Gap year opportunities for September 2010 are still available!! Click on the Team tab to find out more.

You’ve been to Soul Survivor, you’ve come to our stand and paintballed in order to Make Your Mark. But what now? Join us in changing our country. Our mission line is to "take the Good News relevantly to every young person in Britian". That’s a huge mission and we need you. Do you want to change the country you live in, spread the love of Jesus and make a real difference? Then click HERE to find out what year out opportunities we offer. We are still recruiting for September 2010, it’s not too late for you to Make Your Mark with us. Sign up today for the year of your life. 

The prize draw for the iPod and other prizes will take place on the 23rd August and the number will be on this site. Good luck!

Why yfc one?

There are so many things you could do with the next year of your life.

**We’re still recruiting for September 2010**

Here are 3 reasons why choosing yfc one is a life-changing experience, and a vital option for you to consider!

There is a need

1000 young people abandon church every week.  Half of 16-19 yr olds experiment with at least one illegal drug, and roughly 9000 teenagers die of alcohol related deaths every year. 1 in 10 self-harm at some point, and 60% of teens consider taking their own life. There are 7.2 million young people in the UK, all needing someone. Someone to listen to them, be a role model, laugh with them, teach them new skills, disciple them, cry with them, help them learn who they are and help them discover God’s love for them.

Be changed

We’re all on a journey with God. yfc one is designed to radically disciple every young adult that joins the team, through thorough training, daily mentoring and through taking part in God’s plan for the world. In one year, you can learn more about God, youth-work, the Bible, the world and yourself than you ever thought possible.

Change the world

God is already at work in this world. Do you want to join Him?

We are looking for guys and girls aged 17-25 committed to using their gifts and skills for one year or more. We want to invite you to join us and do something radical– change the statistics; change lives; let God use YOU to take GREAT news to those who so desperately need it. Come and join us on yfcone and see God at work for yourself right across the UK!

Are you up for it?

Glasgow: 24th April 2010, 11am-3pm

yfc one is the team brought together by Youth for Christ to transform the young people of Britain. Combining different gifts in one team enables yfc one to bring a diverse and united approach to mission and evangelism. Do you…have a heart for young people?…want to step out of your comfort zone?…want to see God stretch you?…love meeting people and being part of a team?

Not sure what to do, but know God wants you to do something? If your answer is “yes”, then yfc one Big Day is for you – set to be a fantastic day of fun, spiritual input and a great opportunity to explore what yfc one could mean for you.

On the day – drama companies, sports coaches, talks, and opportunities to chat with yfc one staff and volunteers.

West Midlands venue: Youth for Christ, Business Park East, Unit D2, Coombswood Way, Halesowen, West Midlands, B62 8BH

Contact: Pete Miller or Hannah Fisk  on 0121 502 9620

Glasgow venue: 110 St James Rd, Glasgow, G4 0PS.

Contact: Alan Gray or Linda Abbott on 0141 552 5111

Check out the Overseas opportunities here. 

yfcone is made up of a number of fantastic Christian gap year opportunities for young people between the ages of 17-25.

Our mission is to take the good news relevantly to every young person in Britain through mission and evangelism.  We’ve seen it work time and time again, someone who is willing to surrender to God and give a year or more to serve Him.  Not only do many young people hear the life transforming news about Jesus through people like you, but God does incredible things in your life along the way!  

There are 7.2 million teenagers in Britain.  Half of 16-19 year olds experiment with at least one illegal drug.  60% of teens consider taking their own life.  1000 young people abandon church every week.  The mission of Jesus is great.  That’s why we need YOU!

Do you have a heart to seek and serve lost and broken young people? Are you looking to take a year out? Are you ready for a challenge? Do you want God to use you in ways you never thought possible? do you have 3, 6 or 11 months to spare? if the answer is yes then look no further, check out our gap year opportunities and join this incredible mission.

Brodie Hewson - Crux Media - 21 years old

So, I’ve now been in Burton-on-Trent for 89 days.

That may not seem like a lot, but that’s getting on for 3 months now, which is almost a third of the total time that I will be doing this gap year!

And that, for me, is a big thing.

I’m doing a lot of schools work recently, which I am really starting to love. Before I started working in Burton this year, my expectation for this year was to be doing far more church orientated work with slightly older youth (ages 15+). However, I was told just before my arrival that I would be doing a lot of schools work. A large percentage of which would be with kid’s in primary education. This was something that I wasn’t exactly over-the-moon about. I was apprehensive, as I had never really done any work with this age group of children before. But I decided that there was no real need to panic, I decided that I should wait, and see how it went. And I am so glad that I did. I never really expected to be able to connect with anyone as young as the kids I’m working with, but I really feel like I have. I’ve really started to like the work I do in schools, and even miss it (sometimes) when I’m not there.

I do also do work outside of schools, with my church. For example, on Sunday evenings, I help my church run a Youth Alpha course in the church with about fifteen guys aged between 15 and 17. I really enjoy this, some of the kids are quite hard to interact with, and seem quite reluctant to listen to what we have to say. But others of them seem really interested and actually seem to be taking a lot of what we’re telling them on board.

In the CoPE lessons that we do on a Tuesday, we are currently producing an ‘alternative nativity’ in which Mary and Joseph have been replaced by David and Victoria Beckham. Which leads to some interesting outcomes, and some serious differences. But it’s all fun.

Recently, work has become different. It’s got less busy, but at the same time, it’s got slightly more hectic and less predictable. With the approach of Christmas, and the school holidays, clubs at school, and lessons have started to be less organised. Which makes things interesting. Clubs are cancelled, and extra things, like activity days, and Christmas party’s are added in, which somewhat adds to the stress.

But never mind. That’s what we’re here for.

Tom.

I made the choice to come on this year out with YFC quite early on last year. My A-level subjects were all very ’sciencey’ and the idea of sitting behind a microscope for the rest of my life didn’t really fill me with joy. the logical choice was - A GAP YEAR! It then came to the difficult choice of which gap year to choose. I was deliberating and praying, trying to find out what I should do and what God had in store for me at least the next year and possibly for the rest of my life. I think it was my youth worker from home who originally put forward the idea of YFC and I had it in consideration but it wasn’t high on my list. It was at Soul Survivor when the solution finally hit me. (Well, a yfcone beach ball hit me whilst I was praying - so I took it as a sign.) I went and talked to the guys on the YFC stand who gave me some information, and within a month I had applied to the course! I then attended the yfcone big day in Halesowen to see what sort of stuff YFC had been doing recently, to meet some of the staff / volunteers and to have my interview! To cut a long story short: I got a letter or phone call (I can’t remember which) telling me that I had a place on the yfcone team and that I was to be placed in Burton.

Time passed….Exams happened….Gap year started….

I arrived at training and had ana mazing two (and a little bit) weeks both in Halesowen at the YFC head office and in Nottingham University, where the majority of our training took place. I really got so much out of that time, both spiritually and socially. Some of the talks were amazing and I wrote almost six pages of notes on one of them. I also met some incredible people there, some of whom I hope will be friends for life.

I am now living just outside of Burton in a small village called Etwall which is lovely. I am based with a church called St. Mary’s church in another, slightly larger village called Stretton. It’s a C of E / Anglican church, very similar to my church from home, so I settled in well and the people there really welcomed me into the community. I stayed with one family for 2 weeks, then moved house to the place where I am at the moment. (The only reason I wasn’t here from the start is due to the fact the builders started late, and there was no room for me to stay in).
So, as for what I am doing… I have such a variety of things that I’m doing this year. I do work in scshools doing courses called CoPE (Certificate of Personal Education), JP2S (Junior Passport to Success). I also help teach RE (or RS, whichever you want to call it) to year 6’s and I tecah French to year 3-6’s. Outside of schools work I help out with and run a number of youth groups in association and with other churches. After half term I hope to be able to start helping with a Youth Alpha course which is due to be taking place in South Derbyshire pretty soon.
Alongside the YFC gap year I am also doing a course called Engage which will, once I’ve attended the rest of the course and completed the assessed part of the course, give me a "Youth Support Worker" qualification, which is a recognised qualification in youth work. I hope that in doing this I will be able to learn more about youth work and be able to impact the people I work with more in the future.
So, almost  a month in, things are going great, and I am having the time of my life, serving God and the people of  Burton to the best of my ability. I am really excited to see what I will achieve in this year, both for my personal, spiritual growth - but also for the benefit of the people who I’m working with.