Worship That Sends: Equipping Young Trainee Missionaries Through Music and More...
- Ijeoma Ozichi Omotade
- Jul 18
- 6 min read
Our Journey Serving With YWAM England:
We are Ijay and Kay, together with our three beautiful daughters—Zemira (16), Ashrei (11), and Hadassah (2). Since 2018 we've lived and been honoured to serve as volunteer missionaries in England, through YWAM Harpenden.
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is a global Christian movement founded in 1960 by Loren and Darlene Cunningham to engage young people in missions. Its core purpose is to know God and make Him known, carried out through evangelism, training (like Discipleship Training Schools), and mercy ministry. With a decentralized structure, YWAM now operates in over 1,100 locations across 180+ countries, involving people of all ages in sharing the gospel and serving communities in need.
Over the years of our journey here and while serving with YWAM Harpenden, we have seen and experienced God's faithfulness through our ministry service and growing responsibilities in our ministry areas.
YWAM Harpenden’s Global Impact Through Missions: 2024–2025 Highlights & Our Collective Volunteer Support/ Contribution
While our personal calling is to train and releasing worship ministry, our volunteer work in YWAM Harpenden spread across admin, hospitality, training initiatives, ministry events, mentoring, and pastoral roles – and they play a vital part in equipping and sending young people into missions. Here’s a glimpse of how that collective work has borne fruit in the nations.
✈️ Outreach Locations (2024–2025)
Over 45+ DTS and SOFM trainees from YWAM Harpenden have been sent out this year to share the gospel, serve practically, and grow in discipleship across 15+ nations, including:
Albania, Central Asia, Himalayas, Cyprus, London, Leeds, Miami, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Jordan, Armenia, Amsterdam, Turkey, Nepal, and Northern Ireland.
These young missionaries worked with churches, supported youth and refugee ministries, led worship in new languages, preached on streets, and cared for the poor—often in difficult or spiritually resistant environments.
(There are other YWAM missions training initiatives to younger demography but we wiil restrict the scope to DTS and other ‘outreach-centred’ schools.). YWAM Harpenden website: https://ywam.org/
Some Team Activities Our Young Trainees Engaged In, Across Outreach Locations (2024–2025)
🔹 Evangelism & Discipleship
Street and public evangelism (cities, parks, buses)
Sharing the gospel at major events and markets (e.g. Christmas events)
Follow-up discipleship, one-on-one conversations, and Bible studies
Church partnership evangelism walks and outreach teams
Ministry among unreached people groups in sensitive nations
🔹 Worship, Teaching & Preaching
Leading worship in local churches — including in local languages
Preaching at church services and youth gatherings
Teaching Bible stories (e.g., “God’s Story DTS” among Farsi speakers)
Running youth camps focused on identity and purpose in God
🔹 Refugee & Youth Ministry
Ministering to refugee communities (UK, Armenia, Central Asia)
Discipling young people in partnership with churches
Participation in youth-focused evangelism and church integration
🔹 Practical Service
Serving meals, helping elderly centres, sorting donations (e.g. coffee for charity)
Renovation and construction support for YWAM pioneering bases
Hosting events and church support tasks (cleaning, setup, AV support)
🔹 Prayer & Intercession
Intercession walks and worship hours before outreach
Coordinated prayer coverage for mission meetings and partnerships
Our Primary Focus/Passion In The Area of Worship Ministry Training:
Ijay and Kay's passion has consistently been about empowering and equipping—whether it's mentoring and training young creatives in YWAM Harpenden in deploying their musical giftings in the area of worship in their local churches or mission fields, or supporting local Christian communities. We strongly believe that to more effectively run a ministry, missionaries and local church communities need spaces and opportunities for both soft and hard skills development, as this creates a better and lasting impact in their various areas of missionary influence.
Ijay Serving in Worship and Leadership Ministry:
Through several spaces (DTS Worship tracks, pioneering Worship seminars, teachings on DTS or schools of worship in other YWAM UK locations), Ijay has consistently and passionately walked alongside trainees and other YWAM volunteers to help them develop their skills in worship ministries. As well as training, on campus, she has served on the Worship Point Team—serving as administrative point person and supporting the growth of worship ministry both on campus and at regional YWAM events. Ijay also serves in various capacities, from admin support to physical kitchen assistance during busy seasons, all contributing to YWAM's vision of equipping and sending young people into missions.
Building more connections between YWAM and the wider body of Christ has been a vision of Ijay's, and she serves her local church, St. Mary's Luton, which they have come to call their home church and grown to love the amazing leadership and people there! It was there she pioneered St. Mary's Community Choir —a group of people coming together to sing for joy and spread that joy through song to their wider community.
Ijay has been privileged to lead worship in several diverse spaces within and outside YWAM, where (along with Kay on the keyboards and worshipping too!), they have seen God move and experienced a rich sense of the body of Christ equipping and strengthening one another.
Kay Serving In Worship Ministry and Technical Support Ministries:
Just like Ijay, Kay serves in the area of worship musicianship within YWAM Harpenden—also helping to mentor and walk alongside worship seminar trainees. He's also worked supporting campus operations through practical work like grounds maintenance and event setup. Kay's passion is to build more connections between the local church community and YWAM, and he has served in this capacity, helping many local churches within several UK locations, mostly London and surrounding areas, by providing audio-visual training, equipment installations, and discipleship in technical ministry. Through this service, Kay has been able to directly mentor and disciple young men – and he also builds meaningful relationships with these churches while creating connection points between YWAM and the broader body of Christ. Together, we create space for young people to be trained, grow in their calling, and step into local and global mission.
Kay is a firm believer in learning skills and believes that now more than ever, young people will need to engage in skills-based ministries as a tool for missions.
Our Amazing Courageous Girls
When we came to England, Zemira and Ashrei were 9+ and 4+ respectively (Hadassah was born in the UK). I It was a very tough challenge transitioning to a new culture, new schools, and new ways of life. Seven years later, through many nights of prayer, cheering, and a wonderful YWAM Harpenden community to cheer them on and love on them, we have seen them take on this task of settling in and growing into amazing young ladies we are so proud of.
Our girls, Zemira, Ashrei, and Hadassah, have served on many occasions alongside their parents—whether it's praying with and for them, singing, or being in the many, many car rides to one ministry location or another and singing joyfully along in the car! Zemira is currently transitioning into A levels and really worked hard on her GCSEs the last few months, Ashrei is transitioning into secondary school, and Hadassah is starting pre-school soon! It's truly a transition season for us all!
Our Work and Ministry Journey Continues...
As we reflect on all that God continues to do in and through our family, our trainees, and the wider YWAM Harpenden community, we remain deeply grateful for the privilege to serve. Whether it’s through training worship leaders, supporting outreach teams, or simply showing up in the unseen, everyday moments, we know that every part matters. There’s still much ahead—and we’re excited to keep saying yes.
Current Update and Financial Project: We are currently fundraising over £13,000+ toward our Indefinite Leave To Remain Application that gives us mroe opportunity to serve in the UK permanently. Would you like to partner with us by praying and giving towards this? Here are our current stewardship and JustGiving links. THANK YOU. Stewardship: www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/theomotades JustGiving: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/theomotades?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL
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