What’s Working: Servant Year
This post continues our series to showcase our learnings in a multi-year campaign titled What’s Working, a Lilly Endowment Inc.– supported project to discover how faith-based organizations are working to engage Gen Z. Over the course of 2024, we’ll visit organizations across the country that are revamping traditional methods and innovating new ways to connect with and support the flourishing of young people. Here, we showcase Servant Year, a program of the Episcopal Church where young people live and serve together to help them discern the next steps of their lives.
No matter what Emily O’Heir’s schedule holds, she knows where she will be on Thursday nights: around the dinner table with people who have become an unexpected family.
As a member of Servant Year, a program of the Episcopal Church, Emily lives on the campus of St. James School with five other young adults who have committed to 12 months of volunteer service. Unlike other programs where young people serve in one area and live in another, the structure of Servant Year mimics a religious order where members live, serve, worship, pray, and reflect within the predominately African American community of North Philadelphia.
Many young people drawn to Servant Year find themselves at a crossroads after college and take this opportunity to deepen their spiritual awareness, pursue justice work, and enter a deep process of discernment on their next steps in life. Emily wanted a “challenging” post-graduate experience; she knew that the work of Servant Year would not be easy, but it would help her develop into who she wants to be.
“The rhythm of our life is demanding,” Emily says. “The hours are long, and the days are full. But I’ve always said that I go to bed tired, but I wake up excited for what’s going to come next. And I think that the energy of always knowing that there’s a new day coming—a new day where I will continue to be supported, I will continue to strive toward all of our shared goals—is what really gives the program its structure and what allows us to do the things that we do.”
In addition to serving as rector of the Church of Saint Asaph, Fr. Andrew Kellner also directs Servant Year. Over the last 13 years, he has evolved the program into its current model, devising a thorough intake process that explores the questions each person is bringing into the program with them. What are they wondering about life? What are they thinking about for their career? What is their connection to community? Entering into conversation about these questions helps Father Andrew determine whether time in Servant Year can help the applicants find answers and how the program can be tailored to assist in that effort.
“When you apply to the program, you’re not applying for this job that has this job description that’s all lined out,” Father Andrew says. “You’re identifying the areas of interest that you have and then creating a way of your being within service, within community, within the life of this place. . . . We’re able to create positions that allow people to explore different elements of what it means to serve. We have folks serving in fundraising . . . in educating . . . in chaplaincy. We have folks who are serving in community development and all of that, and we’re able to create unique positions that allow them to experience all of those elements.”
Servant Year member Emily O'Heir teaches a religion class for St. James School fifth graders alongside school chaplain Father Walter Thorne.
As a queer person who left the Catholic faith, Emily says that Servant Year showed her different ways that faith can not only shape her life but also impact others. She served in the chaplaincy department her first year, and while some days were a struggle, she mainly recalls the joy she found in the work. Yet, it was the end of a long-term relationship that sparked an important decision: to enter the priesthood. Emily decided to take on a second Servant Year to continue chaplaincy work and teach religion classes to St. James students.
“I love getting to know kids because they’re just so full of potential and they don’t even know it,” Emily says. “They contain so many curiosities and questions. And I especially love getting to teach religion because they have incredible questions about God and about spiritual life. And when we grow up a little bit, we start to become self-conscious about questions. And most of the students here are asking those really big, really hard questions. And sometimes they ask questions that I have to stop and think, What do I actually think about that? What do I believe? And that’s really special to get, to have that moment with a student.”
Yet, St. James students aren’t the only ones learning lessons. Part of what Servant Year teaches is how to exist with others in community. The program draws young people from a variety of upbringings and experiences, and Father Andrew says allowing them to learn how to enter and navigate conversations across differences is challenging yet crucial learning.
“[They gain an] understanding that you have to know how much you can take before you can’t take, and before you need to share, you need to advocate. You need to say something,” Father Andrew says. “That’s one of the things about this age-group is that we talk about how they are all adults. We’re not treating you as a child anymore. We’re helping you to live into your adulthood. And a huge part of it is knowing when to speak up, when you need to say something, how you need to do that, and bringing other people into it when necessary.”
Emily values this experience deeply and credits Father Andrew for holding space for them to learn these relational lessons at their own pace. As she seeks ordination, she hopes all of the experiences and learnings from Servant Year will continue to influence not only how she prioritizes community in her own life, but also how she engages the larger community to meet the needs of others.
“Part of our baptismal covenant is to seek and serve Christ in every human person,” Emily says. And I think Servant Year really puts the emphasis on our seeking Christ, not just in the people we aspire to be, but in the people we see every day. And I hope that I continue to carry that lesson with me because I think it’s something that even as Christians we can really lose sight of. This place is really sacred to me.”
