These are indeed unprecedented times and we, as YWAM Muizenberg, have been praying for wisdom, guidance and peace for how as a community to proceed with the rapidly changing COVID-19 situation.
We are working as an organisation to protect our staff, staff families, students, volunteers and the wider Muizenberg community. As a base we have had to make some difficult decisions and put into place various precautions. All community gatherings have been suspended and we have withdrawn the current DTS’ outreach phases. We have put in place a Covid-19 Task Team that is working diligently for us to comply with government protocols and, where necessary, has gone beyond that for the safety and good of all. YWAM Staff and students have all been urged to be diligent in personal hygiene and strongly advised to socially distance as a way to ‘flatten the curve’. Information has been given to all of them recommending how to follow these precautions effectively.
We recognize that this is a time in which fear, anxiety, confusion and loneliness are felt by many. We would like to encourage you to see this time, where many of us are stepping into social distancing and self quarantine, as an invitation to rest, redefine ‘sabbath’ and reconnect with ourselves, our families and our God.
YWAM’s co-founder Darlene Cunningham recently said: “Though everything is changing around us on a daily and sometimes hourly basis, the first thing I want to say to you is, God is still on the throne! Nothing has caught Him by surprise. And in the midst of it all, there are amazing opportunities, if we will look to Him in faith. What the enemy has intended for evil through COVID19, I believe God will turn and use for good, both on a corporate/YWAM basis, and for each one of us individually.”
We as YWAM Muizenberg encourage everyone to support one another as best as they can through social media platforms etc. We are working on creating ways to make sure our community feels supported emotionally, physically and spiritually and have set up online resources to that effect. Every member of staff has personally been contacted by a member of our Community Health team making sure that they know what support is available to them.
In this time of fear, we choose hope. In this time of chaos, we choose rest. In this time of anxiety, we choose peace. In this time of ‘me’, we choose ‘us’ (even if we have to get creative with how ‘us’ looks).
“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”
YWAM Muizenberg is a multi-cultural, missional community who embraces, equips, and launches all people into all nations to reveal Christ and His Kingdom.
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