WHAT IS XLP EXPERIENCE YEAR?
We believe the good news of Jesus must be shared with truth and with tears; with creativity and compassion. If you do too, Message Academy could be for you.
ACADEMY IS A PLACE TO EXPLORE AND GROW THE CALL OF THE EVANGELIST.
If you want to grow, understand the gospel deeper, be challenged, gain new experiences and go further in your relationship with God, join us to discover all that God has in store for you.
Here is Isaac’s story:
Hey I’m Isaac. I’m 19, from Ireland and I’m currently studying science at UCD in Dublin. Last year I took a gap year after finishing school and went off to Manchester to do the Message Academy. This was a full on 10 months right at the centre of the Message Trust getting trained up in evangelism. We were taught both in the classroom and also through practice, and so very quickly we were put on placement in a whole host of different youth groups, homeless shelters and schools throughout the week. The experience I got from these placements was monumental and it really helped me in getting comfortable with evangelising to a vast range of ages and backgrounds. Alongside these placements we also got some brilliant teaching. Be it public speaking, apologetics, prayer or youthwork, we were taught a massive amount and I’ve been putting to practice the things I’ve learnt non-stop since then. During the year we were also given time to develop our creative giftings as well. You could choose from a whole bunch of different things to be built up in such as rapping, singing, dance, musical instruments and beat production. I was tutored in rap, beat production and singing, and while I was pretty much a complete novice in all three of these coming into the year, the teaching I got was top class and I found myself improving very quickly and absolutely loved being able to have the opportunity to develop these skills when you don’t typically get the chance to do so in the busyness of everyday life.
For the latter part of the year we were put into ‘mission teams’ consisting of four or five, and sent out across the UK to go work with local churches and schools for what was typically one week at a time. In our teams we had spent considerable time developing a lesson we could deliver in schools. The lesson my team made looked at forgiveness - how God forgives us and how that frees us to be able to forgive those around us and also ourselves. To get this message across to the students we prepared songs, games, talks and videos. We were always in partnership with local church, and so when we went into schools we were then able to also invite the students we saw to youth groups and other events being run by the church throughout the week. Once there we would be able to chat to them more and also be able to share the Gospel in full to any who came and, since this was always done with a church, we would then be able to get any youth who responded to the Gospel plugged in to that church and youth group straight away.
The time I spent on mission was definitely the highlight of the year for me. There is nothing I love more than evangelism, and during that time I found myself being able to share the Gospel to literally thousands of people and see hundreds respond to that message. There were so many highs during that year and so many times we got to perform in front of some seriously big crowds - something I’d only ever imagined doing. However those experiences, though really fun, were not the absolute highlight. For me that came on the very last day of our last week of mission. We had spent two weeks in Leigh, going into schools and youth groups seeing many respond to the Gospel for the first time and had loved every minute of it. Our last day there was a Sunday and so that morning we went to the church we had been working with for its Sunday service. There were some of the youth we’d seen throughout the week there and so we hung out with them after the service for a while, running around on the grass outside the church while and playing games. Once they had left the vicar came up to us absolutely buzzing off that experience as it turns out that that was actually the first time that pretty much any of them had come to church. While that morning might have looked insignificant to an onlooker when compared to the other large-scale events we had put on, that morning is the one I most treasure. These were kids that were not interested in church, or God for that matter, before we came. Yet through the work we did with the church we were able to get them to hear the Gospel and begin a relationship with God - seeing the first fruits of their decision to follow God and knowing that they were not isolated in their faith. Rather, we took confidence in the fact that there were great people around them now who would be able to journey them further. This was what it was all about.
Of course the year was super challenging at times as well. It is designed to push you, and so you have to learn pretty quickly to be capable of being ‘on’ almost always. There are very few breaks and you learn a lot about yourself in that busyness. Particularly, you learn a dependence on God to deliver and a realisation of how futile our work is if He is not there in the centre of it all. I was almost always tired, and so I had to learn how to manage that in a way I hadn’t had to before. I learnt a lot about what it means to lead both in different youth groups and also in my mission team. I also learnt loads about how to be an actual adult. This was my first time living away from home and so very quickly I learnt maturity and how to look after myself.
Ultimately the year was a success as it brought me closer to God in a way that no other experience had. Academy gave me the time and space to dig deeper in the Word, spend more time in prayer and step out in faith more frequently. Never have I needed to rely on God as much as I had to during that time and never has my faith been strengthened as much as when I actually saw God come through on prayer. It has equipped me enormously and shifted my thinking of who God is and how I relate to Him in so many great ways.
Taking a year out to do Message Academy is easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The way it moulded and shaped me is incredible and it's true to say that the Isaac that finished the year is radically different to the one that started it. I couldn’t recommend this gap year any higher and, regardless of where you’re at now or your plans for the future, I can say with confidence that this year will teach you things that you’ll be utilizing for the rest of your life.