in re-pioneering (and just plain pioneering) YWAM in the South with the help of fresh staff and fresh vision. But in order to do all that, we’re trying hard to work together –Belfast, Closkelt, and Dublin– in joint vision.

Although we’re still sitting with a lot of questions, these prayer times are vital in moving forward with God’s plan for this island. Perhaps we will work to run a DTS in the Republic in 2009; perhaps we’ll have teams trained to plant ministries there; perhaps something entirely different. In any case, we want to be meeting an actual spiritual need, not just expanding YWAM. I got a strong sense of that while we were praying.

Good stuff!

Check out the YWAM Prayer Day website and sign up for the monthly newsletter.

Also: “The Power of Forgiveness: a testimony” by Steve Goode, Director, YWAM Mercy Ministries Int’l. An excerpt from the February newsletter.