Where can I serve
International Sites
Program Partner: Presbyterian Church of Colombia
Program Description: YAVs placed in Colombia gain new perspective on what it means to be church through service with the Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia or IPC (Presbyterian Church of Colombia). YAVs live with host families in different regions of the country working alongside the church. Volunteers learn from and contribute to the IPC’s holistic witness throughout the year. YAVs will learn to be globally-minded leaders while cultivating awareness on the interconnections between church and society.
Site Coordinator: Sarah Henken
How do I apply?


On security concerns in Colombia:
You may have heard some scary things about Colombia, and drug trafficking and armed conflict are still problems in the country. However, the generalized violence that plagued the country over a decade ago has subsided, and the incidence of kidnapping has declined dramatically. There continue to be dangers and tensions that warrant our prayers, advocacy, and concern, but the threats now tend to be targeted and are not of the sort that typically harm outsiders (i.e. visitors from the USA).
Most importantly, our partners in the Presbyterian Church of Colombia take great care in providing for the safety of their sisters and brothers from the U.S. church. They have significant experience in doing so, because the partnership between our churches has been strengthened by frequent visits from partner presbyteries over the past fifteen years. Pairs of U.S. accompaniers have been a regular presence, each team coming for a month or two in country. The accompaniment program began almost ten years ago and today 100 individuals have come to Colombia through that Presbyterian witness to God’s peace.
Here in Colombia, as in all places, we trust in God’s constant love and presence. We take measures to be informed and savvy, rely on the wisdom and knowledge of our partners, and step forward in faith as God leads us.
Program Partner: Volunteers will be hosted by the Church of Scotland Priority Areas Team who focus on supporting and resourcing the 64 most socially and economically deprived parishes spread across Scotland. This year YAV’s will have placements based in central Scotland in the city of Dundee https://www.dundee.com/ where they will gain experience working with local churches and community groups. YAV’s will meet fantastic people living and working in Priority Area parishes; encourage people and communities to thrive through serving in church/community projects in one of the priority areas; have the opportunity to live in ‘intentional community’; and, find themselves appreciated, growing and developing in a unique and fulfilling way.
Find out more about some of the creative work going on in Priority Area parishes in Scotland by watching stories from local communities.
Good Places to be: Stories from local communities
Program Description: The Church of Scotland is the national Presbyterian Church and affirms that ‘Priority for the poorest and the most marginalized is the Gospel imperative facing the whole Church, not just the Church in the poorest places’. In keeping with this affirmation, the Church has directed additional staffing and resources to these areas of deprivation. Our way of working, focusing on people’s strengths and working in partnership has resulted in a wide range of creative programs.
We are committed to taking an asset-based approach to working in our communities, creating a church in Priority Areas which:
- is indivisible from its local community, working with local people
- sees local people as gifted, creative, resilient leaders
- reaches out and stands with people in their most difficult situations
- uses all ways possible to live the Gospel
- seeks to be a family of church communities and encompasses the widest range of theology
- is intolerant of and becomes prophetic about injustice
Priority Areas have been at the forefront of this pioneering work over the years. Working with local people, learning from them and recognizing them as leaders has enabled activities, programs and resources to be developed; to help overcome the effects of poverty.
Site Coordinator:
Pam Mellstrom
One of the Church of Scotland Priority Areas Team Members in Glasgow
How do I apply?

Program Partner: AETE, is a non-profit academic institution with a Christian identity that dedicates itself to biblical, theological, and pastoral training of ecclesial leaders through its Baccalaureate, Diploma, and International Certificate programs. It was established twenty-three years ago by evangelical Christian people, institutions, and churches with the aim of developing an alternative and progressive educational program in the field of biblical-theological training, with evangelical identity and ecumenical practice. We began our work as a University Campus of the Latin American Biblical University of Costa Rica in 1998 until 2012. Then we formed the Faculty of Theology and Religion - AETE and we continued the work of service to the churches in theological training. To date we have a decentralized program in the outlying districts of Lima (North and South) as well as a presence in the regions of Lambayeque and Cajamarca. We have agreements with churches, NGOs and social movements of Christian inspiration.
Program Description: Young Adult Volunteers in Peru serve with one of the partners of AETE in Lima, Moyobamba, Cajamarca or Lambayeque. Each YAV is placed by the Site Coordinator based on interests, needs and skill sets. To facilitate immersion into the local culture and to strengthen community ties, each YAV lives with a host family.
Site Coordinator: Jenny Valles is originally from Moyobamba in the high jungles of Peru. Upon finishing her studies, she settled in Lima where she lives now with her husband, Jed, and their son Thiago. Jenny has been the YAV Site Coordinator in Peru since 2013.
Program Partner: United Church of Christ in the Philippines and Silliman University
Program Description: The program in the Philippines is about developing servant-leaders through faith in action. The 10-month placement will include immersions into different church and community settings that expose the Philippine reality as a mosaic for reflection and socio-cultural understanding. Each volunteer will be matched with specific and suitable work responsibility in one setting addressing relevant and compelling issues that requires transformative community action.
The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Most of its 98 million inhabitants live on 11 main islands. Independence from Spain came in 1898, and from the United States in 1946. Today the Philippines continues to emerge from the colonial dependency that hindered its capacity to prosper and develop. Spanish and American influence in the Philippines is still pervasive. The Philippines is one of the poorest nations in Asia and is torn by internal conflicts caused by disenchantment with a long history of social injustice to the poor and marginalized. The United Church of Christ in the Philippines was established in 1948 and is a union of several early Protestant churches that were in mission in the Philippines. It is a minority church in a culture that is 80 percent Roman Catholic, 10 percent Protestant, 6 percent Muslim, and 4 percent indigenous and Chinese religions. Placements may include assisting in church-related schools, development programs, work with women and children, and human rights organizations.
Site Coordinators: Dessa and Cobbie Palm

Program Partner: Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK)
Program Description: Korea is currently walking through rapid transformation. Recent changes in South Korean leadership have opened the door to a possibility for resolving the conflict and ending the state of war on the peninsula. Throughout the undulating history of occupations by foreign powers, Koreans have maintained faithful resilience by focusing on what they do well, such as their high-culture of hospitality. Koreans deeply value going to great lengths to care for guests. A YAV year in Korea provides a humbling lesson in what it means to love your neighbor. Korea is also a land of plural religions where 24% identify as Buddhist, 31% identify as Christian (24%-Protestant 7%-Catholic), and 43% claim no affiliation. This rich context will allow YAVs to witness numerous ways in which the Korean Church chooses to engage a pluralist society.
Rapid economic development in Korea has also created both striking wealth and immense poverty. Site placements help YAVs to consider the cost to human rights in relationship to recent global-economic practices and helps volunteers develop relationships with the minjung of Korea (downtrodden, marginalized, suffering, etc.). Minjung theologians remind us that God calls us to recognize how those less privileged than ourselves can be the face of Christ for us, a source of theology, and our salvation, rather than merely recipients of the charity. This theology was developed in the struggle against military dictatorship in South Korea during the heart of the democratization movement over several decades.
YAVs will explore the ripple effects of Japanese Occupation, Soviet and US influence, the Korean War, and the continued division and conflict between many competing systems. YAVs will meet Koreans following God’s call for reconciliation. Therefore, a major focus of the Korea YAV site will be “reverse-mission”, where instead of wealthy- mainly white - people going out to change the “poor and unintelligent”, US volunteers will learn from and be transformed by Koreans, especially learning how US Americans can examine ways conflict is perpetuated around the world, but especially in Korea.
Language: Language classes will be provided during the 3-4 week site orientation in order to facilitate relationship building with partners. No prior knowledge of Korean language is necessary, but Korea YAVs must be willing to engage in the language learning process before and during their YAV year. Language exchange programs and/or community language programs will be available throughout the year.
Site Coordinators: Hyeyoung Lee
See beautiful snapshots of Korea from Dia Griffiths 2016-17's YAV year!

Watch an interview with Korea YAV alum, Tish Mason
Different Drummers interview
Read about the YAVs in Korea:
National Sites
Program Partner: Glacier Presbytery
Program Description: The Hi-Line YAV program is home to a unique ecumenical ministry in rural north-central Montana between the Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Alliance, and Assembly of God congregations. While enjoying the beautiful landscape of “Big Sky Country” and cheering on the town-favorite mascot “the Sugarbeeters”, Chinook YAVs will have the opportunity to live and work in a supportive community while participating in leadership and pastoral care type placements with children, youth, and older adults.
The mission of the Hi-Line YAV site is “to make known God’s love in our community as we equip future leaders for Christ’s church and God’s world”. YAVs will gain skills in fostering relationships with and proclaiming the good news of the gospel through community outreach; YAVs will also experience first-hand the gifts and challenges of rural ministry!
Placement opportunities center both on the gifts of the YAV and the needs of the community. YAVs will build relationships through tutoring at the elementary school, mentoring at the community youth group, and visiting older adults at the nursing home and senior center. YAVs will also explore issues of justice and poverty through the community food pantry and the summer lunch & activities program. YAVs will nurture their faith through engaging with local congregations, attending retreats, participating in & leading worship, and attending in bible studies.
Like us on Facebook at Hi-Line Young Adult Volunteer (YAV)!
Site Coordinator: Jack Mattingly
How do I apply?

Visit the New Orleans' YAV website to learn more.
Program Partner: The Young Adult Volunteers in New Orleans is a mission of the Presbytery of South Louisiana. The purpose of this program is to offer to young adults a God-Seeking, Life-Changing experience that prepares Young Adults to take part in God’s mission in the world for the rest of their lives.
Program Description: To be a Young Adult Volunteer in New Orleans is to seek God and be transformed in one of the most unique cities in the world. In New Orleans you will cry with and serve your neighbors who grieve the effects of Hurricane Katrina, poverty, violence, and a disappearing wetlands. You will also joyfully dance in the streets with those same neighbors at Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, or a passing Second Line. The YAV program in New Orleans offers many opportunities for you to engage the city on many different levels and to seek God in the tension of sorrow and celebration.
Goals of the New Orleans YAV site:
- For Young Adults during their year of service learn about God, themselves, servant leadership, and social justice with the purpose of being transformed so that this one year will prepare them for rest of their lives to take part in God’s mission in the world.
- To be a safe and loving community for the Young Adults who spend a year in New Orleans. We are a home in which young adults are able to explore, risk, and fail within a safety-net of grace, love, and compassion.
- For Young Adults who come to New Orleans during their year of service develop a mindset of calling- which is not necessarily linked to what job they have.
- For the presence of Young Adults to transform the Presbytery of South Louisiana.
Site Coordinator: Dan Wally Baker

Program or Partner: Presbytery of New York City
Program Description: New York City will offer YAV’s an experience in exceptional racial, ethnic, income and cultural diversity – both in the city itself and in our highly diverse presbytery. The whole world, in its blessed variety, is contained within our five boroughs. New York is densely urban in a way that few other American cities are, relying principally on mass transportation – realities that do not permit us to insulate ourselves from one another.
In a sense, the NYC YAV site would be both national and international. Volunteers will be exposed to our global diversity with intentional visits to very different parts of our city so that their experience of New York would not be confined to the area where they live or where they are placed for work.
For all our variety, we are a city “that works,” but also one still struggling mightily with issues and justice and reconciliation
Site Coordinator: Maureen Anderson
Program Partner: US/Mexico Borderlands
Program Description: The mission and work of the Borderlands YAV program is focused on building relationships and community on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border to confront barriers of militarism, social injustice and otherness that exist in borderlands. We work with partners that provide a multi-level response to how barriers in our societies particularly harm immigrant and poor communities to amplify the church’s response of welcome and refuge. YAVs serve with communities and churches that are on the frontlines of welcoming and providing humanitarian aid for migrants who are trying to migrate north because of violence and poverty. Primarily, YAVs serve in Tucson, AZ and Agua Prieta, Sonora working with multiple organizations in Tucson and Frontera de Cristo and CAME Migrant Shelter in Agua Prieta.
YAVs also work and live in a diverse community with other young adults from both the U.S. and Latin America where they live and serve together in community. And together the young adult volunteers explore how God is working in their lives and the world, by learning about Christian vocation and faith in the borderlands to become peacemakers and advocates for the marginalized in our society.
Site Coordinator: James Martin
tucsonborderlandsyav@gmail.com