OUR HISTORY

In 1994 a small team of 7 adults and children moved to Barbados. They rented several homes in
St. James, and began to build relationships, teach, and mobilize the church for short-term
missions. After researching several properties for a training campus, Thickett Plantation was
purchased; a 7.5 acre former sugar cane plantation, which had been abandoned for five years.
It was part of God’s redemptive plan to restore a place which represented the pain of slavery to
a place of freedom and community for all Barbadians.
The first Discipleship Training School (DTS) started in October 1995 with an outreach to Guyana,
South America. God continued to grow a discipling community in this “live/learn” environment.
In 1998, the School of Frontier Missions (SOFM) was started, launching a pioneering team to a
tribe of unreached peoples in The Gambia, West Africa. The following year, a second team was
launched to church plant in the former Communist nation of Albania.
A youth discipleship program called Kings Kids was started in 1997, which birthed a dream to
build some cabins to host local camps and retreats. So in 2001, four Youth Village cabins were
built for the youth of Barbados to encounter God during camps. Other secondary YWAM
schools that we ran were SBSCC (School of Biblical School Core Course) and a SOPA (School of
Performing Arts) to develop and redeem the natural creative gifts of the Caribbean nations. In
2002, we hosted the Leadership Training School (LTS), an international YWAM school focused
on the Caribbean & Mexico. Several hundred students were trained which led to many missions
initiatives starting around the world.
In 2003, a team of Caribbean missionaries moved to Recife, Brazil to do community
development in a needy neighborhood. In 2004, the All Nations Prayer Centre was completed
with the Flags of the Nations plaza, for the purpose of more prayer to sustain this wave of
missionaries.
After some challenging years YWAM Barbados was relaunched in 2015, restarting the DTS in
2017 having not run one for five years. The Caribbean Prayer Room (CPR) was launched in
2016, built on the foundation of the previous prayer centre. The vision is ongoing prayer and
worship from all the Caribbean islands to the throne of God.
Impact World evangelism campaign impacted Barbados in February and March 2018, through
performing arts and sports, presenting the Gospel in schools and playing fields around the
nation. Thousands responded to the Gospel (particularly students), so YWAM is currently
involved with discipleship groups in the schools.
Stay tuned for more of God’s story for Barbados….