What are the Mission Frontiers?

2.1 billion people have not yet heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They cannot call on Him for salvation because they have not even heard His name. They have not heard because they are out of the reach of the gospel message. 'Frontier missions' denotes missions to theses "unreached" people of the earth. "World Christians" are those who long to see the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3) as prophetically fulfilled in Revelation 5:9. World Christians long for all the peoples of the earth to know God and worship Him.

A frontier missionary is a Christian who obeys Christ command to "disciple all nations." In the spirit of the Apostle Paul, frontier missionaries longs to "preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named."

What Makes a Successful Frontier Missionary?

Surely there are many barriers to following Jesus to the mission frontiers. YWAM Singapore's experience is that four skills are essential toward overcoming the greatest barriers:

• Ability to learn the target people's language
• Ability to understand the target people's worldview
• Ability to work well on a ministry team
• Ability to survive in frontier locations

Our experience tells us that a frontier missionary's long-term success largely depends on how well these four skills are practically learned during the first two years of field service.

What is taught in this SoFM?

Topics that are always taught in our SoFM are:

• The Biblical Basis of Missions
• Language Acquisition
• Language 'Hot-House' Practicum in Little India
• Church Planting Movements and Envisioning
• Strategic Missions Thinking
• Principles of Frontier Mission Church Planting
• People Group Research
• Cultural Insights for Mission (basic cultural anthropology)
• Discovering Worldview with practicum (ethnography)
• Cross-cultural Communication
• Team Relationship and Ministry Skills
• Survival Skills
• Member Care
• Frontier Missions and Community Development
• Urban Frontier Missions

Topics that are sometimes taught in our SoFM are:

• Folk religion
• Brewster LAMP videos
• Missionary Leadership Development
• The Character of a Frontier Missionary
• The Chronological Approach to the Bible

Do you provide babysitting for parents with children?

No, but we have had married students' small children in the classroom for 50% of our schools. So far this has worked very successfully. There is a small 8 ' X 10' room immediately adjacent to the classroom where they can have a play area, toys (if you bring them) and VCR. Strictly speaking, we do not provide babysitting though, in the past everyone has chipped in, including the school leader! We strongly encourage married couples to attend the SoFM together.

Do you have accommodations for families?

No, at present, YWAM House cannot accommodate families. If your family would like to come to YWAM Singapore, then we need 3-4 months advance notice to find you appropriate housing off-base. Costs vary. A rough estimate of housing costs for a family of 3-5 would be USD $600. You should notify the school leader - sofm@ywam.org.sg -- if you are in need of such housing.

Is the SoFM outreach compulsory?

Except in very special cases (e.g. fulfilling UofN requirements), we do not accept people into the SoFM unless they are headed to the field. After your SoFM lecture phase you have the option of doing an outreach at a YWAM Singapore target or with another field team. Outreaches at YWAM Singapore targets are called 'internships'. Our base focuses on China, Cambodia and Myanmar. We offer "SoFM internships" at seven locations in these three countries. An Internship is a missions-mentored field learning experience that compliments the SoFM lecture phase along the lines of the five training objectives (1. Language learning, 2. Culture learning, 3. Develop survival skills, 4. Develop team skills, 5. Find a place of long-term placement). Most of our field leaders have been through our SoFM training. You join their team for 9 months, attend meetings, meet with the field leader fortnightly, do your language/culture study and build relationships with unreached people in the community. 2-3 times during your internship the SoFM school leadership will visit you to do member care and coaching and give general encouragement. During the last visit we process with you the entire last 12 months and help you onto your next step in missions placement. In other words, the lecture phase plus the internship constitute one who learning experience for the SoFM student.

Our YWAM Singapore internship is not compulsory. If you elect not to do our internship, then within our ability, we will do our best to help you transition to another teamfind a place to go after the lecture phase. We cannot guarantee the experience lecture phase grads have on these outreaches. We do not offer internships at these locations.

In our experience, the advantage of the internship is stark. We would strongly encourage people to do one, even if their final destination is different than their internship country. We have almost a 100% survival rate with interns (i.e. since 1999 they are still on the field) ; it is much less for those who have not done non-internship outreaches. Your first 2-4 years on the field are the most important.

How can the SOFM internship can help you?

The internship enables you to experientially acquire the four skills of the SoFM in a mentored experience. After the lecture phase you can go as part of a team to the mission field for nine months to learn how to:

• Speak the heart language of your target people
• Understand the target people to share the gospel more effectively
• Work well on a field team
• Survive in a frontier location

YWAM Singapore's SOFM provides regular coaching visits for internship teams. Some internship locations also have on-site coaches. The role of the coach is to help you troubleshoot difficulties in your field learning experience. Your coach will provide accountability and help so you can learn the four skills of the SoFM. The mentoring process will give you understanding and ability to make disciples among the unreached.

YWAM Singapore's SOFM provides member care oversight to internship teams. Member care is providing pastoral care for frontier missionaries. SoFM staff will help you build good disciplines for your long-term frontier missions ministry. After SOFM you can wisely consider your future in frontier missions. You may opt for ministry among the unreached people you came to love during internship. You may choose further training to prepare for long term service among a different target unreached group. Or you may choose to serve among unreached Asian peoples that YWAM Singapore is targeting. YWAM Singapore offers missions placement and missions career counseling.

How big is the SoFM school?

Some are as small as four. Others are as large as thirteen. The average size is eight.

Where do the students come from?

On average 2/3 of the students in the SoFM are Singaporean. Foreign students predominantly come from Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, India and USA.

What are the average ages?

The average age of students usually falls between 23 and 35.

What are the placements?

YWAM Singapore targets China, Cambodia and Myanmar. We would be willing to share our unreached people targets and entry cities with you if you will make contact with the SoFM School Director. Kindly e-mail the SoFM School director at sofm@ywam.org.sg with your Local Church name and pastor's name (if Singaporean) or YWAM base where you did your DTS, the year and month your DTS began, and the DTS leader (if you are a YWAMer).

In the field, do SoFM graduates have any fellowship?

It depends. If they go to one of our internship 'targets', yes, usually. Normally, they are sent out on teams, which is also YWAM's strong preference. When that is not possible, we are prone to send them to locations where workers already are. So the usual answer is 'yes'. The biggest factor is the willingness of the students to see the internship as a
skill-development experience rather than a ministry destination. If they do
NOT go to one of our internship 'targets', then we cannot guarantee what the fellowship will be.

Do SoFM graduates in the field stay together?

During the internship ... yes, except when culture would dictate that it is inappropriate. After the internship ... sometimes. (see comment above on seeing the internship 'target' as a cross-cultural skill-development location rather than a final ministry destination). It depends on several factors: ... the chemistry of the team members and the experience they share together ... how God leads them during the internship in regard to confirming their "ultimate" frontier ministry location (a small % of students come to the SoFM certain of their ultimate destination, which is different than thier internship location, but go to our internship location to complete the SoFM learning experience ... and then go on to their final destination)

How/what is the accommodation for graduates in the field?

This depends on the location. You might need to contact us for more information. At some of our internship locations there is a prepared place for you to stay -- room and board -- and the cost is very reasonable. At some other internship locations you are left a large degree of autonomy to find and select your housing.