We throw around words in the Christian community; such as, calling, destiny, identity, gifting’s, but do we personally understand that these words are really ideas that we as Christians should live out in our everyday life? These are not just abstract ideas we hear about but can’t really understand. If we don’t understand for ourselves first, then how can we disciple those in our schools, churches, and our families? How can we disciple our DTS students in their callings, if we do not first know what the calling is upon our lives? How do we fit in into God’s Big Plan?
That is what the teaching Destiny by Design was created to do, give Christians in or out of a DTS a chance to look at how they were designed by looking at their; Dreams, Experiences, Soulprint (personality), Identity, Gifts, Networks. Taking these different parts of someone’s life and showing them how God has weaved them all together to create a tapestry that fits perfectly in God’s big plan.
This course takes it one step farther because it is not all about us. We do not find out what our calling is, what ourgifts are, what our dream is, so that we can stay focused on ‘us’. God created us and called us all to be ambassadors to a hurt and broken world. Once you know what you are Designed to do, you then turn around and use what you’ve learned as a natural way to share the Gospel by asking the people around you about their Design, always pointing their design to the Designer, Jesus Christ. Street Evangelism or evangelism in general has always terrified me, always! After our teacher for Destiny by Design explained how you could use this approach in evangelism, I was amazed asking myself “Is it really that easy? I can do that!”
Destiny by Design uses different teaching practices so the participants in the course do not just sit and hear a lecture. Some of the things participants will do during the course are; draw, color, create skits, fill out questionnaires, listen to the voice of God, use clay/playdough, watch movies, and share to partners, small groups, or the whole class. This helps participants process what they are hearing in more than one way, an example, in one activity participants are asked to draw their dream, sometimes participants draw things and they don’t know why they draw them, but throughout the week things are revealed that help them understand why they drew their dream that way. If you had just asked a participant to tell you their dream they would have missed what was hidden, but still placed there by God for a purpose.
About Me: I am a single mom working with YWAM Cluj-Napoca, Romania. My daughter (Aliya, age 7) and I have worked in Romania for over 5 years in the administration department. This past May I had an opportunity to go to Amsterdam and do the Teacher’s Training for Destiny by Design, this program was led by Gwen Bergquist the writer of this curriculum. It was a great opportunity to learn and study under Gwen. Part of my design is as a teacher and I am looking forward to being able to call out other’s Designs through this program.
-Hannah Martin
YWAM Romania
This article is part of a series from people we consider YWAM CE resources. People who are able to teach in our schools. You can find more articles by clicking the YWAM CE resource tag. You can see who in our region is able to teach on which topics by going to https://ywamce.com/teachers-in-ywam-ce/