Christ Apostolic Church East of Luton

Welcome to the wild adventure that could be yours with DNA! Why not join the DNA family for a year of challenge and change? Let your discipleship be the doorway to your dreams of fruitfulness for God! Only changed lives change lives!

Discover:

You can't give away what you haven't got. DNA is about discovering who you are, and how you are, and who you are becoming. Going deeper in knowing God as your Father, Jesus as your Brother and the Holy Spirit as your Helper.

Learning to love yourself and discovering your dreams and your gifts, and changing your life for good! Forever!

Nurture:

DNA is your year of great growth. You'll be stretched, but also safe! We create a culture and a community of family, love and laughter, as well as challenge and change. Our emphasis is on your discipleship and development, because it's as you grow that you can grow others. How do we create this culture of Nurture? Through the DNA Team, our support staff, our teaching team, and through engagement with previous DNA Trainees on years 2 and 3. And through careful placement of trainees to quality local church, either your own or one that we provide. We are all about serving and working through local church, God's chosen vehicle on earth.

Action:

You can't be discipled in a vacuum. A disciple is a learner-doer. So on DNA what you learn is what you do. It's faith in action. If our emphasis is on your discipleship, yours will be on serving God, His people, and the wider community. Your year will be packed with opportunities to learn through servanthood in action, locally, nationally and overseas. You will never be used as cheap labour; rather your serving will be the context for your growth and development. DNA is never about theoretical theology, but it's about theology in action, because what you really believe is what you do and how you live. Come and Join in!

ABOUT DNA

Our core values will give you a feel for the community that DNA creates. We are church based. We are Holy Spirit dependant. We are a discipleship journey of head (understanding), hands (skills & gifts) and heart (character). We are committed to women in leadership and ministry as to men. We are about non-religious, relational Christianity.

Most years we have around 20-25 on DNA1, usually about 50% male and 50% female.

And most years we're joined by international trainees, which enrich our flavour. The average age of our trainees is 18-25, but every year sees trainees in their 30's-60's; there is no top limit! Don't let your age count you out - it is only a number!

Our curriculum covers an amazing array of current, challenging topics under 7 modules headed: Personal Discipleship; Biblical Studies; Foundational Theology; Evangelism; Church; Gender and Ethics; and Skills Development. Enough to encourage and equip you to build foundations for life.

DNA YEAR 1
Full time

About 80% of DNA Trainees do DNA as a full-Time Course, starting with us at the beginning of October and ending at the close of August.

This is the best and most cost effective way of embarking on the DNA adventure.

DNA Full Time gives you everything that DNA has to offer in Year 1, and really is your "Year in with God".

On DNA Full Time you will access all the DNA training through 3 x 5 day residentials plus 13 x 2 day training blocks (40 days in total spread across your year). The training covers more than 90 different topics drawing on the passion and expertise of more than 30 different practioners. You will have the option to bolt on additional training on World Mission which is automatically part of DNA Overseas, at a small additional cost should you so wish. This is 2 x 1 day Mission Training Days and 1 x 5 days Kairos Training.

To aid your learning we'll provide you with a recommended and required reading list alongside the comprehensive DNA book and MP3 library. Other tools to supplement your development will be your completion of 6 Worksheets and 2 Assignments of your choosing from our extensive catalogue. And you'll find the discipline of spiritual journaling of great benefit during your journey with us.

This personal study will take 2 days per week, and if required can be completed at an accredited level through our partnership with Laser Learning at a small additional cost.

Each DNA Full time trainee will also experience fast track growth through our provision of a discipler in the local church, who will meet with and care for you on a weekly basis. We also provide through the local church a co-ordinator, again meeting weekly with you, but this time for your programme and skills development.

If you don't want to do DNA Full time in your own church then we'll provide you a church placement matching your passions and aspirations. We train your discipler and co-ordinator before your year starts and meet with you and them in each of the 3 terms at the church base.

On DNA Full Time, alongside the DNA training and personal study there's Local Church Action, because you learn as you do. Local Church Action will take 4 days per week, and will consist of many and varied opportunities to stretch and develop you, and to serve the church and its community. It could take the form of youth work, parents and toddlers, ALPHA, Prison work, Healing on the Streets, Street Pastors, Messy Church, working with the elderly, etc; whatever serves the local church in its heart to reach its local community.

So your work on DNA Full time will therefore generally consist of DNA Training as diaried below, 2 days a week personal study, 4 days a week Local Church Action and 1 day a week off.

And finally, DNA Full time also features Extra Local Opportunities. These include serving at Spring Harvest (Europe's largest Christian Event), a two week International Trip and a DNA Summer Experience of church-based community service and evangelism.

Part Time

Every year we have a smaller number of people who do DNA on a Part Time basis. If this is you it's usually because you have a part time job, or have family commitments and we want to be flexible so as to serve you in your call and circumstances, if you fit into this category. But it's worth remembering that this flexibility does come at the expense of a less intensive, slightly more expensive year.

On DNA Part time you will still have automatic access to all the DNA Training (3 x 5 day Residentials and 13 x 2 day training blocks) and you'll have optional access (at a small additional cost) to the world Mission training (2 x 1 day Mission Training Days and 1 x 5 day Kairos Training).

Your discipleship journey will still include personal study (6 Worksheets and 2 Assignments at 2 days per week), and could still be done at an accredited level for a small additional cost. You will still have weekly meetings with a Personal Discipler (for character, pastoral care and development) and with a Co-ordinator (for programme and skills development).

But to increase flexibility on your DNA Part Time year you won't have automatic access to DNA Extra Local opportunities (Spring Harvest, international Trip and Summer Experience).

Instead, you will have the option, of adding any of these to your DNA Part Time year, with an additional cost for each. None of your travel costs are covered by your fees.

Your week on DNA Part Time will therefore generally consist of DNA Training as diaried below, 2 days a week personal study, 4 days a week Church action/ workplace/family care, etc, and 1 day per week off.

There is also an option of doing DNA Part time as outlined above, but finishing around the middle of March, after the 2nd DNA Residential and the subsequent 2 day training block. This 6 month opportunity is rare, but do talk to us if you think this might be your preferred option.

Overseas

How do you know if God might be calling you to serve Him Overseas, maybe even medium to long term? DNA provides a safe but stretching opportunity to explore if God is saying this to you.

We do this by placing you on DNA Full Time in a quality UK church which has good links to an international setting, so you can explore an overseas call.

You'll complete the first part of your DNA year in the UK, with all the training and discipleship and church based opportunities that involves. This includes our 2 x Mission Training Days and Kairos automatically. Your study work will be geared towards your mission trip.

Then around April time you'll embark on the adventure of your mission trip, which will normally last between 12-16 weeks. Enough time to genuinely experience culture shock and explore if mission overseas forms part of God's call on your life.

Flexibility is important to us in making this the best, most developmental experience possible for you. So talk to us; there are various options and costs open to you, if DNA Overseas is for you. Options include a placement at home and overseas through your own local church. Or a placement with one of our Partner organisations Amor, doing Relief and Development work building houses and overseeing teams among the poor of Mexico. Or a placement with another of our Partner organisations Urban Saints which would include shadowing one of their leaders on an additional overseas trip as well as the Mexico experience.

So, heart for justice? Desire to serve God and His Church overseas?

We have the options if you have the call.

CHURCHES

DNA has as a Core Value the commitment to serve the life of the local church. We have deliberately created a DNA family, a community of disciples pushing deeper into God and into usefulness for Him. This happens by engagement with the wider community of God's church, and, through local church with the local communities that church exists to love and to serve.

DNA exists to serve local church, not be served by it. Church is God's primary agent for bringing in His Kingdom, for evangelism and therefore for discipleship. So, every DNA Team Member functions at Leadership level in their local church. Every DNA speaker is accountable and based in the life of local church, a practioner and not just theoretical. Every DNA trainee is from and rooted in, recommended by, and serving local church.

Over many years (nearly 30) and many trainees (over 1200) we've served most of the UK denominations and New Church Movements. These include Church of England, Baptist, Methodist, Elim,. Assemblies of God, Catholic, Church of Scotland, Episcopal, Independent Charismatic, Salt & Light, Ichthus, Vineyard, New Frontiers, Pioneer, etc. Working with these churches has enriched us, and allowed us to contribute to the wider body of Christ, who loves unity. Why do your own thing when we can work together?!

But we won't place trainees in less than cutting edge churches as cheap labour. Your development and care is our priority.

So whether you do DNA in your own church (as 70% of our trainees do), or one which we provide, the opportunities to learn and serve will be great and varied. Each trainee will have local church personal discipler for character development and pastoral care and also a local church co-ordinator for programme and skills development.

The DNA Team will help support and serve your church placement by Co-ordinator and Discipler training and orientation, and by Termly Placement Visits to you and

them, plus frequent communication and availability as needed. Most years we're serving around 20-24 churches where we have trainees based. Many we have served over many years. DNA is all about relationships.

With more requests for DNA Trainees from churches than we can supply, we always have a great reserve of church placements to choose from if we are placing you in a church. This means we can carefully match your vision for development to the church's opportunities. So whether it's a passion for your own church and country or for specialised placements like children's church, or politics, for example, we have the church base for your year.

OPPORTUNITIES

Most of your DNA year you will be serving the life of the local church and its wider community (up to 4 days per week). But on DNA we also develop you in character, skills and knowledge through Additional Opportunities. Extra-Local exciting projects are an automatic part of DNA 1 Full time. And they can be added on as optional (at some extra cost) on DNA 1 Part Time. So what's available to you?

Spring Harvest - Serving Europe' s largest Christian event, involved in Children's church and seeing salvation and miracles, as well as exposure to a wider Christian contingency, and working with teams of other DNA 1 Trainees.
International Trip - 2 week trip serving one of our partnership churches in their community outreach often involved in schools work, street work, youth and children's work, church services, etc. In a team dynamic, learning to serve and be stretched in another culture.

Summer Experience - Around 10 days leading small teams of short term volunteers in local churches as they engage with their communities in holiday clubs, social action, family fun days, etc.

These additional opportunities are often highlights of your DNA year, and are another reason why most of our trainees opt for DNA 1 Full Time.