This expanded 8-month DTS invites you into a life-transforming pursuit to know God intimately and make Him known boldly. Through travel, immersive biblical study, and hands-on outreach and evangelism, this integrated program unites the Discipleship Training School (DTS) and the Discipleship Bible School into one powerful, life-shaping experience.
WDTS (The Way Discipleship Training School) is an eight-month live-learn discipleship course geared toward knowing God, making Him known, and learning His story through an immersive study of Scripture.
During this time, you will be championed and challenged in your walk with God, experiencing discipleship not just in the classroom, but also in community and in the nations. You won’t just grow in the classroom, you’ll be trained in everyday life and on Outreach, learning how to follow Jesus wherever you are sent.
Catch the fire with your generation and carry it home, recognizing that this pursuit of God is about a lifetime of saying yes to more.
Like every DTS, the WDTS forms your relationship with God and helps you discover His purposes for your life. Then it takes you further, giving you extra time in Scripture so what God ignites in you can mature into a lifelong yes.
A standard DTS is 5 months: a 3-month lecture phase followed by a 2-month Outreach. In that time, you experience immense growth in your relationship with God. Through incredible speakers, you learn who God is, who you are in Him, and the mission you can go on.
WDTS includes everything a DTS is known for, and it also incorporates three more months of Bible study and teaching after Outreach.
That extra season is designed to equip you with a solid biblical foundation. You won’t only hear teaching from and about the Bible, you will engage with it yourself and find God and His truth in His Word.
This foundation grounds your relationship with God, prepares you for a fruitful life of following Jesus, nourishes you with the Word, and enables you to bear lasting fruit afterwards in your church, family, and circle of friends.
In this expanded Bible studies portion, you will also travel to Rome for firsthand learning that helps the letters of Paul come alive in a whole new way.
The first Phase, consisting of three months, is about laying the foundations of what it means to know God, to follow Him, and to love Him. We will focus on the truth of who God is, His character and nature, and the call to seek His Kingdom.
At the center of this discipleship journey is fellowship: sharing times of prayer, uniting in worship, gathering around the table, and reading the Word in your heart language. Learning from one another and serving those around you in practical ways, within a community that will become family.
After the lecture phase, continue growing in what you have learned by giving it to the nations. How? Through Outreach. In this phase, you will spend two months serving alongside your team in another location.
The dynamic of each team is different depending on the nation to which it is sent. You can expect the WDTS to carry a unique focus on Europe, as well as the Middle East, with ministry opportunities geared toward serving in the environment you are sent. Partner with the heart to see Europe awakened and the Middle East softened. In all things, there will be an emphasis on proclaiming the good news through service and creativity.
Your outreach team will be led by your DTS school staff, who will do all they can to plan the outreach activities and ministries. However, flexibility and being ready for the unexpected is a key part of the outreach experience. Many teams have experienced last-minute calls from their hosts to lead services, share testimonies, or serve meals. The unpredictability creates exciting opportunities to step out in faith and experience God working in incredible ways.
After seeing God move in the nations, return to Lausanne for the final three months of the school. As you make your way through the biblical narrative, you will discover a fresh understanding of God's redemptive plan, His character and nature, and biblical application principles. These principles will help form your worldview as a disciple.
Each week, you will have incredible Bible teachers who will walk you through a portion of the text. From Week 1 to Week 11, you will journey chronologically through the whole Bible. Upon completion, you will have a firm grasp of the metanarrative of God’s Word and will be able to share it in front of groups or one-to-one.
This is not limited to the classroom. You will spend part of the school engaging with Scripture on the very ground where these words were originally experienced. See the story in a new light by walking it yourself.
Let this school be a stepping stone that leads you into a lifetime of knowing your God and being moved by Him. What you receive in the WDTS is for you to give away.
In John, Jesus tells His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The Way DTS is about embracing this promise and letting it shape how we train for missions. In the DTS, you will learn the way of Jesus, follow Him, spread the gospel, and discover what it means not just to be a believer, but a true disciple.
The DBS portion helps you engage with the Truth, learning about the living Word through exploring the Written Word.
And the Life? With these two foundations, the Way and the Truth, you are sent out to live a life of following Jesus, rooted in Scripture. Wherever you go after the Way DTS, our aim is for you to continue walking in the Way, living in the Truth, and experiencing the Life Jesus promised, so you can share that Life wherever He calls you!
MDTS: Experience missions in action
This is a unique learning adventure pioneered by YWAM Lausanne on the stunning shores of the Mediterranean in North Africa. MDTS embeds discipleship learning in a real-world frontier missional context, blending the classroom with hands-on fieldwork.
Offered at certain times of the year, the MDTS will challenge and inspire you as you explore faith, mission, and community in an unforgettable setting.
