SOFM

One of my hopes in writing this blog is to give a little insight to the things we do at YWAM Jax Beach.  To that end, from time to time I hope to talk about some of the topics we cover in our Discipleship Training School (DTS) and School of Frontier Missions (SOFM).  But first, I want to give you a brief overview of the SOFM, which is the school I facilitate and organize at YWAM Jax Beach.
The SOFM is aimed at equipping people before they move to work among unreached people groups.  The DTS is primarily focused on the student's relationship with God. The SOFM expands that focus to providing the students with tools to help them thrive in their cross-cultural ministry.  We deal with language and culture acquisition, principles of church planting, orality/storytelling (for oral-based cultures), and team dynamics to name a few.  After the lecture phase ends, students participate in a 2-year internship.  During the internship students join an existing church-plant team working in the 10/40 window.  These teams help the students acclimate to a new culture and further practice the skills learned in the SOFM   The end goal of the school is not to have trained perfect missionaries, but rather to prepare the students to go with their eyes open and ready to learn, so their ministry will be effective and culturally appropriate.  In coming weeks,  we'll look more in-depth at these and other topics.