Recruitment opens for Xplore gap year

News Release: 08 February 2012

Church Army has opened applications for its Xplore gap year 2012/2013 which provides 18 to 25 year-olds with the chance to learn about contemporary mission in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Eastern Europe.

The programme starts with a six-week placement in Romania where the Xplorers work among some of the poorest people in Europe and learn what it really means to live as a mission community. They will get involved in practical outreach such as: building projects, youth and children’s work and outreach to families.

On returning to the United Kingdom and Ireland they are then placed with an experienced Church Army Evangelist at a mission base. These bases are located throughout the country and work with people on the edge of society who have little or no experience of church.

Alongside these practical placements, the Xplorers receive teaching which will help them explore the Bible further, understand what it means to live in community in a broken world and discover what it means to make disciples of Jesus.

Tim Cottingham, 21, from Wigton in Cumbria, graduated from Xplore in July 2011. Reflecting on his time in Romania he said: “I think for the whole team, the experiences we shared in Romania were some of the most incredible times of our entire training period. Our exposure to the poverty and injustice of life in Romanian villages was a massive blessing and has allowed the Holy Spirit to further dislodge us from our love of the world.

“Some of the days were spent outside clearing land and digging trenches for water supplies. My aching back at the end of the day was a great reminder of the call to offer each day as a sacrifice of worship. I also had the opportunity to work with people in the ghetto in the city of Arad, where I got involved in youth work, a local school and visited families.”

To apply for Xplore please visit its website or telephone 08445 853575.