Street Chaplaincy Officially Begins

A testimony from my own life and ministry!

Last week I finished my 6 week street chaplains course and my 2nd observation (going out with the trained chaplains and learning from what they do). I will be starting regular shifts this month (one weekend per month) going out from 9 PM to 3 AM (or later) to care for people in the city of Perth.

Last weekend I got to minister to a number of girls. One in particular, Alli, I met at around 2 a.m. She had gotten separated from her friends and was very drunk. I saw her walking along on her own so I tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was alright. She looked confused and distressed. She began to cry and explain what had happened - she had no phone and no money for a taxi. I assured her we would get her to a taxi and pay for it (street chaplains have a budget to help girls get home safely, so they don't become vulnerable to attack). She didn't understand why we would want to do that, why we would want to help. Her exact words were "Why should you have to pay for that?" And the truth is, we shouldn't, in the sense that it's not our problem to pay for. But that is what God does for all of us all the time. The ministry of street chaplains is a very practical way of demonstrating this to people who are actually most aware of their debts. We started to walk Alli to a taxi stand and on the way found one of her friends who assured us she would get home safely. She hugged me goodbye and thanked us for our kindness. I love this ministry. God's mercy and grace are extravagant, and this is just a tiny chance to demonstrate it in a practical way.

Testimonies from around the world

Teams from our October quarter schools have been on outreach the last 3 months. Here’s just a few of the stories they shared with us from their experiences as they returned last week!

From the Philippines: Our Island Breeze ministry is doing outreach right now in the islands of the Philippines. They are a performing arts group that showcase traditional cultural dances from the South Pacific and they have joined up with other international performers to perform and preach the gospel. One of the girls from Island Breeze, named Tiffany, went to pray for a girl after one of the shows. The person with her explained that she was deaf and mute. Tiffany started praying for healing and the girl’s eyes widened, she could hear worship music. She pointed to the direction of the sound. Then her friend encouraged her to try to speak, and she was able to make several noises for the first time in her 19 years of life.

From Thailand: a girl from the School of Evangelism was attending a dance class and felt strongly that she should preach the gospel and share her testimony with the class. They were deeply impacted and one woman came up to her afterward and told her that she had prayed that day that someone would come and talk to her about God.

From China: one DTS team held English classes in Shenzhen. They met a university student and got to share with this girl about God’s love, the cross and relationship with God. The Holy Spirit spoke to her so strongly and she decided to give her life to Christ! From Nepal: one student who was severely ill for several days felt like God said to go out on ministry anyway. That day he prayed for a baby who was near death from dehydration and fever, its eyes were rolling back into its head and he wouldn’t eat or drink anything. After praying for the baby he was instantly healed. Then he prayed for two women with vision problems who were both healed, and then a man who could barely walk because of a knee injury was healed and began to jump around with joy! All this through a sick student who maintained that Jesus can heal even if he didn’t get healed himself.

More Fruit in London

"One Saturday evening we went to the homeless shelter working with a lady by the name of Pastor Christina. While we were there I noticed a single Mum with her brother and three children and I felt the Holy Spirit say I really love that family they are special to me. So I thought to myself I have to introduce myself to them which is what I did, then encouraged them with what... I felt like God was saying. This opened up a conversation about Jesus and hearing the voice of God. I explained the Gospel with this single Mother and invited her to start a relationship with God, which she said yes. Then I had the privilege of leading her to the Lord!" - Nathan Kingdom, Australia, School of Evangelism

Continued Openness from Londonites

"A girl wondered into our church one Sunday because she wanted to know more about God. She was 14 years old and the church was all over 65 -except us of course! After the service I shared with her and she got inspired by my testimony and wanted to know more about my relationship with God. We made a time to meet up and she invited us over to her house. It was an answer to prayer to be able to go to her home! We met her family, shared testimonies, taught her how to read the bible and brought her to Christ. She prayed and accepted Jesus as her Savior."

- student from the Foundations in Counseling Ministry, YWAM Perth.

Gambian meets Jesus in London

God has brought the nations to London... and they are meeting Jesus there! Here is another testimony from one of the teams:

"I have been helping out with the homeless shelter at St. Paul Shadwell's Church, during this time I got to share with a man called John from Gambia. He opened up to me and just needed someone to befriend him, so I did and also started telling him about the love of God and gave him a Bible. The second Monday I got to see him I prayed with him and he gave his life to God. He is going to church now and he doesn't feel alone anymore."

Becoming a Street Chaplain!

On Monday, February 6th, I will start training to become a street chaplain- to bring light into dark places in the weekend party scene in the city of Perth.

Street Chaplains are... "motivated by the example of Jesus who showed care to the sick, needy and distressed people of the city. They provide practical help, compassion and First Aid to those who have suffered harm through substance and other forms of abuse." They have worked with the police in Perth and are often called upon in crisis situations as they provide the time and the care that the police don't always have the means to.

My training will include first aid, working with the indigenous, and drug and alcohol abuse related training. I will work two shifts a month during the late night hours (in teams) to minister love, compassion and mercy to the most needy in Perth. This is not a ministry of YWAM Perth, but a locally run ministry, which many of us ywamers are joining up with.

Thanks for your prayers as I launch into this endeavor!

Stepping Out in Faith

"We were out in Oxbridge and [a team mate] and I prayed for an older man in a wheelchair. His name was Edwin and he had hurt his neck but was not paralyzed. He had been homeless for a while and he said he was a Christian so we asked if we could pray for healing. After we prayed we asked if anything helped, and asked if he could do something he couldn't do before. Honestly I wasn't totally full of faith but kept asking if he felt different. He said he felt a little different, but I thought he was just being polite. We left and met back up with the team. When we saw Edwin again he locked his wheel chair and stood up and said he couldn't before do that before."

- a YWAM Perth team working in Hillingdon

Muslim reading Matthew

A testimony from a team from the States, working with Megacities in London:

"As we were reading the Bible out loud on a park bench in Victoria Park [London], a young Pakistani man passed by and asked if we had a lighter. “No,” we said. He walked away, but then he turned around and came back and said, “Uh, actually I’m kind of bored, would it bother you if I sat here?” “No, not at all!” we said, “But would it bother you if we read the Bible out loud?” He said no, so we continued to read our chapter of Deuteronomy, and then, realizing we had remembered to pack a few New Testaments in our backpack, offered him one, wanting to include him in our reading, and switched to the gospel of Matthew. After only a few chapters of reading, he had many questions concerning the laws of the Bible, and about how those laws apply to us in our generation and specific culture--he asked our personal opinions about what he would call “sin." We discussed laws regarding marriage/ relationships, alcohol, tobacco, many things that can be controversial within a Muslim or Christian culture. He asked us specifically how we live our lives concerning these issues, which gave us an opportunity to share how we believe that God has created a “best” scenario for each person’s life and that abuse of any of these things would not be living up to the standard of God’s best for us. Then we discussed the consequences of sin for both Muslims and Christians. We asked him about what punishment is waiting for Muslims if they sin, to which he replied with a few stories, basically describing Allah’s responses to good deeds versus rebellion, concluding that a Muslim person is never really assured of any sort of salvation, always living in fear, and left guessing and hoping that Allah is pleased with their prayers, deeds, etc. We were thrilled to share with him that because of Jesus and His once and for all sacrifice for every sin, past and future, we never have to live in fear, being completely assured of our salvation and His affection. This led to a discussion about more similarities and differences between Allah and the God we know and love and live for. When we were describing the grace and sacrifice of Jesus further, he then asked us, “so what’s the point of doing good, can’t you just do whatever you want if you know He will always forgive you?” We were delighted to answer this question. “We don’t do good things so God will love us, God loves us and so we want do good things.” What a beautiful opportunity to express the love of Jesus and the relationship we have with Him. When the man had to leave, we told him to keep the New Testament (he was pleasantly shocked to receive a free gift knowing that it was a significant book) and we exchanged contact information, promising to discuss any question he would have about the Bible and its contents. Since that day, he has told us that he plans to read it through completely. Praise God for an open mind and a seeking heart!!"

Healing in London

The ministry I work in, called Megacities, has just kicked off its year long focus on the city of London. We build a network of contacts within the city and then send in international ywam and church teams to partner with the local body in ministry, evangelism and practical help, all to see the city reached for Jesus.

One of our first teams in London has already seen an instant healing in the streets. Here is the testimony word for word from the team:

"[We] were waiting for our 11:00 meeting with a pastor and while we were sitting, we both spotted a dude using hand crutches limping along who decided to sit right beside us. [we] looked at each other and were in agreement to pray for healing. A casual "how are you doing brother?" broke the ice and we asked the condition of his knee. He said it was very painful and dislocated, but is on its way to recovery. We asked right away if we could pray for him and he yes! We laid hands on his knee, as we prayed and commanded healing in Jesus' name, Jason felt a click movement in the knee cap area! After we were done praying, we asked him how he felt and with a big smile he said that the pain was gone. We told him to stand up and try it out. He did a little squat position and said it felt so much better."