Work is an important part of vocation, but an equally important part of living out my calling is my new home. My current home as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) is an intentional Christian community in Boston, where my fellow YAVs and I seek to build faithful relationships with one another, with our neighbors and with God. My year of service is teaching me that “being in mission” is a way of living that starts in the place where I eat, rest, reflect and pray with those closest to me.
For as long as I can remember, every prayer has begun and ended with the sign of the cross. The sign of the cross has been the catalyst for, and the conclusion to, every Mass I have ever attended. The sign of the cross is indicative of my religious and Latina identity.
Samantha Williams’ passion for her organic pancake-mix business is not driven solely by entrepreneurial ambition. It is also fueled by her sense of Christian vocation, which began to form more than a decade ago while she served as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV).
Anyone who has dealt with conflict that lasts for years knows how difficult it can be to re-establish a bond with “the other side.” Even if that conflict ended a long time ago. Those are some of the challenges faced by the Rev. Doug Baker, one of the 2017 International Peacemakers visiting the U.S. this fall.
Blair Moorhead’s recent appearance on the televised game show Jeopardy! was the end of a long process of auditioning. It was also a reminder of valuable life skills for the social worker and candidate for ordination as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program’s final application date for international placement is fast-approaching. Candidates interested in placement at one of the five international sites must apply by February 1. Current YAVs are in the process of taking over the program’s Instagram account (@yavprogram) to showcase each site’s partner organizations and also highlight everyday living.
That horrifying moment when you’re looking for an adult and then you realize you’re an adult. So you look for an older adult, someone successfully adulating. An adultier adult.
Have you ever seen this internet meme? If anyone were to ask me to mark the day I started adulting, I would have told them the day I left for college. But that’s only partially true.
As a new class of PC(USA) seminary students matriculates this fall, many find themselves entering graduate school not only with great anticipation and an unwavering commitment to serve Christ’s church, but also with unprecedented student loan debt.
The lives of 79 young adults were transformed over the past week as the 2016-2017 Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) class gathered at Stony Point Conference Center in New York to begin their YAV experience; each signed up for “a year of service for a lifetime of change.”
Young Adult Volunteer program provides fulfillment and challenges
Melissa Rift is living in Colorado as a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program. Young adult volunteers like her explore God’s calling while living as part of a Christian community in YAV partner sites around the world. Rift, whose home church is Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, had been interested in the program for a long time, and her sister influenced her decision to apply for it.
