Location: Long Island City, NY
Type of Groups: Youth, adult, intergenerational, or families
Size: up to 200
Number of Teams: several
Time Commitment: 1 week on site, plus 10 - 15 hours of reading, orientation and preparation before departure.
Dates Opportunity Is Available: throughout the year
Purpose: NYSUM is a short-term teaching and training center for Christians with a heart for urban ministry. Through a combination of urban training, onsite practical ministry and actually living in a city neighborhood, we aim to train you to reach people in cities around the world for Christ. NYSUM prepares teams, as daily, they are launched into the urban mission field working with New York City pastors and churches for citywide revival.
Project: Team projects include the following aspects of learning and serving.
Training: Our “hands on” urban training builds a template for practical application in the city. Our staff training team will lead you in city orientation, ministry site training, prep times, and debrief sessions where you ‘defuse’ your experiences to apply them in your hometown or city.
Teaching: Our seminar style teaching sessions aim to train participants in many aspects of city ministry. This is accomplished through a combination of classroom and chapel training and in city outreaches which includes local ministries and churches.
Touching: NYSUM emphasized meeting people on every level from Main Street to Back Street to Wall Street with a specialized focus on the poor. This involves a broad based selection of ministry sites and locations.
Transforming: NYSUM links Christian workers to urban needs on the streets, in the AIDS Hospital, with the homeless, soup kitchens, shelter outreaches, street meetings, block parties and V.B.S. programs and with the forgotten. We remain committed to urban leaders who are “Heroes of Faith” serving in the trenches, battling the forces of darkness and desiring practical urban training that will help empower them to reclaim their City for Christ.
Specific Responsibilities:
1) Complete recommended reading and participate in orientation meetings prior to departure
2) Work alongside staff and volunteers from NYSUM as they reach out to the people in their community;
3) Build relationships with the community by staying open and flexible to the culture around you;
4) Live and worship with the community during the project;
5) Provide NYSUM and ServiceLink with an evaluation of the project;
6) Share your experience with your church and/or supporters.
7) Raise awareness with your home church and community of the ministry taking place at NYSUM.
Qualifications:
1) Willingness to work under the leadership of NYSUM staff and community leaders;
2) Be compassionate, respectful of other cultures, and emotionally stable;
3) Flexible, adaptable and able to view life with a sense of humor:
Costs - will vary with each team depending on where team travels from.
• Project Fee: Donation
• Meals & Lodging: $250 USD per person (winter) - $340 USD per person (summer)
• Transportation to and from NYSUM
• Out of state/province or out of country medical and travel insurance
• Passport – for those coming from outside the USA
• Spending money
Benefits:
1) Growth in your faith and relationship with God;
2) Fellowship with and build new relationships with the local community;
3) Serve as an encouragement to the local community;
4) Partner with NYSUM staff and volunteers, learn about their ministry and encourage them in their efforts to serve the people in their community;
5) A chance to learn from, to serve and be served by a diverse urban culture;
6) Develop a personal perspective on poverty, urban ministry and diverse communities;
Support Services Provided: ServiceLink and /or NYSUM agree to provide
• orientation materials as well as logistics and support to meet the needs of volunteers as well as NYSUM
• consultation and/or visits by NYSUM and volunteers when available
• opportunity to help volunteers link their individual/church’s mission and vision to work being done
If you are interested in applying for this opportunity, please contact us today at volunteer@crcna.org.
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