"My year with Careforce has been the most challenging and enriching year of my life. If I had been told in advance of all the things that I would be taking part in and experiencing over the year I would either not have believed it or have been too scared to go! However, God has given me the courage and perseverance to develop my skills and discover new gifts that I never knew I had. My placement has provided me with the invaluable opportunity to ‘test run’ many aspects of church ministry in a well supported atmosphere. I have been able to take part in, run, lead and start up youth work which spans the ages of 5 to 35! I have been involved in the Christian Union in local primary and secondary schools, led house groups, prayer groups, discipleship groups, Bible class, and even the odd church service! My year with Careforce has been so much more than a ‘gap year’. It has provided me with a foundation upon which the rest of my work for Christ will be built upon.”
At the start of every Careforce year we are very keen that every supervisor and their volunteer consider carefully whether there might be specific training that their volunteer could do that will both equip them for their work on placement but also develop possibilities of future ministry after Careforce.
We recognise that it is one of the distinctives of Careforce that the key training every volunteer will receive will be hands-on on-the-job training from their supervisors and the specific training given on the Careforce courses during the year. However, we also encourage all supervisors to consider training that might be available within their placements such as evening classes and adult education courses.
But in addition to all those possibilities we know that many volunteers in recent years have benefited from being linked into distance learning courses or from accessing training material over the internet. We give guidance to all supervisors as to the options that have proved to blend well with the Careforce year and which have been appreciated by supervisors and volunteers alike in recent years.
So the key thing is that all Careforce volunteers receive hands-on, on-the-job
training within their placements throughout their year. In addition some
are enabled to do other
courses. These include local training initiatives in various places run by
Cornhill and other groups. Some volunteers sign up to distance learning
courses such as those run by the Open Bible Institute/Moore College.
Ian Prior, Director of Careforce, says: “Careforce seeks to ensure that every volunteer has a tailor-made programme of training and supervision. We see it as a priority that we enable each volunteer’s effective contribution to the ongoing mission needs of their placement and to grow their discernment of God’s longer term vision for their lives.”
Kathryn Potter, St. Luke’s Church, Sheffield (05-06) attended a weekly course at Northern Training, Sheffield
"Northern training was such a great opportunity to get stuck into understanding the Bible better; we did this through talks and small groups where I learnt how to write a solid Bible study and then teach it to others.
I learnt so much I would really recommend it to anyone involved in
teaching the Bible during their Careforce year"