United with Dan on a Mission

Settling in (Not much time)

Upon returning to Scotland, I had to spend the first few days in a quarantine hotel. All things considered, my stay was good compared to many of the stories I had heard, yet the quality did not match the exorbitant price. 

As things worked out, I had about half a week to settle in before the trainees would arrive for the DTS (Discipleship Training School). Ultimately it was a difficult time as I found myself quickly needing to deal with the feelings of nostalgia, being present in everything happening and trying to wrap my head around this place being home. One of the first things I did was try to personalise my room so that it could feel like my space. There were also the boxes that I had in my heart and was determined to tick when starting out. First, I wanted to find a good church to be a part of. Second, I did not want to get stuck in the ‘castle on a hill’ or the YWAM base bubble which can so easily happen; I wanted to be outward focused. Thirdly I wanted to become involved in continual ministries that would complement my skills and passions. 

In regards to the church, during my time in quarantine I believe God brought to mind a church at which we had shared outreach testimonies at the end of my DTS in 2018. I had no idea what the name of the church was, or where it was. After asking several people, I had a hunch that it might be The Bridge Church in Kilwinning. So, on my first weekend here I went to the church. It was tricky as I had to take the bus which on a Sunday ran irregularly. I ended up outside the church more than an hour beforehand as a later bus would have got me there late. All in all, it was the church God had reminded me about. I was surprised that people in the congregation remembered our time there, and our testimonies from 3 years before. On that first day I also met someone from West Kilbride who has been giving me lifts back and forth each weekend. My experience of this church and the community has only been good. I have since developed a friendship with a number of the members that I really cherish. It has both ticked ‘the good church’ and ‘outward focused’ boxes. This has also made significant contributions to how fast I was able to settle in here. A great advantage of this was that I had a world outside of YWAM and the DTS. The third box would also be checked about halfway through the DTS. This took the form of a connection to the East Asian or Seino community in Glasgow. I would usually join a student cafe with Sandyford Henderson Church and focus on befriending and sharing testimonies and experience with the university students present. This often expanded to many more meetings outside the cafe times, one of which I got to spend a whole weekend with the students touring the Scottish Highlands. This ministry has been such a fantastic source of life for me. In branching out, I even got to share Jesus with people from countries that are closed to Christianity and representatives of those nations, and other propagandists. [I don’t know if it’s safe for me or them to be saying much more online…] The best part of all this has been, being a part of (not the sole contributor) seeing 11-15 of these students give their lives to Christ. Many of which encountered God in a supernatural way. One had a dream a few times of numbers of some sort. Unfortunately, I forget the details, but one day he was given a Bible and opened it. He opened it to Mark 1:17 which related to the numbers he had seen in the dream, and it read, ““Come, follow me,” Jesus said…” and so he decided then and there to follow Jesus. If everything I had done and sacrificed or been a part of these last few years, was just for this, I would be happy. 

DTS (Staff)

Joining the DTS staff team was rushed. Working with my staff team was strange. I was already familiar with all except one, as they were involved in my DTS. Due to a complicated mix of feelings I felt the need to contribute to the value and ability of the team, as I have changed and experienced much since my DTS, and therefore felt I had much to offer. Unfortunately, I did not really see or find an opportunity to do so since so much had been done or prepared before my arrival. All I could really do was follow the lines already set out. I ended up taking on a special case disciple or “one-on-one”, with  whom I would be walking closely. He had been diagnosed with Aspergers. Sometimes it was a real blessing and privilege to be walking with him and other times it was a real struggle. He believed that he was a failure, never good enough, and deserved any and every kind of punishment. He could only see God as a God of wrath and vengeance. He walked hunched over, never smiling, and it was as if a dark cloud covered him. Through the daily routines and discussions with him, God one day inspired me to speak positivity over him, to always come in the opposite spirit to that which he spoke over himself. Sometimes, half the conversation would consist of just speaking blessings as opposed to curses. One way or another, as the school progressed and by the grace of God, he began to walk more upright, had more light in his face, made eye contact and started to smile, laugh and get passionate about things. It was a great privilege. On the flip side though, needing to focus so much attention to the ‘one-on-one’, together with trying to settle in here, really impacted my ability to connect and relate to the wider group. Before I knew it, a lot of water had passed under the bridge and it was hard to catch up and connect with them. I also realised by the time outreach came that that negative spirit had somewhat rubbed off on me and I had become more inward focused and incredibly cynical about many things. I had very little that was giving me life or refreshment, and I fell into ‘machine mode’… but then outreach came.

Outreach is really such a source of life for me. We were privileged to join with several other YWAM communities and SandyFord Henderson Church to bring Jesus to COP26 in Glasgow. It was an amazing time filled with many testimonies, and where we reached people from 106 different countries. Personally I formed a connection with a student cafe ministry which I have continued to pursue since; for me personally this has largely become a Chinese student ministry. It soon became the highlight of my week, with me spending my Friday afternoon and evening with them before returning to West Kilbride with the last train of the day. 

Long term outreach preparation and execution was a challenge. Our location changed a few times, first because of visas, then because of covid, and then again because of staff. The majority of the school also fell prey to Covid, which was a challenging season for sure. Very little could be planned for, which brought out everyone’s best colours. God then led us to Derby for outreach where we engaged with many existing ministries from food banks, ex-offenders, rehabilitation, youth, university groups and more. 

All in all, by the time DTS came to an end I walked away with: A Chinese student ministry, a discovery of new strengths in and for missions; being visionary, a source of calm, and realised I was good at networking and connecting people who share complementary passions or talents.