ACF Gap Year: Investing in Mission-Minded Students

This academic year marks an important milestone for the ACF Gap Year, a three-year pilot initiative designed to equip students for intentional, campus-based mission. Launched last fall at University of California, Berkeley, the pilot began with six gap-year student volunteers committed to strengthening Adventist Christian Fellowship’s presence and impact on a major public university campus.

This spring, the program continues to grow. Five student volunteers are currently serving across two strategic locations. Three are based at UC Berkeley, working alongside Ron Pickell, Pacific Union Conference ACF Director, to help grow the local ACF chapter and move it toward a more intentional, outward-focused, missional posture.

At the same time, two gap-year volunteers are serving at University of Washington Seattle, where a house church is being planted through University Commission. This work is being led by John Leis, Washington Conference ACF Director and North Pacific Union Conference ACF Coordinator.

The ACF Gap Year pilot exists because we recognized a consistent gap on public university campuses: ACF chapters are being launched, but many student-led groups only have the capacity to create a safe, supportive community for Adventist students. While that community is essential, we have not consistently seen the kind of missional momentum needed to engage and reach the wider university campus. The Gap Year initiative was created to add focused support through a student volunteer who is not currently enrolled in the university—someone who can come alongside the local ACF chapter, strengthen what is already happening, and help the chapter grow into a more intentionally missional presence on campus.