The Office of Public Affairs

The Public Affairs Office provides statistics, biographies, photos, background information, and other resources to media representatives reporting on the mission and ministries of The Episcopal Church

What is your next faithful step? The Episcopal Church’s Young Adult Service Corps invites 2025 applicants

October 29, 2024
Office of Public Affairs

Seeking Episcopalians ages 21 to 35 interested in international mission engagement, the church’s Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) is accepting applications for 2025 placements. The deadline to apply online is Jan. 31.

For more than two decades, YASC participants have served in areas of administration/communication, agriculture, community development, education, health care, parish ministry/chaplaincy, social services, youth work, and more, while participating in the daily life and ministry of churches, cathedrals, and dioceses around the Anglican Communion. Learn more in this new “Discover YASC” video.

Alumni repeatedly share about the deep, life-changing impact of their year of growth and service. Episcopal Diocese of California Bishop Austin Rios, the first YASC alumnus to be elected bishop, credits YASC with introducing him to the larger Anglican Communion and opening his heart to multilingual ministry spaces.

While serving as rector of St. Paul’s Within the Walls Episcopal Church in Rome, Italy, Rios hosted six YASC members from five dioceses across The Episcopal Church. Of those, three are now clergy and one should be ordained next year.

“All of those YASC members were able to get parish experience in a multilingual, multinational congregation and be mentored by Bishop Austin,” said Elizabeth Boe, Episcopal Church mission personnel officer, and a YASC volunteer in Tanzania from 2008-2010. “YASC is an opportunity for young adults to explore who they are, how they are in the world, and what their calling in life might be. Every part of the program—application, discernment, orientation, and service—is grounded in our relationship with God and with God’s people in another part of the world. Serving with YASC is a process of self-discovery that ties together vocational discernment and personal growth. Living, working, and praying alongside a new community in another part of God’s world builds cultural awareness, empathy, adaptability, and a broader, more nuanced worldview while creating new relationships that can develop into lifelong friendships.”

Applicants invited to continue the process have the chance to attend an in-person discernment retreat March 19-23 at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York, as a next step toward determining if they want to participate in YASC. The retreat is an opportunity to continue conversations and discernment with others asking similar questions. Those interested in particular fields of service can potentially be matched to those areas.

Orientation for participants is mandatory and scheduled for June 16-28 at Holy Cross Monastery, with departure for placements taking place in August and September.

Since the start of the program, volunteers have served in more than 45 countries. Potential placement locations for 2025 include, but are not limited to, Brazil, the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, Costa Rica, El Salvador, England, Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and the United Arab Emirates.

Learn more about YASC and view videos from participants.

Questions? Contact Elizabeth Boe.