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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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Unbelievable! Several students just received Christ at an outreach. So now what? How do you respond to help a person who has just received Christ? “Follow-Up” is the answer!

What is Follow Up?

Imagine bringing your newborn baby home from the hospital. Suppose you set her in the crib and say, “Okay, Sweetie, milk is in the fridge, the bathroom is over there, and here’s the stereo if you want to hear some tunes.” Absurd! So why should we do the same to a brand new Christian, who is referred to as a “baby” in the Bible? No, it’s our responsibility to help cultivate the faith of that newborn believer.Follow-up is making sure a new Christian understands their new relationship with God.  They need to know the first steps in how to grow in their relationship with Christ and multiply their faith to others.  It is important to help them establish a habit of meeting with Christ daily and to help them live a new life of faith.

How to Start

So where do you start?

  1. Pray. Begin by praying for them (1 Thessalonians 1:2,3).  Remember that God is sovereign, which means that He has total authority in the making of His disciples (followers of Christ).
  2. Remember that God is in charge. Only God can produce growth, and He does that in many ways. The Bible talks about four ways of responding to God’s Word in Matthew 13:3-9, 14-20. Check it out! In the book of Acts, Paul spent special time with new believers, teaching and encouraging them (Acts 17-20). As a result they eventually influenced their entire region. We can help guide and encourage believers to grow, but the bottom line is that God’s the one in charge. What a relief.In 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, the Bible says, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, causing the growth. So then neither the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth…For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
  3. Don’t Delay Follow-up! It is very important to begin follow-up ASAP! Beware: Satan will be attempting to discourage a student after he has received Christ. The student may have questions or doubts, so it’s good to be available to talk. Give him a call within 24-48 hours after he has received Christ and invite him to meet to talk about how his new faith is a part of everyday life. The Holy Spirit needs your availability to help lead this new believer. You will want to affirm his new relationship with Christ; set up a time to meet to talk further. You may be thinking, “But how do I start meeting with him.”? Suggest a time and place to meet (like Taco Bell, Burger King, in the school courtyard … wherever!) and let the student respond.Be flexible! Explain that you would like to share some things that will help him in his new relationship with Christ. Encourage him to bring several friends along. Meeting with a group of students who know each other is often the best method of follow-up. The students may feel more open to talk and share, and will make up a potential discipleship group for later.  Invite other students who have received Christ (through an outreach or one on one ) to join together as a group, especially if they know each other. If something happens and you can’t get together at the scheduled time, reschedule your appointment within 48 hours. Whatever you do, don’t leave that “baby” unattended!

The First Follow-Up Meeting

What do you talk about at your first follow-up meeting? The purpose of your first meeting is to build your relationship, to help these new Christians to understand the assurance of their salvation, and to help them begin to grasp God’s love for them.

  1. Personalize your time. When you get together to talk personalize your time by asking good questions.  In other words, don’t talk as much about yourself! Talk about things the students are interested in and things you may have in common, and be sure to listen! (See Turning the Conversation to Christ)
  2. Explain spiritual growth. Use your time together to explain spiritual growth (see below for topics). Show the students that there is much to learn and offer the opportunity to get together weekly, at least for the next four weeks. Asking for a short-term commitment won’t be as overwhelming to a new Christian as an open-ended “let’s meet” might be. After the first four weeks, challenge them to continue to meet for further growth together.
  3. Ask questions to gain understanding. If you are meeting with someone whom you’re not sure is a Christian, ask questions which will help you understand better where they are at spiritually, and be prepared to share the gospel with him if the student is open and willing to listen! For instance, “If you were to die tonight and see God, and he asked you, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ What would you answer?” If the person is not 100% sure they are going to heaven, take the time to share the gospel with them to clarify things with them. (Here is an example of a gospel presentation called Knowing God Personally – also found on the God Tools app).
  4. Remember that follow-up is a process. A couple of things to remember … every young Christian will need to continue to learn from the Scriptures. We need to start at the beginning and build. Don’t try to teach everything all at once! Follow-up is a process.

Important Truths for New Christians

Here are some of the most important truths a new Christian needs to know:

  • Assurance of salvation (Hebrews 13:5)
  • Knowledge of Jesus Christ (John 20:31, Romans 10:17)
  • Forgiveness and confession of sins (Romans 5:6-9, 1 John 1:9)
  • The ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life (John 14:25-26, Ephesians 5:18)
  • Understanding his new identity in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)

For free Bible studies you can download go to our Thrive Studies Follow up Bible Studies.. Taking care of a newborn is a lot of work! But if you have done your job well, by God’s grace your newborn friends will soon be walking, talking, and feeding themselves spiritually.  They will be on their way to becoming mature disciples of Christ!