First of all, what is a gap year?
For those of you coming from the USA, this might not be a term you've heard before, but people in the UK will be very familiar with the concept of taking a gap year. Gap years will typically take place between finishing college (high school) and going to university or into employment. Young people will spend the year travelling, volunteering, or working before starting the next chapter of their life. The great benefit of taking a gap year is that young people are able to spend some time experiencing the world in a new way before they make decisions about what they might want to focus on at university or pursue as a career.
Through UK-USA Ministries relationships with local churches and Universities across the USA, we serve as a conduit to help recruit Gap Year students to volunteer with Tees Valley Youth for Christ. Some of our Gap Year volunteers have come straight from high school, but the majority have either finished university, or are taking a break from the post-graduate workplace to serve with us. Some of them are still waiting on God to reveal His long-term plans for their life, but others have a clear calling to ministry and are serving with us to grow as leaders. The majority of our volunteers are single, but we do have a few married couples who have decided to spend their early years of marriage working with us. The typical age range of volunteers is 18-25, although God has blessed us with older and younger gap year volunteers over the years. Tees Valley Youth for Christ has been hosting Gap Year Volunteers since 2005. Over the last 11 years we have really invigorated the program and have placed over 100 students serving in churches across the Tees Valley.
Taking a gap year with Tees Valley Youth for Christ through UK-USA Ministries means dedicating a year (or more) of your life to serving God through ministry to young people, both in the local church and outside of it. We are praying for individuals or couples to join us if they have a desire to seek God first in their lives, have a heart for building relationships with young people and have a heart to serve. One of our foundational verses for the ministry here is Matthew 20:28 "Just as the Son of Man didn't come to be served but to serve and gave His life as a ransom for many."
What would a gap year look like for me?
To start with, we will place you with a host church for the year
We spend a lot of time prayerfully considering where to place each gap year worker. We think through personality, gifts, experience, age/gender, the needs and work of the host churches, and the overall dynamics of each team.
You will also be a part of a Tees Valley Youth for Christ team based in the town where your host church is located
UK-USA Ministries partners with Tees Valley Youth for Christ (TVYFC) to host you while in the UK. Your team is made up of gap year workers placed with other churches in that town, and typically a TVYFC staff member.
As a team, you may go into schools and the community together and also help run events like Cafe Church
Every team is unique and you may find your team does things that no other team gets the opportunity to do.
At your church, you may help to lead the youth and children’s groups and any outreach work they might do
There will most likely be a youth worker at the church who you will be working alongside, but in some cases the church brings in a gap year worker to be their youth worker. We tend to place older gap year workers with some ministry experience in these types of roles.
Your church will also provide a host family for you to live with for the year
They will be an additional support system to help you through the year and allow you to experience living with a British family. There are also a couple of shared houses where gap year workers are living this year, but the majority of our volunteers are living with hosts.
You’ll meet with the whole TVYFC team on Monday mornings for worship, prayer, and teaching
One of our greatest strengths as an organisation is the amazing community of staff, volunteers, and other local youth workers who support and encourage each other as we walk this path of ministry in the Tees Valley together. You’ll also meet regularly with a church mentor who will help you to focus on your personal growth as a Christian, not just as someone in ministry.
Some more info
We currently accept volunteers at two points during the year:
Beginning in late August, finishing at the end of July (this is our primary intake)
Beginning at the start of January, finishing at Christmas break
Training
When you arrive in the UK, you will go through our training program before you start working in your placement. We place a specific focus on preparing you to do youth work in a British context, and will also take you through practical workshops on how to plan lessons, assemblies, etc.
Finances
The gap year program fee is £6,000. Before you start your gap year, you will need to pay £3,000 to TVYFC to cover your host home expenses, food, training, and admin costs.
The remaining £3,000 will need to be raised to cover your in-country costs (phone credit, local transport, and around £20 per week spending money). This will be enough to live off of, but you will need to be careful with your spending. If you want to raise over the £3,000, that is up to you and highly encouraged. The costs of your visa and FBI background check (approx. £450), I.H.S. health insurance (approx. £200) and international travel (variable - including baggage fees) aren’t included in the £6,000 program fee. Any traveling that you might want to do around the UK/Europe is also your responsibility.
