A Gap Year with east to west is a
personalised 11 month experience which encourages individuals to search for and
find their calling and context in youth ministry.
“The gap year at east to west helped me
launch a schools work ministry back in my home town.” Jackie McCarthy -
School’s Relation Youth Worker
So what is it all about:
Personalised
This year will be a flexible and personalised year to help you process and
explore your calling into youth ministry. What this means is that over the year, with the help of the gap year team leader and mentor, you will be able to
unpack "Who am I in Christ?"
and “Is He genuinely calling me into
youth ministry?”
Throughout each week of your gap year you will be
able to experience and input into 3 different expressions of youth ministry to
help you unpack the context into which the Lord maybe calling you to minister;
both now and in the future.
- Church-based youth ministry in local partner churches
- Para-church based youth ministry in east to west projects
- Local authority-based youth ministry with local partner organisations
Youth Ministry
The year is focused on those who perceive a calling into this area of
ministry, whether as a career or in a voluntary capacity.
east to west believes that youth ministry is a response to the call of Christ where through
service, the Kingdom of Christ is proclaimed and lived out to young people
through word and or deed. Therefore, because youth ministry opportunities and
workers are unique; we want to give you every opportunity to discover where God
is calling you to proclaim and live out the Kingdom of God to young people. This will range from:
- Cell groups through to Schools work
- Local council youth clubs through to serving at Spring Harvest
- Mentoring young people through to school youth clubs
Training
To help you unpack this calling and to know in greater depth the God that we
are called to proclaim; there will be weekly Biblical teaching sessions as well
as breakout group times where the teaching can be discussed and applied to
youth ministry. The Biblical teaching and the youth ministry training sessions will be
done in conjunction with many of our local and national partners.
Community
east to west considers itself as a community of missionaries
seeking to empower
the Church to impact lives with the Kingdom of God and it is into that community that you will be
welcomed.
The other aspect of community is
that you will be housed with the other gap year students, of which we are
looking for 9 at present, and therefore will enjoy the benefits of making life
long friendship as well as helping each other process the call on your lives. Equally we'll be helping you find
connection into one of our local churches and there to find additional
fellowship and community.
Mission
The theologian David Bosch in his book Transforming Mission says that:
Mission is God's "yes" to the world... in respect of the realities of injustice, oppression, poverty, discrimination and violence.
Therefore this will be a year where you will be
that answer of “Yes” to the young people to whom you will minister to, as well
as learn how to be that “Yes” into the future.
Discipleship
This year is focused on how your discipleship expresses itself to young people.
As we have learnt all to well, if you haven’t got it
you can’t give it away, or as Jesus put it:
"Freely as you have received, now freely give."
Therefore,
over this year through training, teaching, community and mentoring your
personal and communal following of Christ will be encouraged and ministered
into. As the theologian Graham Tomlin says in his book The Provocative
Church:
‘The only way in which the gospel can
be interpreted in terms that make sense to people outside is when it is lived
out.’
Therefore, we must know him more in order that we may make
him known.
What
would an average week look like: (click to enlarge)
Term 1
September
October
November
December
Term 2
January
February
March
April
Term 3
May
June
July
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(8th September - 19th December)
Induction, Training and Orientation
See Draft Week for an example
See Draft Week for an example - Serving at Youth Work Conference
See Draft Week for an example
(January 5th - April 21st weeks off during April dependant when you will be serving at Spring Harvest)
See Draft Week for an example
See Draft Week for an example
See Draft Week for an example
See Draft Week for an example - Ministering at Spring Harvest Week on one of their Youth Teams
(April 22th - July 24th This is the term of residentials and weekends away)
See Draft Week for example
See Draft Week for example
See Draft Week for example - Serving on an Urban Saints Spree Camp
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