YWAM 50 in Restenäs

20 November 2010

Amazing people, great food, excellent teaching, passionate worship and incredibly overwhelming generosity marked the YWAM Northern European gathering at Restenäs Sweden.  It was 5 days of celebrations where the whole region gathered to celebrate 50 years of YWAM international and 30 years of YWAM Restenäs.  Nearly 800 people came from the 9 nations in the region, with 40 nationalities represented among the staff and students.  

The first night set the tone of the event as the crowd roared with excitement as each person ran up the aisle when their nationality was called out.  The hall was buzzing with people worshiping and celebrating our unity and diversity.

Wednesday morning Alv Magnus shared about God’s faithful character, and then introduced the new team that is taking over his role as leader in Northern Europe.  The time of honoring Alv and Margareta spoke of how much people have been touched by their lives and ministry, and a prophecy encouraged them that the best was yet to come for their ministries.

Loren and Darlene joined us on the Wednesday night, which began with a parade of flags and presentations from the region.  From a dance and songs from Norway, to a choir from Finland, an incredibly moving song from a Swedish and Korean choir, to a toe-tapping traditional dance from Latvia; the region showed off a taste of their passion and cultures.  Loren shared that night a picture of how God is moving in the world now and exhorted us to go out and disciple the nations, preparing our bases for an influx of people coming to be trained and discipled.  This point was practically applied as an offering was taken up to go toward the Restenäs campus mortgage.  The atmosphere was electric as we worshipped and saw 1,098,000 Swedish Kroner (US$161,500) come in PAYING OF THE ENTIRE DEBT! The audience went wild with joy and you could tangibly feel a physical and spiritual change in the atmosphere as we witnessed Restenäs break free from debt.  And some sensed a new season in ministry and anointing coming, just like it was for Jesus after he turned 30.

The next morning, Darlene shared about YWAM as a family and how we need to have a “do not quit” attitude to serving God and living in the authority of Jesus with his love and compassion.  People eagerly wrote down the words of wisdom from the mission’s mother as she shared her contingency plan so we would not lose our zeal and joy in life and ministry.

After lunch we heard stories from each nation in the region with; a 24/7 two-year prayer meeting planned in Norway; open doors in Latvia; the desire to re-pioneer in Estonia and Lithuania; and the re-launch of YWAM in Iceland with a DTS starting next month; to name a few. Loren ended the evening sharing about having a University of the spirit and how God invites us to create with Him.

Friday morning Loren laid out the points of the Magna Carta, encouraging us all to take our part in seeing these Biblical rights become possible for all.  Darlene then asked us “who is Jesus to you?” as she invited us to come and sign the Jubilee Covenant. And we all stood as witnesses for each other as we took communion together, signed the covenant and prayed over the huge world map.

The 50th celebration ended Friday night with a party.  The kids started with a great song and testimony of their outreach into a nearby immigrant community where they shared about God with 50 other children.  We then rocked into the night worshipping the God and for who He is and all He had done.

But the party was not yet over!  Even though many had to leave Saturday morning, that evening 480 people gathered to celebrate Restenäs turning 30 years old.  Past students, staff, guests, friends and neighbors joined with current students and staff to celebrate the birthday.  All the former leaders (except one) were there to share stories and bless us all with wisdom and love for the place and people.  In all there was a great spirit of thankfulness and anticipation about what God has done and will do through Restenäs. 

So as Sunday morning rises we can look back on a very full week of fun, celebration and inspirational words, encouraging us onwards into the next 50 years of YWAM.

Helen Wilson