2027 World Race | Gap Year 27G0905 - Pilgrimage

Discover more of God, yourself, and your calling

World Race: Gap Year is a 9-month Christian gap year program created for recent high school graduates to serve others, dive into Christian community, and grow in your identity and faith. Gap Year gives you an opportunity to work alongside experienced leaders who are sharing the hope of Jesus and meeting the tangible needs of their communities every day. Along the way, you’ll discover more of God, yourself, and your calling. Gap Year is not a year off. It’s the launching pad for seeking first the Kingdom of God for the rest of your life.

Route Info!!

Spain and Portugal: For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have walked the Camino, the ancient web of paths that all lead to one place: the great cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. On Pilgrimage you'll most likely walk the Portuguese Way, the Caminho Português, starting in Portugal and crossing into Spain, because it's the stretch you can actually complete on foot in about a month. Pilgrims have worn this path smooth walking to clear their heads, mend their hearts, and meet God. Now it's your turn to lace up and join them.You'll begin among the tiled streets, river cities, and green hills of Portugal, a warm, unhurried country where the coffee is strong, the seafood is fresh, and strangers wave you on your way with "bom Caminho." Then you'll cross into Galicia, the misty, green northwest corner of Spain, and follow the scallop-shell markers the rest of the way to Santiago. Both countries still call themselves Catholic, but for many the faith has faded into tradition, and a lot of the people you pass are quietly searching for something real.

Romania : Romania feels like stepping into an older, slower world. Castle ruins crown the hilltops, the Carpathian mountains roll green to the horizon, and the faith here goes back centuries, woven deep into the Orthodox rhythms of everyday life. This is a place where people still greet strangers on the road, bring a small gift when they visit a home, and treat hospitality as something sacred.But Romania isn't only ancient. There's something new stirring. Faithful Romanian believers are out sharing their faith, discipling, and caring for people the rest of society overlooks, and lives are being changed. That mix of deep-rooted tradition and fresh, living faith is exactly the kind of soil a pilgrim learns to love.

Greece : Greece is holy ground for anyone who loves the story of the early church. This is where the Apostle Paul carried the Gospel into Europe for the very first time, and you'll be walking the same land he walked. Ancient ruins, island paths above the bluest water you've ever seen, and history you can feel in your bones. Few places make you sense the long arc of God's story like this one.There's a gift here that fits this route perfectly: hospitality. In Greece, welcome is sacred, an honor and a duty, and they even have a word, kefi, for the joy that comes from gathering and sharing life together. Beneath the postcard, though, Greece has carried real weight, through economic crisis and years as a doorway for people far from home, and the country is in need of fresh hope.

Nepal : This is the second trek, and it's the stuff of dreams. Nepal sits up near the roof of the world, crowned by Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on the planet. You'll climb into Himalayan villages along trails that wind through some of the most jaw-dropping country on earth, the kind of place that makes you feel small in the best way and pulls your eyes upward.There's a sweetness in the air here. Racers keep describing the same thing: a quiet stirring in a land that is mostly Hindu and Buddhist, a sense that God is doing something tender and real, with hearts opening in ways they haven't before. The Nepali people are gentle and hospitable, quick to share a cup of milk tea and a story.

Vietnam : Vietnam is quieter and gentler than its history. After French rule, a war that split the country, and decades as a communist nation, this is a land whose whole story has been one long search for freedom. Most Vietnamese claim no religion at all, and the freedom to worship is limited, and yet the people you meet are warm and remarkably hospitable.It's also beautiful in a way that slows you right down. The lantern-lit old town of Hoi An. The Marble Mountains and their trails. The still, otherworldly waters of Halong Bay. This is a place that rewards paying attention.

Cambodia: There may be no better place to end a pilgrimage than watching the sun come up over Angkor Wat. Cambodia is full of wonders like that: ancient temples, dusty village roads you travel by tuk-tuk, houses on stilts over flooded rice paddies, a beauty that feels old and unhurried.Sit with the older generation, though, and you'll remember what this country survived. A genocide tore through Cambodia and took close to a whole generation, including most of its teachers, leaders, and pastors. The Church here is young because so much was lost. And still, the Cambodian people are some of the most hopeful and generous you will ever meet. That mix of deep wound and stubborn hope is holy ground.