Community Development for Missions Update

Dear friends, family and prayer supporters

I am so sorry that it’s taken me so long to write a new update. A few of you may be aware that I got pink eye a little while ago and that set me back quite a bit with my homework (Click here for more details). Since then it’s been a mad rush to try and get on top of things again. This week is the 8^th week of my first 12 week school at YWAM Denver where I am studying Community Development for Missions.

So far we have covered a wide variety of very interesting topics including Worldviews, Community Development Principles, Water and Sanitation, Community Assessment, Project Management and Economic Development. This week we have Education, followed by Primary Healthcare, Agriculture and various other seminars. We have also read three really great books and I put my book reports up on this blog for two of them if you are interested in reading more about them. The first book is called Truth and Transformation and the second is When Helping Hurts.

I have learnt so much during this school! I didn’t come with very high expectations and I think that I learnt more in the first week than I expected to learn in the whole school! I’ve already finished filling an entire book with all the notes I’ve taken. The highlights of the teaching weeks for me thus far are the weeks on Worldview and Economic Development. Worldviews taught me that so often we want to go in and help fix the surface level problems, when actually these come from a much deeper worldview root that stems from what the people believe about themselves, God and the world. Unless the root of the problem is addressed, our community development attempts will be short lived at best.  

Last week’s teaching on Economic Development was also a highlight for me because it enabled me to see how God’s unique gifting in my life can be used to bring lasting change in the Kingdom of God. It is so easy to be caught up in the stereotypical missionary mindset where evangelism is all there is to it, but God has given me a unique skill set with a business degree and an IT specialization that he can use in many ways to bring his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. One of the main things that God has been showing me this school is that he does not want me to conform to what others say I should do, but that the most important thing is to follow him in obedience. He will direct my path. “Obedience is better than sacrifice” (Prov 21:3) is a phrase that I’ve heard a lot in my time here! I wrote a poem in response to the economic suffering of many people in the world which you can read by clicking here.

My CDFM class is very small with just five students. I am getting on really well with my classmates and building friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime. One big prayer request that I have is for our protection. We seem to be coming up against a lot of spiritual opposition in the past 7 weeks and there hasn’t been one week where we have all been in class every day. There have been various sicknesses going around, ranging from stomach bugs, to head injuries and other serious pains that the doctors could not identify. In addition, many of us have been struggling with various other spiritual attacks that have limited our ability to engage in class and get the most out of the school.

Spiritually I have been struggling quite a lot recently, which I know seems weird given that I am surrounded by Christians who are on fire for Jesus. I think it’s just the difference between the practical focus of this school and the spiritual depth of the other YWAM schools that I have done in the past which has thrown me off guard a bit. If you could pray for me to go deeper with God and to seek him on a daily basis, I would really appreciate that. In addition, if you get any words of encouragement for me while you pray, I would absolutely love it if you could send them to me.

Finally, if you would like to support me financially for my next school at YWAM Denver which starts 2 April, School of Worship, you can do so by going to www.ywamdenver.org, clicking on the “donate/pay” tab and selecting “Student Payment” from the list. If you have any questions or would like to organise an alternative method of payment, feel free to call the accounting office on 303-424-1144.

May God richly bless you in the coming days, weeks and months and may he give you a fresh revelation of his unconditional love for you.

Love Sarah

PS. If you would like to receive more regular communication from me, you can subscribe to this blog by entering your email address at the top on the left hand side of the screen. If you have any difficulty, please email me (spalser@gmail.com) and I will subscribe for you on your behalf.