The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry

NEWSLETTER

Nr. 32 – June/July 2005    Editor: Auke Algera  Info: newsletter@shelter.nl

 

into the computer age

 

After more than 34 years of working with pen and paper at reception we’re finally implementing a computerised reservation system.

 

Relatively simple

When I first joined the Shelter in 1996 things were relatively simple at reception, the price of a bed was the same in every room, every night of the year. In fact the price had just increased to 20 guilders (just over 9 euros). Most people paid in cash and made their reservations by telephone or just turned up at the hostel and asked if we had space. Guests tended to make their travel plans day by day and so decided each morning if they wanted to pay for another night in the Shelter or move on to another city or country.

 

But, over the years, our guests have changed their habits: most now want to book in advance over the internet to guarantee their bed. Some do this many months ahead, planning their exact itineraries all across Europe before they even leave home. When they get to the Shelter many choose to pay by credit card and will pay for their whole stay on their day of arrival.



Credit Cards

We’ve tried to keep up with the times, introducing cash registers in 1996, a computer database in 2000 to keep a record of all our guests’ details and credit card machines in 2002. But still we relied on paper, pen and a calculator to work out how many beds we should reserve in advance each day – never really knowing if we were going to be full or not until the day itself.

 

We also looked at our pricing structure and made beds cheaper in the low season and during the week and more expensive in summer and at the weekends. This way we were able to increase our income while still remaining the cheapest bed and breakfast in town. As you read in the last newsletter we’ve also created smaller dorms in the Shelter City, for which we ask a higher price. And this all makes the job of a receptionist far more complicated than it used to be!

 

Computerised system

Of  course our goal remains to tell our guests about Jesus and not to make money but, in order to stay open, we do need to try our best to break even (for the past few years we have made big losses). So we looked into ways to increase our occupancy rates – to have more guests staying each night of the year.

 

And so we’re “going live” with new software on 1st June. We’re all still learning how to use it and I’m sure the first few days will be full of frustrations, questions and difficulties, but we hope to offer a better service to our guests, be much more efficient, accommodate more guests and so contribute to keeping the Shelter open for another 34 years.

 

Do please pray for a smooth transition, that we wouldn’t make too many mistakes, that our guests would have patience with us as we learn and that we would still take the opportunities God gives us to share the gospel over the reception desk with the precious people he sends us.

Rosemary Barrett
(Reception manager)

 

 

 

 

BUILDING FOR OUR MINISTRY

 

Since February 2005 our Ministry Training Program has finally settled down at the Willemsstraat. Two great class rooms are available for the weekly teaching sessions. Johanna Oudman, the coordinator of the Ministry Training Program (MTP), explains that a lot of building is involved with this program.

 

Work in Progress

For me, looking back on this past year it has been a precious time of working together with colleagues, staff members and teachers. I have loved and still love the experience of building together on something; and this includes easy and harder times.

The MTP is one part of a bigger building project. Since a while already there is quite some “building” or “reconstruction” going on within the Youth Hostel Ministry. There is a buzz in the air of vision casting, trying out new things, brainstorming, adjusting and renewing things, etc. And all of this is done with the purpose to keep and improve the hostel ministry, and to glorify God with striving for good quality in the different areas of the ministry.

 

A bit earlier on I mentioned the “teachers”. I want to use this space to especially express my thankfulness to God about the blessings I have experienced in contacting teachers for the program. This past year it has not been a problem to find the people to teach the different classes. And the willingness with which teachers contributed to the MTP has amazed me several times!

 

Now I would like to show you the structure or the overview of the MTP as we have built it so far. And I would like to share something about the vision behind this structure.

 

Overview Ministry Training Program

 

TRACK 1.  Inward - Root deep in faith

Series on: The basics of the gospel,  What do we believe about the Bible?, How to read the Bible?, study of a Bible book, Spiritual disciplines, Prayer, Discipleship, Bible studies as preparation for Christmas and Easter.

 

TRACK 2. Outward - Relate well to culture

Series on: Apologetics, World Religions, Modern culture and religion, Sex in the city of Amsterdam, God and the city.

             

TRACK 3.  Care for team and self

Series on: Teambuilding, Spiritual life and dealing with emotions.

 

TRACK 4. Work professionally

Training in: How to do the Reception work, How to do the Café work, What to do in Emergencies, Intro to the touristy high points of the city centre.

 

TRACK 5. Follow Christ in ministry

Training in: Preparing and leading an Outreach, Giving your testimony, Doing a short devotional talk, Doing drama, Preparing and leading a Bible discussion, Preparing and leading a Film discussion.          

 

By the way if you have suggestions for better titles of the Tracks, feel free to communicate these to me. I cannot promise a price for the best suggestion, but I can guarantee my big appreciation!

 

Vision of the MTP

As you probably know, the overall goal of the MTP is twofold:

To provide equipment for the hostel ministry, and

to strengthen and deepen knowledge of our faith.

The overview of the MTP shows that the different areas of the hostel work are represented in the 5 tracks of the program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two staff members studying in our library at the Willemsstraat building

 

 

An interesting question to ask in relation to the twofold goal of the MTP is: what is good equipment for ministry? And how do you strengthen and deepen knowledge of faith?

A lot can be said about this, but I’d like to emphasise two points:

 

1.As Christians we need to have our roots of faith deep.

The basis of both our personal life and our ministry must always be that we are rooted in Christ. Track 1 of the program contains series that seeks to invest on deepening roots of our faith.

2. As Christians we need to know the world we are living in well.

When we want to reach out to non-Christians we need to understand their worldviews, questions, etc. Track 2 of the program seeks to provide insight in what might be going on in the lives of the non-Christians around us.

 

So what I see as the challenge for our lives and ministry, is to continuously have those 2 emphases strong at the same time. One should not go without the other. If we emphasize investing on our faith roots only, we might end up as an introvert group of Christians that will hardly impact the world around us. If we overemphasize seeking out the culture around us, we might end up being as secularised as this culture… We are in this world, but not of this world; we are called to love God and our neighbour. Jesus came to seek that what was lost.

Johanna Oudman

 

 

 

PRAYER SUPPORT

 

·     On 1st June we welcomed the biggest group of new workers arriving on a singe day ever; 19 enthusiastic men and women joined our team for the summer! We praise God for this. Please also pray for all these workers and the new dynamics in our team.

 

New summer workers at the introduction meeting in one of the Willemsstraat class rooms.

 

·     We are also thankful for the continuing media interest. The Reformatorisch Dagblad, a national Christian newspapers had a whole page with interviews and photo’s from the Shelter. In addition, the EO TV showed a 10 minutes documentary about the hostels.

 

·     Please continue to pray for good contact with the hostel guests, for opportunities to share the Gospel and help travellers along in their spiritual journeys..

 

·     Pray for wisdom and insight in regards to come building project at the Shelter City. Half of the roof needs to be replaced. We also plan to turn the attic (where the staff used to life) into double rooms for hostel guest.  Unfortunately the costs are much higher than we anticipated.

 

·     Pray that God will continue to use this ministry to change the heart of people and to reveal Himself to those who are searching.

 

 

The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry is a Christian evangelism ministry in the centre of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Our goal is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the 30,000 travellers who are staying each year in our two Christian youth hostels: The Shelter City and The Shelter Jordan. The ministry is part of the association Tot Heil des Volks, a non-denominational mission organisation registered in Amsterdam. Internet: www.youthhostelministry.shelter.nl  

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