Recently someone asked me why we are leading a ‘justice DTS’ with YWAM and not an ‘evangelizing’ DTS. I was bothered by this question, but as I wrote back to my friend who asked, I was grateful for the opportunity to share what we do with YWAM and Steps of Justice. I thought it appropriate to share my response here so that you know as well.
People in the world are dying because they don’t have clean water (1 billion people), they don’t have food ( 25,000 a day), they are getting stung by mosquitos and get malaria (1 million die each year), they are in absolute grinding poverty and can’t survive under it (3 billion living on less than $2 a day) and millions don’t know the name of Jesus and are going to hell because they have never called upon his name. Jesus cares deeply about these issues. In Micah 6:8 God says that what is good and what is required of us is to Do Justice, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly before God. This is what a justice focus is. We care about the people Jesus cares about.
We do not only care about their physical needs, but their spiritual as well. I am a follower of Jesus and a missionary. I want people to come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. I don’t want to see anyone going to Heaven hungry, but I also don’t want people going to hell with full bellies. I don’t help people with the condition that they follow Jesus (although I will pray they will choose him one day) but like Jesus’ example, I help people regardless. I do present the good news of Jesus and the Bible to them, that he loves them, died for them to set them free and wants them not only to go to Heaven, but to have life here on earth as well. The very reason we do justice is because it is on the heart of Jesus.
Here is how the DTS looks, not only the one I am running, but all of them.:
1. The motto is “to know God and to make Him known”.
2. We do this through teaching (lecture phase) on evangelism, mission, bible study, relationships, spiritual warfare, discipleship, world view, culture and more.
3. As part of the “Justice focus”, we have specific times of prayer and intercession focussed on global issues and statistics. We have specific days to focus on issues (ex. lack of clean water- to remember this, we will challenge our group to ration their water usage and walk to one central location for all their drinking water for the day, forego showers or any extra water usage, etc. We do this so we can understand what it may be like for the people we are praying for.
4. We grow as individuals and as a community of believers following Jesus together (one on one discipleship, small groups, etc).
5. We do local outreach (feeding the homeless and preaching message of Jesus through our words and actions) and an international outreach. Both of these are to show the love of Jesus through words and actions.
I hope this shows a bit more of our hearts and why we do the things we do.
