The DTS for Families is a Discipleship Training School that targets the family. It includes all the normal requirements of a YWAM DTS or CDTS.

However, the DTS for Families seeks to incorporate the entire family into the discipling process. There is a weekly "Family Time", during which, the entire family gathers for worship, intercession, and application of the weekly topic of the school.

The DTS for Families also includes teaching about marriage and parenting as part of the relationship teaching that is offered in a regular DTS.

Husbands and wives are encouraged to be in the same small group so as to process issues together as a couple and not just as individual students.

The DTS for Families seeks to include the children in the outreach preparation and incorporates them in ministry opportunities that are age appropriate.

As a second phase of the DTS, specially organized teams are sent out typically for twelve weeks (minimum eight) of evangelism in cross-cultural situations. The emphasis is on the application of principles taught in the DTS lecture phase coupled with teaching on evangelism concepts and practices equipping students to share their faith using a variety of means.

What are the goals of a YWAM DTS?

1. To GATHER and CHALLENGE people to worship, listen to and obey God, releasing them (in the context of the DTS) to serve through evangelism, intercession, acts of compassion and other expressions of God's heart for the world, possibly even pioneering new ministries.
2. To INSPIRE and CULTIVATE growth in one's relationship with God resulting in Christ like character, which is based on a solid Biblical foundation, the work of the Holy Spirit and the personal application of Biblical truth, especially concerning God's Character, the Cross and empowering Grace.
3. To SHARPEN one's ability to relate to, learn from and work with people, including those of different cultures, personalities and perspectives.
4. To further EQUIP each one to serve God's purposes either in or outside of YWAM Family of Ministries, strengthening a commitment to reach the lost, especially the unreached, to care for the poor, and to influence all areas of society.
5. To IMPART the vision and foundational values of Youth With A Mission International as well as that of the host operating location and to provide information regarding a variety of opportunities for service.

You will get teaching about various topics including

• God's Nature and Character
• God's Intention for Individuals, Peoples and Creation
• God's Redemption: Sin and The Cross
• God's Family: His Children & His Church
• God's World: His Call & His Commission Doing the Works of Jesus

For more information regarding a YWAM DTS, visit the website of the International DTS Centre.

Get a glimpse of DTS:

Family DTS on outreach - a report

By Karen Andersen
Family Ministries, YWAM Denmark

An international team of 6 Families of the Family DTS 2011 at Sjellebro in Denmark went after 12 weeks of deep and transforming teaching during lecture phase, on outreach in Central Asia and Latvia.
Now, after the DTS, the Families can look back upon an exiting and challenging time where they all learned more about themselves, their spouse and their children, their team mates and the importance of unity. They also learned a lot about other cultures and got a taste of mission. But most of all they learned more about depending on God and can testify about His greatness and love.

During the outreach there were a lot of different ministry opportunities: Visiting orphanage, psychiatric hospitals, prison ministries, visiting schools, children shelter, working together with local churches, park-evangelism, Sunday school teaching, mercy ministries – giving out food bags to poor people, sorting out secondhand clothes, and helping out with a lot of practical work. They also had many good conversations with the young people attending a language school, talking about cultures, families, education, values and beliefs.

All in all there were so many opportunities to share God’s love and His father heart with children, youth and adults from all stratum of society. We have seen God’s faithfulness in bringing divine appointments to the team in ways we could not have planned ourselves. We have seen people get healed, had the opportunity to give bibles to people who had none, bring moments of light, joy and love to people living in difficult and seemingly hopeless situations.

It has been awesome to see the children in the team participate in the ministries that were possible for them to be part of at their age (1-8yr); sharing testimonies, acting in dramas, praying for others, giving out food bags and visiting people at mental hospitals and in schools. It is great to be able to serve as a family, even though it sometimes is hard and challenging for both children and parents.

The impressions I am left with after this DTS outreach are impressions of God’s faithfulness, the unity of the team, the families’ ability and willingness to press in and follow where God lead, and all the wonderful people we were blessed to meet in the different cultures.