Cross-Cultural Learning Experiences

Middle School
(current 6-8^th)

July 16-21, 2023
(fully overnight)

$820

Partnering with our friends at The Boston Project in Dorchester is an incredible opportunity. You don't need to go far away to encounter communities that both have need and so much to offer and teach us about what it means to be a community.

The Boston Project  began as a vision by some college students in 1995 to mobilize teen volunteers in service throughout Boston. In 1996, two of those students rented an apartment in Dorchester to continue this work. Today, Paul and Glenna continue serving there, have turned this apartment building into Boston Project headquarters, building up a ministry firmly rooted in and run by the neighborhood.

The Boston Project engages neighbors and volunteers to build and nurture strong communities characterized by God’s shalom. This CCLE team will join the Boston Project in the various areas of ministry and projects they run every day, including, but not limited to community programs, gardening, food pantries, house and yard care, working with children, etc.

• Sunday – drop off in the afternoon. Training with BP in the evening.
• Monday-Thursday – learning activities, work projects, and a trip to downtown Boston as well as a homelessness serving opportunity
• Friday – debrief with BP and return after lunch for pick-up

• Current 6th-8th grade
• Students who apply should have the appropriate interpersonal skills for interacting with neighbors in their homes and be comfortable performing physical tasks outdoors.
• Complete the application
• Interview with campus directors

Application acceptance is not a guarantee of trip participation. Participants will be required to attend the Orientation meeting and at least 5 of the 6-remaining meetings. Failure to do so will result in reconsideration of participation, which is not a punishment. These meetings are also part of the CCLE as they are integral to team-building and learning, which impacts the trip itself.

High School
(current 8-12th)

July 16-22, 2023
(fully overnight)

$840

Serving in The Philadelphia Project is a fantastic experience! Philadelphia has a population of 1.5 million, but approximately 25.7% of residents live below the poverty line – the highest rate out of America’s 10 biggest cities. When we serve in Philadelphia, we learn about the differences in opportunities that we might have made available to us in the greater Boston region compared to those accessible to people just a few hundred miles away.

The Philadelphia Project has been working in the city since 2010, and provides services for its residents year-round. We come for what they call their Summer of Service, which are week-long experiences of extending love to the City of Brotherly Love.

Our students stay together in an updated college dorm, which serves as our home base for meals, showers, free time, program, and sleeping. Each morning, we pack our lunches and head out to different work sites. The CCLE team will be split up into different work site teams, and students will be able to serve on a construction team, a kids camp, or a variety of mercy ministries with local partners.

• Sunday – Travel day to Philly Project
• Monday-Friday – Prayer tour of the city, daily service in 3 different tracks: kids camp, evangelism, and work projects. Nightly worship and explore Philly.
• Saturday – Travel day returning home.

• Current 8th-12th grade (8th graders should discuss which trip best suits them with their campus director)
• Students who apply should have the appropriate interpersonal skills for interacting with neighbors in their homes and be comfortable performing physical tasks outdoors.
• Complete the application
• Interview the campus directors

Application acceptance is not a guarantee of trip participation. Participants will be required to attend the Orientation meeting and at least 5 of the 6-remaining meetings. Failure to do so will result in reconsideration of participation, which is not a punishment. These meetings are also part of the CCLE as they are integral to team-building and learning, which impacts the trip itself.

• 12/4/22 - Informational Meeting (see campus for details)
• 12/11/22 - Applications open
• 1/6/23 - Applications due
• 1/8/23-1/28/23 - Interviews
• 1/29/23 - Meeting 1 – Orientation, Lexington Campus, 12:30-2pm
• 2/26/23 - Meeting 2 – Campus-based, see campus for details
• 3/26/23 - Meeting 3 – Team meetings, Lexington Campus, 12:30-2pm
• 4/30/23 - Meeting 4 – Team meetings, Lexington Campus, 12:30-2pm
• 5/21/23 - Meeting 5 – Team meetings, Lexington Campus, 12:30-2pm
• 6/17/23 - Meeting 6 - (Saturday), Team dinners, Location TBD, 6-8pm

*** Applicants should check their calendars against these dates for any potential conflicts and include those conflicts in their application.

Formerly called “Discipleship Groups”, the desire of a short-term CCLE Intensive is to both train and provide opportunities for students to understand the impact their trip will have on our partner’s mission, on their own lives, and on the Kingdom. They will learn the importance of leaving a positive impact on the community, to understand the value of everyone associated with their trip, especially individuals outside of their team, how every team eventually comes to a tipping point, and the impact their decisions make, and how the end of their trip will say more about them than the beginning.

While this intensive is lead by our campus directors, these groups are designed to encourage students to lead each other. Our faith journey is a community project. It doesn’t form strictly as the result of adults pouring into the lives of students, but students discovering and owning their faith on their own and with one another.

These short-term CCLE Intensives will be a temporary small group that meets locally between February 1 and March 26. They are required for new CCLE participants and strongly encouraged for returning participants.