If you were to head off to Bible college, what is it you would want from your degree? Chances are, barista skills and a first aid certificate wouldn’t be on your list. And yet, that’s what Sydney Missionary Bible College (SMBC) is planning to offer in its new gap year programme, The Bridge.

Aimed at school leavers with a passion for the Bible and cross-cultural mission, The Bridge will give 18 – 21 year olds the opportunity to get a taste of Bible college, as well as hands-on ministry experience and some practical life skills to boot. These will include first aid certification, defensive driver training, catering for large groups, budgeting, communication skills, conflict resolution skills and barista training.

“We’re trying to make the programme holistic,” says programme director, Tim Silberman. By that, he means it’s not just heads in books. The two-day-a-week course will involve some lectures, with classes in Old and New Testament and mission in the mornings, but the rest of the time, students will be visiting diverse parts of Sydney to experience cross-cultural mission, developing ministry skills and learning how to make lattes.

“We want the year to be fun. It is still a gap year, so we want to give people something that’s not just a university experience. But also, I guess we’re committed to spiritual formation—seeing people grow in godliness and be equipped and challenged,” says Tim.

Focusing on “growing up”, spiritually and otherwise, Tim says The Bridge is about creating a “learning community” that promotes maturity in all areas of life.

SMBC think it’s the perfect fit for those keen beans in your youth group who want to rush off to Bible college but perhaps aren’t quite ready yet—people Bible colleges might turn away straight out of school. 

“We’ve often been approached by younger adults who are passionate about serving God and passionate about learning the Scriptures. And I guess up until now we’ve said: go and get some life experience and come back later. The Bridge is for those people.”

In the middle of the year, the group will put the theory of crossing cultures into practice as they travel to South East Asia for a mission exposure trip. The students will be embedded with long term cross-cultural workers to learn what cross-cultural ministry is like.

“We will be going somewhere that English is not spoken and the church is less than 2% of the population,” says Tim, highlighting it’s not a traditional short-term mission trip. “We want students to come home with a deep sense of the needs and opportunities, but also the challenge of cross-cultural ministry. They will see that you can’t just do what you do here somewhere else and expect to have the same impact.”

Students can choose to audit The Bridge, to complete it as a certificate, or as part of a Diploma of Theology, which can count towards a Bachelor of Theology if they want to continue studying.

But Tim says the aim isn’t simply to funnel these students into SMBC’s degree programmes at the end of the year. Rather, they want to prepare people for whatever comes next in life.

“Giving students an opportunity to get into God’s word, but also think about the world and about how to connect with it, how to relate to people from different cultures, what the opportunities are for service all around the world is really a helpful foundation for people to then go onto whether they go to uni, into the workplace or travelling.” 

The Bridge will commence in February 2015.  http://thebridge.smbc.com.au/