What is YearTeam?
YearTeam is an intensive year-long discipleship program based out of St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It is a year of growing in your relationship with God and others, as well as developing character and a heart for mission.
YearTeam is based on the theory that there are three environments in which we learn: Teaching, Doing and Being.
- Teaching is defined by our program time each week during which we grow in our understanding of God, ourselves, and how He has equipped us for His purposes.
- Doing is defined by what we do for God. This will include course involvement, ministry placement responsibilities, assigned projects, going on mission and serving where there is a need, whether at church or in the community.
- Being is defined by the relationships we have during the year with fellow YT participants, mentors, Huddle (small group) members, and with individuals we serve in a ministry context.
Do I have to worship regularly at St. Andrew’s to participate?
No. While we would encourage you to participate in various aspects of the parish life, St. Andrew’s does not need to be your home church. If you participate in YearTeam while maintaining your attendance at your home church, we would strongly encourage your ministry placement to also be at your home church.
What is the cost of doing YearTeam?
$500. Think that’s a lot? It’s not. It’s roughly the cost of going to Starbuck’s two times a week for a year.
What do I get for my tuition?
Textbooks, Access to Top Church Leadership, Training in Prayer and Evangelism, Challenging Teachings, Local Mission Opportunities, Huddle Accountability Groups, Opportunity for Personal Mentor, Ministry Placement and Involvement Context, Meals, LifeSkills Training (the vocabulary of St. Andrew’s Church), Projects that Ensure Life Application, Individually Tailored Goal Setting and Review Process, Teaching & Worship Leading Training and Experience, Beginning and End of Year Retreats, Discounted Registration to Various Retreats and Conferences
What expenses are not covered by tuition?
Each YearTeam participant is strongly encouraged to be part of a mission trip. The cost of your mission trip is not covered. However, depending on the trip you select, support raising and other means of helping with cost will make the trip very affordable.
What is the time commitment for YearTeam?
YearTeam begins in early September and concludes in mid-May. Large group meeting times are 6-10pm on Tuesdays and one weekend per month. Typically our monthly weekend commitment will be 6-9pm on Friday and 9am-5pm on Saturday. Your weekly ministry placement will require another 2-5 hours, totally roughly 10-15 hours each week. In addition, participants will be required to attend an Opening Retreat in the fall and a Year End Retreat in the spring. Attendance at various other conferences throughout the year will be encouraged, but not required. All dates will be clearly given prior to the beginning of YearTeam.
Any there any behavioral expectations?
Participants will seek to be “imitators of God” with “not even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” We are called to live as “children of the light” and will spend this year seeking “what pleases the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:1-12). This high standard will apply to both our personal and public lives.
YearTeam is designed for individuals who are able to demonstrate a level of maturity that should not necessitate behavioral intervention. However, as Jesus came in both grace and truth (John 1:14), the YearTeam leadership desires to do the same. Grace and forgiveness will be offered, but behavioral transformation will be expected. If a pattern of behavior is confronted and the YearTeam participant is unwilling to change, that individual may be asked to leave YearTeam.
Whose authority am I under while doing YearTeam?
The ‘right’ answer is Jesus Christ. But as far as human authority, YearTeam participants are under the authority of Steve Wood, Rector of St. Andrew’s Church. Beyond that, you are under the authority of the Leadership Team that Steve has put in place. Since 2007, the YearTeam Leadership Team has been headed by Todd Simonis.
Can our 1-year ministry involvement really make a difference?
While it is very difficult to measure the transformation that takes place within someone as a result of ministry, we can quantify the amount of time spent ministering in the greater-Charleston area. The 2008-09 YearTeam Participants logged over 2100 hours of service to the various ministries of St. Andrew’s. As a group, they also spent over 900 hours involved in local mission and outreach efforts (this number excludes the additional hours spent on domestic and international mission trips). I think it is safe to say that with over 3000 hours spent doing ministry, YES, YearTeam can make a huge difference in the greater-Charleston area.