What is a DTS?
A Discipleship Training School is five months of personally experiencing God and living the adventure of taking His message to the nations. Apply the truth of God to life and be further equipped to fulfil your purpose. It’s an intense, full-time program consisting of two parts – lecture phase and outreach phase.
Tracks of our DTS
Performing Arts
Join our performance team, learn the choreographies and pieces from our shows that have reached thousands for the gospel, grow in your connection between art and faith, and experience our creative process in real time as we develop a new show: Saudade, designed to reach university students, artists, and philosophers.
Prepare for meaningful conversations with people from different beliefs and backgrounds. Learn how to confidently and compassionately share your faith in ways that are both relevant and authentic. As you engage with real questions and perspectives, you’ll deepen your understanding of what you believe, why you believe it, and how to communicate it effectively in today’s world.
This track’s availability is subject to the number of interested students
Apologetics
Compassion
Experience biblical compassion firsthand as you serve alongside ministries that bring hope and practical support to people in need. Whether you’re helping at food banks, serving children, or connecting with those experiencing homelessness, you’ll discover what it means to put God’s love into action.
This track’s availability is subject to the number of interested students.
This track’s availability is subject to the number of interested students
Multimedia
Discipleship and Influence
This track’s availability is subject to the number of interested students.
Phase 1
The lecture phase
Start out with 12 weeks of focused, intensive discipleship in our missions community. You and your classmates will explore a range of topics, guided by experienced local and international missions practitioners. Every week will address areas related to following Jesus in life and character, personal relationship with God and missions.
Encouter God
Encounter God like never before. This is your time to personally get to know Him more and how He does things.
Topics
Hearing God’s Voice
Nature and Character of God
Experience Belonging
Explore God’s ways in relationships and further find your place in His family.
Topics
Father Heart of God
Relationships
Gain Perspective
See all of life from God’s perspective. As you get to know God, you find out how He feels about the world you live in.
Topics
Authority and Submission
Fear of the Lord
Discover Purpose
Discover more of your calling and start living the life that God created you for.
Topics
Missions
Evangelism
Grow in Holiness
Experience freedom and security through the cross of Jesus Christ. It will change how you live your day to day.
Topics
Repentance & Forgiveness
Making Jesus Lord
Build a Foundation
Your prayer and worship is fueled as you encounter God in new ways.
Topics
Living in Spiritual Authority
Intercession and Worship
Activities outside the classroom
As YWAM, our approach to training is holistic – “live-learn” – recognizing that learning and growth don’t just take place through lectures in a classroom, but also through serving, living in community, one-on-one discipleship, small group discussions and more.
Other essential elements of your DTS lecture phase experience include:
Worship
We love meeting with God together! You’ll have regular times of worship with your DTS, as well as with the larger YWAM Madrid community.
Assignments and Projects
Book reports, a group research project and weekly journals give you more opportunity to process and apply what you are learning.
International Community
YWAM Madrid is a multicultural, multigenerational gathering of individuals and families from many church backgrounds, committed to Christ, to the Great Commission and to each other.
One-on-one Discipelship
Regular times to meet with a DTS staff member, giving you opportunity to further process what God is doing, receive prayer and more.
Phase 2
The outreach phase
You don’t need to wait to make a difference! Go public with the gospel – share truth and meet needs.
Following three months of lecture phase, your DTS will head off on a two month cross-cultural outreach.
Outreach teams go and serve the lost wherever they are, and share the hope of Christ in many ways: evangelism, discipleship, sports, drama, youth ministry, teaching, music, practical service, prayer, media – we do it all.
We demonstrate the love of God to people through our lives and through the gifts that He’s given us.
Teams regularly partner with local churches and YWAM ministries to strengthen their ministry and provide for follow up discipleship. Your final week will be spent back in Madrid, de-briefing and being equipped to continue with everything that God has done in your life over the five months.
Cross-Cultural Missions
Teaching & Preaching
Acts of Mercy
Travel & Adventure
Work in a Team
The DTS is Just the Beginning
Your final week will be spent back in Madrid, de-briefing and getting ready for all God has for you next. Once you’ve finished the DTS, you’ve got an open door into further training and ministry within YWAM both in Madrid and internationally. The opportunities – in YWAM and beyond – are endless. You’ll be amazed at where God can take you! (And we’d love to help you get there)
Statement on working with different Christian denominations.
YWAM is an international, interdenominational missionary movement. That means we’re not part of a single denomination, but we welcome believers from many different Christian backgrounds—Protestant, Evangelical, Orthodox, and Catholic—who share the same heart: to “Know God and Make Him Known”.
Now, this doesn’t mean we ignore theological or doctrinal differences. We know they’re there, and we take them seriously. But what unites us is greater than what divides us: faith in Jesus Christ, the authority of God’s Word, the power of the gospel, and the call to go and make disciples of all nations.
From that place of shared mission, we’ve often had the joy of partnering with Catholic churches and schools during our outreaches. These experiences have enriched our students, strengthened our witness, and shown the world a visible expression of Christian unity.
We approach these partnerships with respect and discernment, always wanting to honor the people we work with and stay true to the values of the kingdom of God. Unity doesn’t require us to be the same in every detail, but it does invite us to walk together where we can – especially when it’s for the sake of the gospel.