40 Years of YWAM at Holmsted Manor. Do your DTS with us and take your faith further!
September 2015 marks the start of our 40th year at Holmsted Manor. In our 40th Year, our DTS* costs £1,500 for the Lecture Phase and from £1,400 (plus travel) for the Outreach Phase, depending on location. (*40th Year DTS Dates - Sept 2015, Jan 2016 & July 2016)
Go to the nations and leave your mark in a world that desperately needs to know the love and truth of the One who created us! But be warned…you will be challenged in many areas – life will never look the same again…
Grow with God at Holmsted Manor’s DTS and let Him take you to places you never dreamed possible. Experience and grow in your understanding of the depths of who He is, how incredible relationships are meant to be, what His intentions are for the world, and how He wants YOU to be involved in shaping history! We’re not talking about doing stuff years down the road when you’re all put together, but we are talking about right now, right where you’re at and just as you are! Make a difference in a world that desperately needs to understand who God is and what life is really meant to be.
Whether you have known God your whole life and already have a good idea of who you are and what you have been created for, or you are just beginning to get to know Him, Holmsted Manor’s DTS is for you. So come, meet with God, listen to His voice and walk out what He is asking you to do.
The DTS lasts for six months but the impact on your life will last forever.
What is a DTS?
“TO KNOW GOD AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN” is the heart of YWAM’s Discipleship Training School (DTS). The DTS is a six month programme in which young people from all around the world come together for teaching and training in how to follow the example that Christ set for all believers. There is a strong emphasis on having an intimate relationship with God, character development, application of Biblical truth, and bringing God’s love to the world.
The DTS consists of two parts: a three month lecture phase at Holmsted Manor and a 8-10 week outreach phase in another location, including some time in the UK and further afield.
LECTURE PHASE
The DTS has a live-learn philosophy, where you will live, work and learn together in a community alongside our full time staff. We do a variety of things together throughout the week, meals, worship, intercession, going to church and social times such as watching a film or going to town.
Classroom Time
Across the week you will receive teachings from speakers. The lecturers are a multinational group of people who mainly work YWAM or local churches and have experience in ministry and missions. with All our speakers have a heart for young people and desire to challenge them in their faith and encourage growth in their relationship with God.
Some of the topics include:
- The Father Heart of God
- Intimacy with God
- Worship, Intercession & Spiritual Warfare.
- Relationships: with God, family & the opposite sex
- Mission
- Evangelism
- Servanthood
- Sin, Repentance & The Cross
- The Character & Nature of God
- Identity
- Discipleship
- Biblical Worldview
Worship & Prayer
Along with these teaching times you will participate in worship and prayer times. These are both personal (in your quiet times) and in groups, with your one-on-one, small group, DTS and the rest of the community. We will often take times where we intercede together for countries, people groups, events and anything else we feel the Lord is leading us to pray and intercede for.
Learning about the power of prayer, worship and hearing God’s voice get’s explored here, which is so helpful and glorifies God.Kay, UK. DTS student January DTS 2013.
Small groups & one-on-ones
You will also be discipled by a member of staff in a one-on-one setting and participate in a small group outside the classroom. The small group is where trainees get to discuss and apply what they have been taught in lectures. The small group creates an informal confidential setting in which students can talk openly and receive support and encouragement. It is also a place for trainees to be challenged. The small group leaders are people who have already completed their DTS and who are committed to serving and discipling those in their group.
Practical Work Duties
As in any family, all members share in the practical responsibilities, everyone in the community is involved in doing work that benefits the whole Holmsted Manor family. As a member of the community you too will get the opportunity to work a couple of hours each day doing practical work. There is a wide variety of things that need doing such as kitchen, household, hospitality, grounds & maintenance.
Other DTS activities include Bible study, Christian book study, local weekly outreach, social times. As you spend time with God, getting a heart for mission and the nations. We hope that it’s a time of adventure, joy and lots of fun!
OUTREACH PHASE
The reason for the DTS is to take what we’ve learnt about God during lecture phase and putting it into practice. There are millions of people who are in desperate need of God’s love, truth, and freedom.
This is the part of the DTS where trainees live and work in teams in a frontier or urban setting. The outreach is an impacting and transforming part of the DTS, where trainees put into practice all that they have learned during the lecture phase.
“Where will I go?”
During the outreach, trainees link in with an on-going missions project bringing practical and spiritual support to the long-term workers, or can even be involved with pioneering new ministries where there is nothing yet established. Holmsted Manor places DTS teams in both rural and urban locations but has an emphasis on pioneering.
A lot of prayer and intercession goes into choosing a location for outreach. Teams will go to an overseas location, as well as one in the UK, and as we will often split into teams, trainees pray about which team they should join. In recent years, teams have been to countries on all continents in both urban and rural settings.