A post-college gap year focused on service, spirituality, and community

in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

A year with us includes…

Internship, professional, office

SERVICE

Use your skills to benefit others and grow professionally

  • We believe that everyone can find ways to use their unique skills and interests to meet needs around them. Serve the community through a 35-hour per week, professional internship that is tailored to you. Make a positive impact while getting valuable work experience, discerning vocation, and developing a professional network.

    We cover all of your living expenses during your year with us.

SPIRITUALITY

Grow in love of God, neighbor, and self

  • Embark on a post-college path that is meaningful and fulfilling. Develop habits of action, reflection, and prayer. Participate in weekly group seminars and two weekend retreats. Encounter God as you connect with a wide variety of people. Try out spiritual direction, counseling, or a seminary class. Connect with a local congregation if you choose.

Community, intentional community

COMMUNITY

Surround yourself with supportive peers and mentors

  • It can be hard to find community after college, but by joining The Shalom Project you also join a broad, local community of people who are excited to welcome you in. Live in a house with up to six peers. Meet monthly for lunch with our director. Form friendships with our board members, alumni, and other nearby intentional communities of young adults.

Our Values

  • Service - discovering ways our skills can meet the needs around us

  • Social justice and peace - seeking wholeness and well-being for all people, inspired by the way of Jesus

  • Community - finding spaces of welcome and support

  • Active, lived faith - developing habits that grow us in love of God, neighbor, and self

  • Sustainability and simplicity - sharing resources and consuming wisely

  • Diversity and inclusion - welcoming, celebrating, and being strengthened by our differences

Our values are rooted in Anabaptist Christianity, and we welcome any recent college graduate who desires to learn, grow, and pursue shalom.

For seminar this week, we met with the Thistledown Intentional Community, and several of our alumni were able to join the fun. We shared stories of living in community, enjoyed snacks, and even played a game together! @gardenspotcommunities
One small way that Shalom Project participants engage in serving their neighbors during their Shalom year is by serving a community meal on the first Saturday of every month. In the city of Lancaster, anyone can get a free meal somewhere in the city
This week for seminar, we went to Saint James Episcopal Church to see their chapel, sanctuary, and cemetery. StephJo Wise, Director of Children, Youth, and Families, shared about St James church history and contemplative prayer, leading us in a brief
We were excited to share about The Shalom Project in an Agape Center chapel at Messiah University this morning, and now we are outside of the Career Center in Eisenhower until 2pm today! Feel free to stop by our table to say hello and learn more abou

Connect with us.

We’d love to meet you! Contact us to schedule a short conversation to learn more about The Shalom Project and other post college options.