Two years ago Tara, our 3 kids, and I packed up and flew to Birmingham, England, to move into The King’s Lodge just outside of Nuneaton, England. We were going to take the Crossroads Discipleship Training School (CDTS) at The King’s Lodge, a Youth With A Mission base there. It was five of the best months of our lives. We lived at The King’s Lodge for three months and then spent two months in Cagayan De Oro, Philippines, applying all that we learned while ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Filipino people of Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City.
What is a CDTS and what do you learn? It is a missions preparatory school. You learn how much God loves you and how life is about relationship with God and others. The “lecture” phase, if you can call it that, because it isn’t traditional academic learning, is twelve weeks of focused learning about subjects like the nature and character of God, the Father heart of God, Relationships, Missions, Evangelism, Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and more. Each week you spend time in class with your entire group, time with two other students, time one on one with a staff member, and time in small groups of about 8-10 students and staff. You also have work duties and share in the continued operation of the base. It makes is somewhat of a “new-monastic” experience. All the while you are being prepared to do mission work and will be sharing the gospel of the Kingdom together for 8-12 weeks after the end of the lecture phase.
I highly recommend this training for every Christian. I am writing today because The King’s Lodge will be commencing an All Age Discipleship Training School on April 3, 2009. This means if you are 17-107 you can sign up and attend. I also noticed that, because of the higher value of the U.S. Dollar right now, the school is very inexpensive. The King’s Lodge charges 1550 pounds for the first three months of the school. As of today, 1550 pounds is about 2200 dollars. It was well over 3000 dollars when we attended in 2007. That means that for a little over 700 dollars per month you will have a place to live and three square meals a day.
Meanwhile, I promise that you will get some of the best opportunity for growth in your relationship with God that you have ever experienced in your life. It is a great bargain and investment. As people worry about the economy, or even as some have lost their jobs, here is an opportunity to rise above all of it and put your faith in the One who has it all in His hands.
After the first three months you will fly somewhere for missions outreach. It might be a place like South Africa (where the school went in 2008) or the Philippines (where we went in 2007), and it will cost about 1200 pounds per person for those two months (which is about $1800). There you will see your life change others’ lives. You will feed the hungry, both physically and spiritually, and make a difference.
Pray about this opportunity. You won’t regret it.
