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Gap Year

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CRU.ORG/GAPYEAR

 

Imagine taking a year after high school graduation to explore who God has created you to be, grow in your relationship with the Lord and reach out to high school students in other cultures. 

WHO  –  A Gap Year is for 18-20 year old students. You must be 18 by the time you travel overseas. Applicants must have a surrendered and teachable heart for the Lord. It is important to have a willingness to learn how to share your faith and take opportunities to share the Gospel with those that God brings into your life. A servant’s heart and a humility to learn about and respect the differences of other cultures is important. 

WHAT  –  A Gap Year is a 9 month adventure that will transform your life, give you opportunities to trust God in greater ways and share the Gospel with high school students across the globe.  You will be going to high school campuses to meet students and develop relationships so that you can share the Gospel and disciple those who are interested.  You will meet students through speaking in classes, sharing your testimony, playing sports, sharing your life and many other things. Your team can choose to visit an orphanage, serve at a refugee camp or meet the physical needs of others.  The majority of the focus will be developing relationships, sharing the Gospel and discipling those who respond.

WHEN  –  Cru’ s Gap Year starts in the Fall of each year.  You will start in September with training and development in Orlando, FL and then travel to your ministry location(s). There will be a short debrief back in Orlando mid May.

WHERE – There will be two Gap Teams. You can decide which team you would like to serve on. One team will stay mainly in one location and the other team will travel to multiple locations.  When a team is full you might be asked to join a team that has needs.  There might be a chance that we would ask you to pray about another option than what you chose. This would be to even out teams, but you will not be required to change.

 WHY –  Gap Years have been proven to have a positive impact on academic performance in college. Research shows that students who participate in gap year programs often perform better in school, have a better sense of direction in their lives, and have higher employability than those that go directly to college after high school. Participating on a gap year with Cru will also prepare you to enter college with a strong spiritual foundation and the ability to be a spiritual leader and multiplier of your faith on campus.

 ARE YOU READY FOR A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE?

Cru High School’s Gap Year is trusting the Lord to send two teams in the Fall of 2020. We are still putting together the locations, but this is what we are trusting the Lord for:

Gap Team 1: This team will go to Guayaquil, Ecuador for the overseas portion of the mission.  There will be possible short trips to other locations in South America/Caribbean to help with ministry in those locations.  The benefit of staying in one location for an extended time is you will have more time to develop solid relationships, share the Gospel and disciple students. It is not required that you speak Spanish, but it would help if you learn some of the language.

Gap Team 2: This team will go to multiple locations. You will start in a country in South America for three months, a country in Africa for three months and possibly in Eastern Europe or another area of the world for one to two months. This team will also develop relationships, share their faith and disciple students. They will also focus on raising up leaders to continue the ministry when they leave the country. Exact locations will be posted as soon as they are confirmed.

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What they’re saying about Cru

You and some friends of yours have this great idea. You think it would be cool if the whole school had the opportunity to receive Christ. Wow! As you start to work through your idea, you begin to wonder, “Is it really possible to reach all the students on the campus? This seems like such a huge task. Maybe I was dreaming?” You’re right, this is major. But, be encouraged. With God and a little creativity, an entire campus can have the opportunity to hear the life-changing truth of Christ. You’re thinking, “Where do I start?” Good question. One of the best ways to begin reaching the entire campus is by doing a creative evangelistic outreach. These are fun and can be small (for a specific group of students, e.g. an athletic team or club) or very large. Creative evangelistic outreaches are simple. You just need to design the outreach around the interests and needs of the particular group of students you want to reach.

SOME OUTREACH IDEAS

Here are some great ideas for creative outreaches. Look them over and see which ones would best meet the needs of the group you will first reach out to.

  • “Beauty Bash” (for girls)
  • Motivational talks for any group team (basketball, cheer, drama or whatever groups are represented at the school)
  • Coffee House for the student government
  • Leadership Breakfast for students in the Honor society or student government
  • Mystery Dinner for a group of students and their friends
  • International student outreach (for ethnic or foreign students, or language clubs)
  • School-wide talent show (perhaps do a 70s gong show)
  • 100-foot banana split during your school’s Spirit Week
  • Bring in a band (The Coaching Center can hook you up.)
  • “Singled Out” or “Dating Game” night during homecoming or prom

Note: Keep things simple and uncomplicated. Just having Christian students invite friends to their home to hear the gospel can be quite effective. Be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading! As you do these fun activities, remember that your purpose is to share the truth of Christ with the students. It is simple for any talk to show the students their need for a personal relationship with Christ. You’ll love doing these creative outreaches because they help you meet new people. Also, excitement builds when students reach out to new students. One of the greatest things the outreaches do is build up and motivate students already involved in your Christian group. It gives them the opportunity to help plan and lead activities.

WHAT TO DO

You want to get this going as soon as possible! Let’s think through what you’ll need to do:

  1. Identify a target group and their needs.

    You’ve got the target group picked out. What are their specific felt needs? For example, girls and guys are always wondering about love, sex and dating. Or, cheerleaders may feel the need to maintain unity on their squad. Athletes need to know how to keep a winning attitude. List their needs on a piece of paper and pray this will help you know which outreach idea to use.

  2. Pray for the outreach.

    Pray specifically for the students and for God’s plan for your outreach.

  3. Plan the outreach.

    Involve other students and adults in the planning. This gives ownership among the students. After choosing the activity, plan it. Ask questions like, “What is going to happen at this outreach? What will get people there? How will the gospel be presented? How will the students be invited (fliers, invitations, word-of-mouth)? Do we need food? What kind?” After brainstorming for a while, make a list and answer these questions.

    1. What do I need to do?
    2. When do I need to do it?
    3. Who can help me?

    Find a good date that doesn’t conflict with school events. Find a good place, like a large home or classroom. Will you need to get pizza and drinks there? Will you need to prepare a talk, or bring in an “expert” to come and speak for you? Example team talks are on the Web sites. Think through how you will follow up the students who came. How will you get a record of who was there? Comment Cards (see samples) let you know who came. You can use these after the talk. Ask students to tell you what they thought about the event, and even if they made a decision for Christ. Make sure to get their names and phone numbers. You’ll want to call them back. Use the cards determine how you will you do follow-up: one-on-one or in groups? Who can help you do follow-up?”

  4. Arrange the outreach.

    There is a lot to do. Get other students or adults to help you. It is fun working with a team of people. Have a plan for involving others. Here is a checklist to help you plan.

    • Prayer

      Who will make sure people are praying?

    • Refreshments

      Who is preparing the food and getting it there? Can you get it donated? Do you need paper products? Can students serve themselves or do you need people to help set out food? Who will help clean up?

    • Publicity

      If no one knows about the event, then no one will come. Plan this part well! Make fliers or invitations ahead of time. Make a big poster to put in the hallways. Give yourself at least two weeks for publicity.

    • Games and Crowdbreaker (if needed)

      Make sure you know what you will need. Try out the game first before doing it at the outreach. Make sure your activity is fun and involves everyone. Be sure that your instructions make sense to everyone.

    • Emcee and Speaker

      Get ideas for topics and possible speakers/emcees from others. Students, adults in your community, or The Coaching Center can provide suggestions. It’s always good to make sure the speaker understands the topic. Let people who are involved in the outreach know the time and place to meet

    • Follow-up

      Make sure there are comment cards and pencils for everyone. Let others know how and when to pass out and re-collect cards and pencils.

  5. Do the outreach!

    The big day is here. You are pumped! Here is an idea of a good flow for your meeting.

    • As people arrive, play some music in the background.
    • When everyone has arrived, begin with a crowdbreaker.
    • Offer the food if it is the main attraction. Otherwise, save the food for after the speaker.
    • Introduce the speaker.
    • After the speaker shares the gospel, have someone come and explain the comment cards. It usually takes about 10 minutes to distribute the cards, get them filled out and then collected. Drawing a door prize winner from among the comment cards is a great motivator for students to turn in their cards.

  6. Follow-up the students.

    You’ve got people’s names and numbers and you know who has made decisions for Christ. Contact these people within 24-to-48 hours. Get others to help you and begin meeting with these new students one on one, or in small groups to help them begin growing in their new relationship with Christ. This may be a good time to begin a new small group Bible study.

  7. Evaluate the outreach.

    You did it! It went great, but there are some things you want to think over before you do your next creative outreach. Within 24-to-48 hours, get everyone together who helped plan and talk about the event.

      Ask:
    • How did it go?
    • What did you learn for next time?
    • Would you do anything differently?

    Pray and thank God for all He did, then start thinking of the next group you can reach out to with the gospel.