Dear Pastor/Church Leader,
We would like to inform you about a church-based, 11-month long Christian discipleship course which is starting in Germany.

The course aims to release the potential God has put inside people and help them grow into the person God is calling them to be. Students spend almost a year having their own character and attitudes challenged through discipleship, learning to serve within a church context, learning how to reach people who don’t know Jesus, studying biblical principles, and building confidence.

The course has been active in the UK since 1986, and over the years, many DNA students have experienced a wonderful transformation, coming into freedom and maturity, as they have allowed God to work in their hearts in response to the challenges of the DNA course.

DNA in Germany.
Naturally, Christians in Germany have a different culture and a different outlook from Christians in England. Therefore the course has been re-worked to take into consideration these differences, whilst at the same time keeping the unchanging truths of the kingdom of God, and aiming at the same goals for the development of the students.

How is this course different from bible school or missions training?
Bible schools and mission training are great, but sometimes after Christians have spent several months in such an environment, and then return to normal church life, they are disappointed and frustrated that they are unable to experience the intensive times with God, or the enthusiasm of their fellow students back in the local church. However, DNA students spend most of their time in a local church where they can balance what they learn with their experiences in a real-life, day to day, context.

What is the aim of the course?
The aim is to encourage and enable students to be better followers of Jesus Christ; to love Him; to understand their Christian faith; to desire to lay aside the encumbrances that can hinder their Christian walk (Heb 12:1), and to find their way in being useful in the service of Jesus (2 Tim 2:21). This service may be as a church worker, in the workplace, or wherever they may be.

The DNA course material is carefully chosen to encourage the students to take responsibility for their personal spiritual growth and to develop good habits in their lives that will continue once the course is over. For this reason, students are given teaching by Christians of different theological positions, so that they are not ‘indoctrinated’, but encouraged to think through issues for themselves. The aim of this is to help students take responsibility for their personal spiritual growth, to point them back to God Himself rather than to follow the latest spiritual fashion (Eph 4:13-14).

How is the course structured?
Students are placed in a local church where they will live and serve, hopefully, in a capacity that will fit with their personality and gifting. They will reside with a family from that church. Alternatively they can be placed in their own home church.

The student’s week is generally divided into:
- four days of serving the church;
- two days of personal study/training;
- one day to themselves.

The placement church will coordinate the work that the student undertakes for the church. In addition to serving they will be cared for within the church, and will be assigned a personal discipler, who is a mature Christian from the placement church, who will take responsibility to ensure that the student is dealing with the issues that arise in a Godly way, and is making good progress. The student will meet with their discipler weekly, and together they will discuss very honestly, the feelings, reactions, fears and hopes of the student.

Financial contributions
The fees that students pay for their DNA-D course includes the costs of their meals and accommodation, as well as necessary travel within the course program. The fees are based on the actual costs, which are kept as low as possible. If you have any questions about this please do not hesitate to ask us.

The church that receives the students arranges for them to stay with a host family from the church. DNA-D will contribute towards the costs of student’s meals and accommodation, but we know that we rely upon the generosity of the host families. In some cases the true cost of accommodating a DNA-D student may be higher than our contribution. In these cases the church and/or the host family will be making a contribution to support the student.

In recognition of the value of having the student(s) we invite the receiving church to make a voluntary monthly contribution towards the DNA-D central costs, wherever possible

The training syllabus
This is divided into eight categories:
- Bible Study
- Discipleship
- Foundational Theology
- Mission
- Church
- Personal Identity
- Ethics
- Developing personal skills

The training takes place approximately every second week when all the students, who are serving in different local churches, come together for two days of teaching, prayer, worship and ministry. The training sessions are taken by the DNA staff, and by visiting speakers who have a particular passion for their subject.

The students will also attend three intensive one-week-long training blocks, at the beginning of the course (October), in the middle (February or March), and at the end of the course (August).

In addition, during the year all students will spend time serving at Christian events such as the EA Spring Festival, the Thüringen Festival Zeltstadt in Summer, a ‘Sowing Seeds for Revival’ intercession week, and two weeks on an evangelistic outreach working with a local church in an Eastern European country.

So, how can you, as a pastor or church leader, be involved with DNA-D?
There are two ways you might be able to be involved in the DNA course.

First, you may like to offer your church as a ‘placement church’. This would mean that you would be assigned one, or ideally two, DNA students who would be with you for 11 months. Students are given a personal discipler and are accommodated by a family from the church. For four days a week students are involved with the work of the church, under the watchful eye of a co-ordinator, either in the community, with projects, or with administration, whenever they are not at training sessions, or are away at other events.

A second way to be involved with the DNA course is to recommend it to people who want to move forward in their Christian walk and who have a year to invest for this purpose. In England the majority of students are young Christians who are able to take a year out from their studies. But there have also been students over 60-years old, as well as married couples, and those who have taken a year out from their career. The criteria we are looking for is that students want to develop their personal relationship with Jesus and are willing to allow God to challenge and refine the attitudes and preconceptions that hinder their spiritual maturity.

Endorsements
In the UK the DNA course is led by Pete Gilbert and supported by the Pioneer Network.

The many friends of DNA include Steve Clifford (Evangelical Alliance UK General Director), Pete Greig (24/7 prayer and Author), Mike Pilavachi (Soul Survivor), Martin Smith (Delirious?), Professor Lord David Alton, Elaine Storkey, Michael Green (Advisor in Evangelism to Archbishop of Canterbury), Jeff Lucas (Spring Harvest), Andy Hawthorne (The Message Trust), Norman Barnes, Dr Patrick Dixon, Dr Phil Moore, Roger Forster, Martin Scott, Martin Goldsmith, Sue and Roger Mitchell. DNA is involved with many different church networks, including the Church of England, The Methodist Church, The Baptist Church, Vineyard, Salt and Light Network.

...and in Germany people are saying

Marcel Redling - Josua Gemeinde Spandau www.josuagemeinde.de
"As a church we are delighted with how DNA-D serves the city. We are very pleased with our trainee Markus, who has supported us in a variety of ways in various areas of ministry, and been very helpful to us. DNA-D is an investment in the lives of young people who do not just receive a theological foundation but also a deep insight into the practical realities of church life through their involvement in local church. They get involved in a lot of activities through the course, which gives them real life-experience. The connection between theory and practice is a real success story for DNA-D. We recommend the course wholeheartedly and look forward to further partnering with the DNA-D team in the future.”

Jörn Weimer - Christliches Jugendzentrum Oranienburg www.cjo.de
“We like DNA-D because we have ourselves been challenged in the last year by the two trainees placed with us; challenged to challenge others and to live with greater intensity for Jesus. We have seen such positive changes in the lives of our co-workers, the visitors to the café and the trainees themselves through the combination of good teaching and practical ministry. For us, DNA-D has been an adventure, an opportunity a blessing and a challenge all at the same time, both in practical and spiritual areas of church life. Through our work with DNA-D our public ministry among children and young people has entered a new dimension”

Paul Nogossek - Begegnungskirche Berlin www.begegnungskirche-berlin.de
“As a pastor who has always been on the lookout for tangible and relevant models of discipleship, for me to experience DNA-D in action was fantastic. Observing DNA in the UK was great – to see it working in Germany was so much better. I could watch the young people being changed so positively in their quality of life, and watch them receive a calling or be confirmed in one. I can recommend such a year without qualification; a year of learning, of personal reflection and action right in the heart of church.”

Gabi Albert - Freie Jesus Gemeinde Zittau www.fjg-zittau.de
“Our year with DNA-D in our church was a blessing on both sides. It was most effective because of the combination of theory and practice. Our trainee was challenged in the various areas of church ministry and was continually learning new things, especially to appraise her own abilities and giftings better and to grow beyond her previous boundaries.”