Transforming Spheres of Society

In 1975, Loren Cunningham sensed God giving him a message about God’s desire to see transformation in every sphere of society. Shortly thereafter Loren found out that other Christian leaders had sensed God giving them essentially the same message. Those leaders included Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and author Francis Schaeffer.

Celebrating the spheres at YWAM Together 2016

At the YWAM Together 2016 event held in Kansas City in September, a diverse group met which included YWAM staff, YWAM alumni, and friends of YWAM working in business, education, government, entertainment, and media. More than 2,000 people participated. They had the opportunity to dialog about the spheres at a more practical implementation level than YWAM has done before.
Said David Hamilton, one of YWAM’s leaders, “God wants every nation to be able to experience the transformative impact of the kingdom of God in every dimension of its cultural life, shaping every sphere of society.”
Beth Senn, a YWAM alumni who works in Melbourne, Australia, commented, “Everyone is called to impact the spheres of society. If you hold that God is the creator and sustainer of all things then the farmer who milks the cows, the driver who delivers the milk, and the cashier who sells you the milk are all God’s agents to feed and care for the world.”

Working in media at YWAM England

Please join us this month as YWAM’s global prayer day, called The Invitation, focuses on praying for the seven spheres of society: family, economics, government, religion, education, media, and celebration. Please pray with us any day this month, or join us on the actual prayer day, Thursday, November 10.
As you prepare to pray, take a moment to look over this article, God Revealed Through the Spheres of Society, by David Hamilton.

Pray for the Spheres of Society

Pray for understanding:

• For God to teach us how to righty represent him in all of these different arenas of society.
• For understanding among Christian workers of the importance of all spheres for building God’s kingdom.
• For a spirit of teachability regarding spheres among YWAM staff, alumni, and friends.
• For the YWAM family to be grounded in God and His Word so that we bring biblical value to the spheres.
• That new tools available for understanding the spheres from a biblical perspective will help us work more faithfully in God’s purpose for every societal sphere of influence. (For one example, see the SourceView Bible.)

Pray for transformation:

• For more effective discipling of the nations through a better understanding of the spheres.
• For YWAM’s University of Nations training for the spheres.
• For effective partnerships and relationships between traditional YWAM and spheres, and between people from one sphere to another.
• For wisdom for YWAM leaders as YWAM grows at a faster pace due to sphere ministries.
• That our multiplication would be a movement generated by the Spirit of God.
• For a communication infrastructure that will effectively support the anticipated growth of YWAM in all the spheres.
• For members of the YWAM family to be in the world but not conformed to it.

Learn More About the Spheres

YWAM’s Pacific Link ship in Papua New Guinea

Each sphere plays a unique role in seeing “God’s kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10). To learn more about the spheres of society, take a look at the following resources.
Read short stories about working in the spheres by YWAM alumni and current YWAMers.
Read about how the spheres of society were identified.
Watch this video to hear from YWAM’s founder Loren Cunningham about YWAM and the spheres of society.

Tech training at YWAM Nigeria

Download the YWAM Together workbook:

• Read about beauty, order and abundance and fill out the Discovering Kingdom Metrics to Disciple the Nations worksheet on pages 26-27 of the workbook.
• Read about the Belief Tree and fill out The Belief Tree and the Seven Spheres of Influence worksheet on pages 30-35 of the workbook.
• Read about the domains of authority and the spheres of influence and fill out the Understanding The Domains of Authority worksheet on pages 36 – 43 of the workbook.
• Complete the Preparing for Transformation questionnaire found on page 47.

Find out more about the SourceView Bible app and download it.
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Don’t Miss The Invitation

During October, 2016 we prayed about A Year of Answered Prayer. YWAMers noted on Facebook where they prayed: Australia, Mexico, Malawi, Canada, USA, Brazil, Korea, Papua New Guinea, India, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Nepal, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Norway, Philippines, and Italy.
Future Topics: December 8 – Paris.
How to participate:

• Sign up for prayer updates. On ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the post on the second Thursday on YWAM’s Facebook page.
• Follow YWAM on Twitter; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time or post a picture.
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us.