What's a DTS?
3 months of faith-deepening teaching.
2 months of life-changing outreach.
A lifetime of following Jesus with everything you’ve got.
Our Discipleship Training School is a five-month programme designed give you the opportunity to experience authentic community and to discover more of who God is, who He’s calling you to be and how to live out the gospel of Jesus in the world.
With over 40 years of DTS experience, Holmsted Manor is passionate and committed to see you released into all that God has for you. Our live-learn environment, with community living; classes and assignments; small group discussion; your own personal mentor and other elements, trains people to be disciples of Jesus. In becoming more like Him, you will become a more authentic version of yourself, created in the image of God to go and change the world.
The Discipleship Training School is made up of three phases, each encouraging different areas of growth in both your relationship with God and also your partnership with Him in His transformation of the world.
Lecture Phase
The lecture phase of the school lasts for 12 weeks, and is your opportunity to develop and deepen your relationship with God. It starts off with a week of orientation: getting to know the others on your school and learning about what’s to come in the rest of DTS! Every week you’ll hear from speakers from around the world with real-life experience of what they’re teaching. Each one has a passion for discipleship and mission, teaching on key areas of the Christian faith.
Outside the classroom, you’ll get stuck into life here at Holmsted Manor – eating meals together; worshipping and praying; doing practical service; going to church on a Sunday and enjoying free time socialising together! We also engage in weekly local outreach, which could be serving breakfast to the homeless, creatively sharing about God’s love in the streets of our local town and much more!
Lecture topics may include:
Hearing God’s Voice
The Father Heart of God
Identity in Christ
The Cross
The Nature & Character of God
Biblical worldview
Inner Healing
Relationships
Mission
"Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you."
Dallas Willard
Outreach
We believe the life-changing love of Jesus isn’t just something we should keep for ourselves - it’s something the world needs to hear. The 9 week (approx.) outreach phase is about taking what you’ve learned about God and His kingdom during lecture phase and putting it into practice by sharing the love of God in a variety of contexts. You’ll continue with learning – prayer, worship, one-on-ones – as you live and serve in teams. Locations for outreach are not always decided in advance, so where you go will be communication when appropriate. We try to ensure that at least two weeks are spent in the UK either before or after a cross cultural, overseas placement.
We listen to what God is saying to us about what the outreach should be and respond to what He says. We generally go to locations where we have relationships with missionaries and ministries around the world and also supporting new initiatives that are finding their feet. On a Holmsted Manor DTS, you’ll experience mission both in an overseas location and here in the UK. In recent years, teams have been to countries on almost every continent, serving in both urban and rural settings. A few examples of recent DTS outreach locations are Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Germany, Brazil and India.
Debrief
We believe mission is a lifestyle, not just a trip. Your DTS outreach will also equip you for living missionally wherever God may call you to, whether that’s staying in YWAM, going to university or starting a career – God’s love is needed everywhere. After your 8-10 weeks of outreach, you’ll come back to Holmsted Manor (it will feel like coming home at that point) where we’ll help you unpack all that God has done and that you’ve experienced. You’ll have a week or so to evaluate what the previous six months has meant to you, prepare to leave, have a closing graduation ceremony and say your goodbyes. After this, we’ll commission you out with into the future God is calling you to, wherever that may be.