Training for better Communication

One of the things that Com Teams do to support YWAM missionaries is to offer them training in communication. Here at AfriCom, we have made a number of short courses available - in newsletter writing, fundraising, photoshop and short story writing, to name a few. The primary training strategy by Com Teams globally, however, is the week-long Basic Communication Workshop, or BCW (everything in YWAM gets shortened to an acronym, it's part of our corporate culture!).

The Basic Communication Workshop is just that: basic. It is a week of training for any and all YWAMers on communication skills that will help them to be more effective as a missionary in their context. The course touches on interpersonal communication - how to resolve conflict, how to be aware of cross-cultural issues, how to chair a meeting, or communicate a decision - which are commonly issues relating to functioning within one's missionary team and with those amongst whom you work.

We also focus on more 'concrete' skills, such as writing and photography, or design skills - those things that relate to functioning in partnership with one's sending church, or to promoting one's ministry.

As you may be aware, YWAM staff members all work voluntarily - even the president! This means that every missionary forms partnerships with family members or people from their churches who feel their part in missions is to give so that others can go. This strategy has led to amazing growth for us as a mission; YWAM is the one of the largest missionary organizations in the world, working in over 150 countries with over 16,000 staff, all whom rely on God’s provision and a team of people behind them.

This makes communication a crucial part of every YWAMers job. As our financial partners bless us, we want to also bless them by keeping them up-to-date with news from our area of ministry and by helping them to feel a part of our work. Photos, stories and videos are all great ways to do this and increasingly there are very helpful Internet tools available too. Oftentimes, people are very keen to bring a new aspect to their communication - to add a blog or a website to their normal newsletter - but they're not sure where or how to start. The BCW enables them to dip their toes in the water and before long they are swimming!

Although the BCW is short - more of an introduction that a comprehensive course - it is a useful way to boost both enthusiasm and capacity for this all-important aspect in the life of a missionary. Staying in touch with supporters can be fun, dynamic and encouraging and - when it is done well - missionaries find that their supporters want to give more than money, often taking on home-based projects to help the ministry, or planning a visit to get involved on the ground.

Com Teams have run Basic Communication Workshops all over the world; from Argentina to Russia, from Uganda to Thailand. This year, AfriCom is planning to run one in South Africa, as well as our more advanced 3-week workshop in Tanzania.

For more information, or to get involved, email us at ywamafricom@gmail.com

Communicators help YWAM celebrate 50 years

In case you missed it, YWAM is celebrating 50 years of missions work this year! Throughout the year there are special events being held in every region of the world, giving YWAM staff, students, alumni and supporters the opportunity to look back on the milestones of the last half-century and give thanks for all that has been accomplished.

Everywhere where there is a Com Team, the members of those teams are taking this great opportunity to support their YWAM community at these events. Some are offering their practical skills to help make the celebrations run smoothly through taking care of all the technical details of showing video, maintaining good quality sound and even producing name-tags. In other places - such as in Uganda next month - Com Team members will be producing a photographic time-line of YWAM's story in their region and producing other visual pieces to help celebrate 50 years of missionary endeavour.

Here in Cape Town our team has been working on a commemorative magazine of YWAM's history in Africa. It has been an incredible project, with more contributors than any other project we have undertaken. The willingness of so many people to get involved means that we have successfully produced the very first compilation of YWAM's story on this continent ever! From design, to photos, to stories, to translation in French and Portuguese, to printing and mailing - everything has been done in partnership with very special people from around the world. Today boxes of those magazines are being mailed from India, where they were printed, to YWAM centres around Africa. At every 50th celebration in Africa YWAM staff will receive complimentary copies of the magazine.

We are thrilled to give these special gifts to the unsung heroes out there - Jo or Jenny YWAMer, giving their time and their energies to see sustainable change come to their communities. As they read the stories of those who have gone before them, may they be strengthened to persevere.

After all, we are not only celebrating what has passed ... we are eagerly anticipating what is still to come!

Communication from West Africa

You may have heard on the news about the violence taking place in Nigeria. AfriCom staff have been working with local leaders there to compose a news piece from the perspective of the Youth With A Mission staff on the ground. The article has just been posted on our international website.

Day 2 update from CRIT consultation 2010

CRIT Communication Consultation 2010

Every year the YWAM communication network collaborates to hold an international consultation and this year it is being held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Alongside the consultation, a Basic Communication Workshop (BCW) is offered to YWAM staff to help them improve their ability to communicate effectively on behalf of their ministry projects, and at a personal level.

Tim and Lydia are attending CRIT from the AfriCom office in the south, and the team in East Africa is represented by Vikki and Charles, with Anne going from West Africa. It's a wonderful opportunity for the AfriCom network to connect with one another in person and to consult about communication strategy for this continent, as well as to share ideas and challenges with people from around the world.

This year there has been a strong emphasis on frontier missions, that is mobilizing and supporting YWAM workers in areas where few people have the opportunity to hear the Christian message. In Africa the leadership team have agreed to jointly promote mobilization into the central part of the continent, where we have very few YWAM teams. Life is hard in these places so communicators can play a role, not only in telling people about the need and the opportunity there, but also in strengthening those who do decide to work there. We can do this by helping them stay connected with the wider YWAM body, equipping them with skills to develop prayer and funding partnerships and letting others know about their work by producing articles and video clips. As always, frontier missions is most effective over the long term when done as part of a multi-faceted team. We hope to see a Communication Team developed at CRIT this year that will be specifically tasked with supporting the work of YWAM's frontier missionaries around the world.

Serving the Africa Leadership Team

This week Tim is in Mali where he is attending the annual meetings of both the Field Service Team (FST) and the Africa Leadership Team (ALT). Regular readers will know that Tim is currently coordinating the work of the FST, a loose affiliation of ministries united by their focus on serving the needs of our YWAM missionaries working in Africa. This year the group once again looked at strategies to develop leaders, as well as ways to mobilize more YWAM teams into the challenging central region of the continent.

Every year a member of our team joins the ALT in order to give them communication support. This includes posting daily reports on-line so that YWAM staff in Africa are kept updated on the decision-making processes of the leaders. You can view these daily reports on the YWAM Africa website.

Introducing Christabel Lwiindi

As a YWAM communication ministry seeking to develop a network of communication teams throughout Africa, we do our best to connect with any staff members whose responsibilities include those related to communication. Christabel is one such staff member; she is based in Worcester, South Africa and attached to the southern regional leadership team, specifically to Stefaan Hugo as the Regional Director. Christabel is originally from Zambia and is trained as a journalist, so she brings great experience to her role, both of the region and of communication. She is supported administratively by Judy Guntelach who helps enormously by maintaining the database and sending out emails that need to reach YWAM staff throughout the region.

Miranda and Evelien really appreciated their opportunity to meet with Christabel recently, and are looking forward to working together in the coming months. If you are playing a similar role somewhere in Africa, or you know someone who is doing so, we encourage you to get in touch, so that by working together we can strengthen YWAM's communication capacity more effectively than we can when we work alone!

Email us at: ywamafricom@gmail.com