News from the Young Adult Volunteers – January 2024

Greetings, Siblings in Christ!   Happy 2024! Some YAV Program staff started the New Year with our Catholic siblings in Christ at the SEEK Conference in St. Louis. Over 20,000 young adults were in attendance, and we made direct contact with over 100 participants interested in learning more about how they can build congregational vitality, dismantle structural racism and eradicate systemic poverty through the PC(USA).

As we discern the future of young adult service programs with our Catholic siblings, we all agree that the future of equipping young adults with spiritual direction is ecumenical. We cannot continue to do service within our dividers that separate us based on doxology, denominations or other Christian structures, because young adults do not view missiology that way. The young adults we engaged together during the SEEK Conference want to be equipped with the necessary tools to do justice that upholds their belief in Christ. That is it. As a program, we will continue to have ecumenical conversations with other denominations and faith-based programs to discern the future of transforming young adults’ lives through faith formation.   As we continue to discern the future of the YAV Program, one exciting change for this year is orientation, which will be in Agua Prieta, Mexico! If you have been journeying with us since the pandemic, you know we have made some slight changes to the program, like opening our borders to YAVs outside of the U.S. So far, we have had YAVs from Scotland, Mexico, El Salvador and Peru serve alongside our U.S. YAVs. Despite trying to make orientation equitable for all our participants over the years, we still need fully obtained U.S. visas for all our Mexican participants, leaving them out of the personal time during orientation. However, this year, along with Frontera de Cristo, site coordinators from the Tucson Borderlands, Peru and Colombia, and Louisville YAV staff, we will equip all our YAVs through orientation in Agua Prieta. Even though they will still learn the YAV core values and what it means to be a Matthew 25 servant leader, they will also learn from church and community partners in Agua Prieta throughout the week and how they embody transformational ministry within their community. I am thrilled to offer this different context to orientation and to witness how our upcoming class will be transformed by the opportunity to engage with the community in Agua Prieta and learn about the teaching throughout their YAV year. Application season is still open! Please share this program with a young adult who is discerning their Christian faith and wants to explore it through a social justice lens. Also, pray for our current class as they turn the corner toward the final half of their journey. Please continue to read their blogs and offer them words of encouragement as they make it to the finish line.   We are on this journey together. Destini Hodges, coordinator Young Adult Volunteers

World Mission Year In Review

True mission partnership is about building relationships, learning from one another and walking together in faith and friendship. Together we can build the body of Christ around the world. Download World Mission’s “2023 Year in Review” flier to learn more about World Mission and YAV’s work last year.

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Apply to be a YAV

Applications for the 2024-25 in-person service year are open. If you’re between the ages of 19-30 (or know someone who is) and want to engage in world issues, commit to self-reflection, listen to the marginalized and learn in a new way, consider “a year of service for a lifetime of change.” Learn more about the process here.

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Meet a YAV

Meet Steffan Johnson. Steffan is from South Carolina and recently graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary with a master’s degree in theological studies. He plans to use his YAV experience by applying it to real-life situations with the goal of establishing a genuine community. Visit his page to read his blog and support his efforts.

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Financial support for the YAV program

Please consider giving to the YAV program through a monthly or one-time gift to care for young adults engaged in “a year of service for a lifetime of change.”

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The Young Adult Volunteer program, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is an ecumenical, one-year service opportunity for young adults ages 19 to 30. For nearly three decades, YAVs have listened for God’s call in their lives, while serving alongside partners at sites in the United States and around the world. YAVs live in intentional Christian communities developing and deepening their faith through service. Learn more about this transformative year at youngadultvolunteers.org.

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Spreading the Vision of Matthew 25 across the Church

Matthew 25 is a living translation of Jesus Christ — strengthening relationships, transforming your church, and bringing alive your commitment to those who are marginalized or in need in your community and the world around us. Make no mistake, Jesus is calling us to perform ordinary acts of compassion in daily life. But we have also been called to consider the factors that led to these conditions, to confront the causes of inequality, to confess the sin of greed and to correct the problem of poverty — whether in our own nation and neighborhood, or around the world.

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