Mission & PurposeCommunity

Volunteering ata mission base

Behind every school and every ministry there are people serving in seen and unseen ways. Here is an honest look at what volunteering at a mission base is like.

By the YWAM Cáceres team

Volunteering at a mission base is, above all, about living and serving in community: sharing life with people from different cultures, helping with the jobs that keep the house running, taking part in ministries in the city, and growing in your relationship with God in the middle of ordinary life. It is not glamorous, but it can be one of the most formative seasons of your life.

What is a mission base?

In Youth With A Mission, a base is a place where a team lives, trains and serves. It is where schools run, ministries are coordinated and people arrive to learn or to serve. YWAM works as a family of ministries rather than a centralised organisation, so every base has its own character and its own ways of serving.

YWAM Cáceres, for example, is an urban base founded in 2009 in Cáceres, in western Spain. The way we serve rests on three pillars: training, the arts and evangelism. You can find out more on our About page.

What does a volunteer's day look like?

Every base is different, but a volunteer's life usually combines several things:

• Time with God and with the community. Worship, prayer and intercession, both alone and with the team.
• Practical work. Cleaning, cooking, maintenance, hospitality, admin. The jobs nobody sees but that hold everything else up.
• Supporting the schools. Helping students have what they need, setting up spaces, joining in activities.
• Ministry in the city. Taking part in the ways the base serves the people around it.

What matters is not so much which task you get, but the heart you do it with. At a base you learn that washing the dishes and praying for a city can be equally spiritual.

In Colossians 3:23 Paul encourages us to do everything wholeheartedly, as if for the Lord and not for people. It is almost a summary of life on a base.

What ministries does YWAM Cáceres run?

In Cáceres we serve the city in simple, personal ways. Since we arrived we have supported local churches, shared the Gospel through friendships, served in care homes and given out Bibles. We also run some ministries of our own:

• English conversation club. Twice a month, a space where anyone can practise English with native speakers, with no classrooms or exams. More than a language event, it is a community where friendships grow.
• Artists' community. A space of mutual support for musicians, actors, dancers and visual artists to grow in skill and character, with projects, gatherings and open mics.

You do not need to be an artist to serve with us. The base is for everyone. You can read more on our ministries page.

Living in community: the beautiful and the hard

Community life is probably what changes volunteers the most. You share a table, a home and a mission with people of other cultures, ages and backgrounds. You make deep friendships and learn a lot about God through others.

But it is also demanding. There are different habits, schedules and ways of communicating. There are tiring days. Living in community brings out things in our character we would rather not see. The good news is that this is exactly where God does his work: in forgiveness, patience, humility and serving one another.

Who can volunteer at a mission base?

Requirements vary a lot from base to base and depending on the kind of service. In YWAM, serving as long-term staff normally requires having done a DTS, a Discipleship Training School, first. For other kinds of volunteering, the conditions depend on each base.

So if you are interested in serving at YWAM Cáceres, the best thing is to write to us and tell us about your situation: your experience, how much time you have and what is drawing you. That way we can point you to the real options and what they involve.

What to ask before you take the step

Before committing as a volunteer at any base, it is worth clarifying a few things:

• Length. How long are you expected to stay, and how long can you offer?
• Accommodation and costs. Where will you live and what costs will you need to cover? In YWAM, staff are volunteers and are usually supported by their church, family or friends.
• Role. Which areas will you serve in, and who will walk alongside you?
• Paperwork. If you are coming from another country, what do you need to stay legally? The base can guide you on your specific case.
• Language. Which language is used day to day? In Cáceres, for example, our DTS is bilingual in Spanish and English.

And above all, pray and talk to your church. Serving at a base is more fruitful when you do not go alone, but sent and supported.