Taboo Arts Fall 2013 Newsletter

YWAM LONDON - URBAN KEY to know God and make Him known

Welcome to Taboo! We are an arts ministry within the YWAM London Urban Key base. Here, we believe the name of Jesus is becoming more and more taboo, and we are determined to shout it out all the more. Focusing in all disciplines of the arts, we desire to restore creativity to the hands of the original Creator. In our entire team, we have 12 full time staff members, from 8 different nations. We run a three-month arts internship two times a year, in January and in May (the next one begins on January

31st, 2014). We have a big heart for London and for Europe, and are continually seeking new opportunities and people to connect with. Two key foundations of our house are discipleship and unity. These elements are not always easily maintained,

and need to be fought for, but their importance in the health and growth of the team are unparalleled. Much can be said about teams and ministries, but one thing sticks

out… "they will know you are mine by your love for each other."


Christian Vargas Johanna Vargas Juliette Snoeij

Puerto Rico Argentina Holland

Melody Atger Elin Häggblom Carrie Hardy

France Finland United States

Sebastian Bajura Martin Etchart Deborah Stevenson

Argentina Argentina United States

Marta Serrão Heather Mann Peri Carlson

Portugal England United States


September-December 2012 After the closing our first internship in the summer 2012, the team was invited to perform in the YWAM Global Leadership Gathering in Harpenden. Com-bining dance, music, and the visual we presented a celebration of the nations, bringing something from each continent. We were very honoured and blessed to be a part of the conference and share what we do with our global leaders.

In October the team took a scouting outreach in Europe. God provided for us to be able to spend three weeks on the continent, traveling through different countries and making connections with people who share our heart for the arts. We visited Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon, and Barcelona in the short time we had, and really made it a point to ab-sorb the flavour and truly explore each city. In each, we were looking specifically for places to per-form, whether it be theatres, squares, street cor-ners, etc. Many kilometers and hours of walking and praying and speculating brought us more re-sults than we could have asked for.

We as a team really feel that Europe is our inheri-tance, the land that God has given us to take and transform for His kingdom. God opened up so many doors for us and connected us with many great peo-ple. On one of the bus rides in between cities, Chris received a revelation from God that we are like the Levites. We are a family set apart by God, artists and musicians and intercessors, who go in front of the battle, spy out the land, and open the doors for the army. We are praying for a new, fresh wave of Chris-tian artists to rise up and join together across the na-tions, to open doors and lead God's army into battle.


We returned to London and continued to contact theatres, research performing per-mits, keep in contact with the people we met, and prepare for the internship to come in January. God spoke in many ways to us that we are in the Kairos time, the perfect mo-ment; in that time that can't be measured or scheduled, but the time that calls for com-plete trust in God and dependence on His word. He is calling us as individuals and as a team to go deeper with Him. If we don't know Him in a personal way, how can we expect to share Him with others? God is pre-paring us for a proper fight. He is stripping us and clearing us out, making more space for His presence to fill our lives and remind-ing us of His simplicity. One of our mentors in Argentina gave us a word in the same time about the spirit of Daniel, how he never compromised his relationship with God even in the face of death. Daniel stood strong, did not even eat the king's food, maintained his prayers and fasting, and continued walking with God even against the law. This is what we are going for, how we want to walk in this time God has prepared us for.

We began to plan for the internship coming in January by moving in the direction of theatre. It

was something before untouched by our team, and we felt that God wanted us to include it in

our disciplines. Several prospective interns had been interested in theatre, so it was a good time.

We began to pray and ask God about themes and places to perform. We started writing a script based on the creation and the fall of man, and

the return of that creation to God.


January-April 2013 In January we began the second arts internship. We had seven interns from three nations, and we

spent six weeks preparing our production, Relentless, which we performed in the Tabernacle Theatre in Notting Hill in March. Relentless was a production that demonstrated the love of God for us through acrobatics, dance, live music, live painting, and theatre. It combined all of the dif-ferent tracks and reached out to a secular audience that does not normally encounter God. With-out ever mentioning the name of God, we demonstrated God’s love for His creation and how it is

possible to return to God’s love again.

After Relentless, we packed our suitcases and headed to Amsterdam, Netherlands. For two weeks, we spent time with the YWAM family there, build-ing bonds with them, praying and learning about the strong-holds in the city, and teaching our arts to the children of the Biljmer, and underprivileged community on the edges of Amsterdam. Then we went to Lyon, France, and taught arts to the DTS at the Lyon base. On one of our last days, we all used our arts on evangelism in the streets of Lyon, and it was amazing to see everybody use arts to explain the love that God has for all people.


After a few days of laundry, sleep, and saying goodbye to our interns who were starting their

DTS, we went to Linkoping, Sweden. For a week, we got to know the YWAM family there, and we shared about how to do arts for God in various youth groups. We also worked with the Jesus

Bus, a bus that parks in the central square of the city and gives sweet buns and coffee to the

people who come out of bars. Some of the girls were on stilts, the musicians played, the singers sang, and the visual artists painted as well. As the young people and clubbers came out of the

bars, we had the opportunity to speak with them about Jesus. As a team, we were really encour-aged by the people who organise the Jesus Bus,

a group of elderly people that were so on fire for Jesus and passionate about evangelism.

The focus of the internship was to go into theatres and places around

Europe, places that normally do not allow or experience Christian art, and

to proclaim God’s name and love there. It was also a time to connect

with other YWAM teams around Europe and to establish friendships

and relationships with them. God has spoken to us before about reaching

Western Europe, and this winter, we walked in that

word by visiting three differ-ent nations and including the teams there in our evangelis-

tic art. We also received words from God about the ne-

cessity of holiness in this time. A staff member on the base received a word for the

interns that said that even when it seemed like every-

thing was shaking, it is God who sent us, and we have cer-

tainty in Him that it was this work that He called them.


May-September 2013 The month of May brought a new season with lots of changes. We were blessed to find a new van and we spent many weeks remodeling the house for the intern-ship coming at the end of the month. During the begin-ning of the month, the entire YWAM England commu-nity met at the Harpenden base for a national retreat to celebrate what God has been doing and to seek more for the future of YWAM England. As a community, the YWAM Urban Key family went to the retreat to take part. The first night Chris gave a word, and the entire community took part in a prophetic act, lighting torches symbolising each base around the country. The base leaders then lit each other’s torches, declaring a unified heart with one other. It was an amazing night of pro-phetic art and ministry as the whole community sought

God’s heart for the nation. The weekend continued, full of worship, celebration, prayer, and shar-ing of each base’s news and ministries. It was incredible to hear the variety of schools and minis-tries share their passion and heart. At the close of the retreat, we had a massive barbeque, enjoy-ing time with one another. Each base team left renewed and encouraged for the coming season, ready to see more of God at work throughout England.

To celebrate the beginning of a new season, the entire YWAM Urban Key base met for a retreat. The theme of the retreat was spiritual inheritance, which we must seek to receive as we continue in ministry. Throughout the weekend, we celebrated together with worship, a barbeque, a bon-fire, and lots of great conversations. During the retreat, our base also received a prophesy from Else, who works at the YWAM base at King’s Lodge. She saw our base in a season of multiplica-tion which she encouraged us to prepare for. In order to do this, we must receive vision from God for our future and be ready to expand. It was the perfect time to solidify as a base, in anticipation for a busy summer with the new internship, new schools, and outreaches.


Another key event for the Taboo Arts team was in June when Alejandro and Marta Rodriguez, the spiritual parents of YWAM Urban Key’s base directors, Jose and Rosana, came to visit the base. We love having them here, as they are such a blessing to us, always encouraging and challenging us as a community. During their time here, Alejandro gave a word about the upcoming season for YWAM Urban Key. He challenged us to ask “how big is too big?” God has given us potential, in other words, power that is not yet visible. He gave the example of a trampoline, which has poten-tial power that we must jump into to see it released. Our biggest challenge is leadership and tak-ing the responsibility that is available to us. As a community, we must “jump” in faith and obedi-ence, knowing that the potential power is there. We must be what God has called us to be, whether pioneers of new ministries, imitators who multiply ideas, or supporters of those with vi-sion. As we are willing to take responsibility of the visions God has for us, we will see more of the kingdom in the midst of us.

For the internship, we had 4 students join us from Finland, the USA, Australia, and Argentina for music, theatre, and visual arts. Only a few weeks into the school, our team hosted the 3rd Interna-tional Arts Gathering in London. With this Arts Gathering we seek to create a platform for Chris-tian artists from all over the world to connect, receive and be refreshed in vision. Inspired by the Arts Gathering of YWAM Ålesund, Norway in October 2010, we established the Arts Gathering here in London since June 2011. It was an amazing time of meeting new people and collaborating and encouraging one another. During one of the teaching times, our base director Rosana gave us a key word about arts and government. Artists are prophets who open doors and enable the gov-ernment to do its job of covering the people, but there is a spirit of Jezebel that tries to silence both of these. It kills the voice of the artist prophets and takes control of the government. But our generation needs to rise up, to break the silence, and begin again to declare the truth of God and protect his people.


In the next few practical weeks of the Internship, we continued in go-ing to Camden to pray and look for buildings/warehouses where we can work and develop on a bigger scale. Alongside this, we began re-hearsals of our new theatre produc-tion called Obsession. Combining music, dance, theatre, and the visual arts once again, we developed a storyline depicting the transformation of life through the baptism of water and fire, of the living waters and the Holy Spirit. This is what we took on the outreach to Paris and Edinburgh. In July, we went on outreach to Paris for 10 days, participating in an evangelistic event named Paris Je T'aime. For two weeks, different teams came to perform on the plaza called Trocadero, looking out to the Eiffel Tower. The people that would come and watch were so ready to receive the word of God for their lives. It was a huge opportunity for the all the teams to share the love of God, through our arts and skills. After Paris, we had a few days at home in London, then we went off to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Fringe Festival. The city is so beautiful! And the festival is amazing. It is the biggest theatre festival in the world, which in 2012 had 2695 different shows in 279 venues by 22,457 performers. With so many performers and art-ist, just being in the atmosphere is so inspiring. It was a battle the first few days to get a slot to perform on the streets, and to find what works for the audiences. We had to adapt a few things to keep the attention of the people, but God was faithful. We could see Him at work in the city, and in our lives as well.


What better way to end an amazing summer of outreaches than to have the whole Urban Key family all together in London for our annual 10-day Bones Camp and the Notting Hill Carnival. We were joined by others from Italy, Austria, Columbia, America, and Argentina for an amazing week of worship, interces-sion, and evangel-ism, all the while practising for the drum-line, walking on stilts, and pre-paring over 90 cos-tumes and props for the two days of carnival.

This year's theme was a confrontation and battle between good and evil, a first for Bones, acted out on the streets, ending with a huge celebration filled with vibrant colours and the joy of the Lord. Through this prophetic victory of good over evil, God gave us so many victories throughout the week: healings, salva-tions and testimonies of many people being touched by the truth of who God is and what He has done for them. Once again, God was faithful to provide, protect and work through us to bring His light to Notting Hill.


What’s New?

The summer internship begins on June 6th, 2014. It will introduce something new to Taboo Arts: the fashion track! The track will be led by Heather, and it will work to produce clothing pieces as a method to get into the fashion industry and influence both the people who work in it and the peo-ple who purchase fashion. Each piece will be made with the goal of influencing identity, since identity is founded in Christ, and not in the clothes that we wear. During this internship, we will also be starting a media track, which will feature photography, writing, and video production.

This October also marks the beginning of our base’s first ever Apostolic and Pioneering Leader-ship School. Our base leaders, Rosana and Jose Liste, received a word about building strong foun-dations at our base, so the leaders of the base are all spending three months in a leadership school together, which will include a part of our team.

We are spending the autumn planning the tracks for the January internship and working on our own art. It is important for the team to have a time between internships to continue to grow in all of our arts, and we spend the days planning, researching, and combining our fantastic city for all that it offers us artistically. We are also renovating our attic space at the church by constructing a place to hold all of our costumes and a recording studio.

The next internship begins on January 30th, 2014. Our outreach will be to Argentina, which means higher-than-usual outreach costs. Please pray for our team as we spend the fall and winter doing everything we can to prepare for these costs.

This is also the time in which Christian and Johanna Vargas, the leaders of Taboo, are applying for British residency. This includes an exam, a stack of paperwork, and a lot of money. Please pray for them in this time, that they will be granted both residency and the finances to pay for this residency.

We are also moving into a time of expansion as a team, and our small house is quickly filling up. We are praying and searching for a bigger space to work and live in order to house our expanding community. We are seeking God’s will in this, and always appreciate the prayers of others. If you receive any words or ideas for us, or are interested in applying for an internship, please do not hesitate to let us know. Check out our base website, ywamurbankeylondon.com or email us at [email protected]!

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Taboo Arts Fall 2013 Newsletter