In a week and a half, about two hundred different leaders from YWAM ministries in Western Europe will travel to a rural part of the Netherlands for a Western European Leadership Consultation (or WELC). The idea behind the WELC is to provide a space for learning and dialogue to champion YWAM’s future in Western Europe, especially in regards to empowering young leaders to start new works. Europe is the only continent in the world where the Church is shrinking, and although YWAM isn’t shrinking, it isn’t exactly growing either. We’re not concerned about swelling our ranks, as much as filling the need left by empty and aging church communities. And so we’re looking forward to a season of growth.

We’ll be attending with a team of several others from YWAM NI, mostly others from the Belfast and Closkelt Leadership Teams. We hope that we can share the vision God has given for reaching our island and our outreach locations, and we hope as well to be able to glean some wisdom off of other wisened colleagues and do a fair share of recruiting to our cause!

We’re quite excited because, although there is a programme and seminars, the Consultation is geared to create space for brainstorming and constructive dialogue. So, unlike a typical YWAM conference, the WELC will not be packed full of crowds and event after event after meeting after event (and so on!).

Renee will be leaving this coming Tuesday, however, (a few days before Mikael) in order to meet up with a collection of other YWAM intercessors in Amsterdam for a time of prayer for YWAM and the WELC (I think). The event is called Prayer Shield, and is an idea to cover a town or a people or an event in such fervent prayer as to create, in a sense, a shield of prayers regarding the subject. In any case, it is also meant to be a time where some of the older generation of YWAM’s prayer warriors pass the mantle to another generation, and we hope this can be an opportunity to learn and grow for Renee as well.

The trip:

• Renee flies to Amsterdam on Tuesday the 25th of March with Ros Oman for the Prayer Shield
• Mikael flies to the Netherlands on Saturday the 29th with some colleagues and meets up with Renee for the WELC.
• We fly back together to Belfast after the WELC finishes on the 4th of April.

Links:
WELC ‘08 Netherlands website
WELC ‘08 Facebook group