What is The Journey?

The Journey is a one to three-year missional experience in the United Kingdom. The year begins from late August until the end of July (or alternatively from January until the Christmas break).

We currently have two hubs in northeast England: one in The Tees Valley and one in York – with more to come!

UK-USA Ministries, through a partnership with Tees Valley Youth for Christ, has been actively involved in missions in England for nearly 20 years.

We are praying for individuals or couples to join us in building Gospel-centered relationships as we endeavor to reach the United Kingdom for Christ.

What you’ll be doing

On The Journey, you’ll be involved in:

CHURCH PLACEMENTS – team members are placed in a local church to serve as a youth worker within the student ministry.

SCHOOL PLACEMENTS – team members lead in secondary schools utilizing their personal strengths and abilities – from sports to math, or dance to religious education.

SPORTS OUTREACH – our primary vehicle of sports outreach is called Camp of Champions. At each camp, kids play a variety of sports and hear the Gospel through scripture and testimony.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS – through local church partnerships, team members lead after school clubs providing kids a safe place to do homework, have fun and hear the Gospel.

SERVANT EVANGELISM – Because of verses like Matthew 20:28, we long to respond to each community’s specific needs through our presence and resources.

What would a gap year look like for me?

  1. Host Church Placement – 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.
  2. TVYFC Team Member – As a part of  Tees Valley Youth for Christ, you will be 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.
  3. Serve Your City – As a team, you will go into schools and the community to serve in after school clubs, sports outreach and cafe churches.  Every team is unique and you may find your team does things that no other team gets the opportunity to do.
  4. Youth Worker – 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.
  5. Host Family – 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.
  6. Training – 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.