By Brianna Maslonka • Posted September 29, 2025

“Yes” — for Jessica Runyen, this simple response to the Lord’s call in her home parish of St. Matthew’s in Conshohocken allowed a small group of about five young adults to blossom into a thriving young adult Catholic community centered on discipleship and shared values.

She began this group after attending World Youth Day in 2023 with the archdiocesan group, YAMDI, Young Adult Missionary Disciple Initiative, to Lisbon, Portugal, where she had her first experience with young adult ministry.

Upon returning from the pilgrimage, Archbishop Nelson Pérez commissioned the young adults who attended to go out and create a ministry.

“I saw that there wasn’t an active group for young adults” at St. Matthew Parish, Runyen explained, “so I decided to just to start one. It really (began with) saying ‘yes’ to that YAMDI program and being open.”

The group officially began in Lent of 2024 and they started to study Father Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” series. By Pentecost, the group had doubled in size and “people really seemed to find a home within the group,” Runyen said.

Currently the St. Matthew’s Young Adult Group has a GroupMe mobile messaging app with about 100 members. They post events of the group and the parish, as well as service projects and events happening around the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Before Runyen started the ministry she felt unqualified to do so, but she was reminded of a quote that “God does not call the qualified, yet he qualifies the called.” So she continued listening to the call of God and started the group with a step of faith.

“If this is what God is calling me to, he will use it,” she said. “That has always been part of my prayers: offering the group to him to do great things with the group.”

An ongoing goal for the young adults group is to further their reach throughout the parish and continue to partner with other ministries.

Rachel Haynes was one of the first young adults to participate in the group and now serves on the leadership board. She is also married to St. Matthew’s Music Director Gareth Haynes, which helps facilitate a deeper sense of community among all members of the parish.

This community provides support for the young adults at St. Matthew Parish. Haynes explains that “having that kind of community to base your life around and really have that kind of home feeling and being surrounded by a lot of people with a similar faith background … it was really warm and welcoming and really grounded us.”

The future looks bright for this young adult group as they look toward growing and expanding their reach to help other parishes begin similar groups. For this group to start with only five to 10 regular members to more than 100 now participating in multiple parish ministries shows the potential that is waiting for other parish leaders to answer with their own “Yes” to the Lord’s call for young adult ministry.

In addition to monthly service projects, the St. Matthew’s Young Adult Group has created a library for parishioners at the entrances to the church, where parishioners can borrow different books to further their faith formation.

Father Joseph Devlin, pastor, led the transformation of a space in the vestibule of the parish hall into a eucharistic  adoration chapel, and the young adult group is now working with him to help raise awareness of the new chapel and develop a regular team of adorers.

“That is something that we keep in mind,” said Runyen, “how to incorporate adoration and this new chapel into our ministry.”

She reminds young adults that “in saying ‘yes’ to things like this,  people not only serve and evangelize but it is such an opportunity for God to use these opportunities to also deepen your relationship with him.”

Young adults want to experience a community that centers on Christ and St. Matthew’s Young Adult Group is leading the way for how this can be done.

Throughout this first year and a half, Runyen has shown how her reliance on following the Lord’s will can give anyone the strength to follow their calling in their own parish.

“My hope,” she said, “is that young adults get interested in not just participating but using it as a way to lead with the group or within the parish community.”