Interview with Leah, a Cadillac SERVE leader

One of the worksites that the Cadillac SERVE participants spent time at this summer was an apartment complex for low income senior citizens. The teams spent time washing windows, vacuuming, dusting, and sweeping porches.

“Most of the seniors were super appreciative, but some were uncomfortable having us in their space and having to accept our help,” said Leah, a leader from Minnesota. “It was really good for us to experience their discomfort.”

While these tasks may not have been the most exciting ones the teams completed all week, the impact they had was large. Not only did they work on tasks that might be difficult for seniors with disabilities or decreasing mobility, but they were also able to get to know the seniors as they worked.

“We were able to learn their stories and pray for them,” Leah said. “It was really impactful to see how having someone to talk to lifted their spirits.”

People that age are often very lonely and can feel secluded, especially if their physical health is declining. Assisting and, more importantly, visiting the elderly is a great way that our SERVE sites and participants engage with the community around them.

Interview with Emily, SERVE Cadillac participant

“I’ve heard so much about the amazing things that happen on SERVE,” Emily said. “So I wanted to see it for myself!”

Although she is only a freshman, Emily has heard firsthand about the impact that SERVE has on both participants and the impacted communities.

“I have three cousins who have come on SERVE before,” she said. “This year, my aunt came as one of our leaders!”

Emily’s group traveled to Cadillac, Michigan. Throughout the week, they cleaned out a river, sorted clothes at a mission-based thrift store, and built a wheelchair ramp at a Habitat for Humanity house.

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have all the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
Romans 12:4-5

As impactful as it was for Emily to participate with her earthly family, it is even more exciting that our fellow believers that we meet on SERVE are part of our eternal family – The Body of Christ!

When I was asked to chaperone our group from Platte, South Dakota, I wondered what I could bring to the table for these kids? I had no experience or formal education to give them; I only knew the basic commandments and a couple fruits of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, that was enough for God to call me to SERVE.

In the midst of personal struggles I was facing, I wasn’t sure how I could encourage my team’s growth. After all, you can’t pour from an empty cup! However, I was encouraged by a passage in John that talked about living water.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7:37-38 NIV

On Thursday, my team helped at an equine therapy center, assisting in basic farm labor. The Holy Spirit let streams of living water flow from my heart as my group bonded over horse manure and hay bales.

On our last day, I received hugs from all three girls in my small group, each one so grateful for how I displayed God’s love for them. One hundred percent of what we did was really Christ working in them. What a marvelous lesson from SERVE at Park Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan.

By Melissa Sybesma

We have been living in a time when plans have been canceled or postponed at the speed of sound. One day we were sorting out the details about going away on SERVE and excitedly coming home from the Leadership Summit, then a week later, we were hunkering down for a 6-month lock-in. We didn’t foresee this.

It was/is hard, this new world. If there was a glimmer of hope for ministry during this time, it came in the form of SERVE@home as a hands-on practical way to, within a COVID reality, still be a model of creative Kingdom hospitality and compassion. 

As a SERVE team at Covenant CRC in Edmonton, Alberta, it was important to remind our church community that in spite of the world seemingly shutting down, the needs of our surrounding communities were still real. 15 students and leaders experienced that first hand.

Each morning we gathered for devotions, listening for what Jesus was saying to each one of us through Matthew 5, the Beatitudes. Powerful messages absorbed through personal reflection to set the pace for the day.

Each reflection tied into what that day had in store for us. Between moving a young family from one home to another, preparing meals for those shut-in and who could not afford food that week, delivering these meals, hosting a COVID-safe BBQ, sorting clothes and toiletries for those in need and the list goes on. As Jesus once said after seeing the crowds of people in need, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”. 

At the end of each day, we listened to each other. The stories of where we saw God and His amazing work in action. 

SERVE@home was an answer to prayer for our church. A community that desperately needed community. Where grace and compassion revealed itself through God’s redemptive story that is as real today as it was when He promised to Abram, “and all nations will be blessed through you”

About the Author: Ron deVries lives in Edmonton, AB, and is the ministry ambassador to ThereforeGo as well as a Regional Catalyst for the office of Faith Formations of the CRCNA.

by Angie Klooster

SERVE 2019 was one of the most influential weeks of my life. Seeing the broken state some people live in is one thing but having the opportunity to help them and change their way of life is entirely different. We made a difference, even if all we did was weed a few rows of a community garden or paint the walls of a non-profit organization. And making a difference made a difference in me.

I was cautious to go on this trip. It was very out of my comfort zone. Then, when I found out no one from my church was in my SERVE small group, I was even more discouraged. However, as soon as I met my small group and spent one day with them, I knew I was here for a reason. The people I worked with and got to know were some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, and I quickly realized God sent me on SERVE to do good.

God sent me to a small church in Muskegon, Michigan both to help people and to grow, myself. I learned more about myself in those seven days than I have in my entire life. I learned to not take things for granted. I learned that God works miracles in the strangest of ways. I learned to get out of my comfort zone and talk to people. And I learned to make friends, even if it’s just for a week and I might never see them again.

With each service project – every time we handed out yogurt at the church or cleaned a lot – we made a difference, and I was so encouraged. It might not have been much, but it was something, and it was hopefully enough to encourage others to follow our footsteps, too.

One little nudge can make a change in someone’s life, like the way my life changed at Muskegon SERVE. If the people of Muskegon saw us planting a garden and growing food, it shows them that it’s possible. If the kids at Muskegon Heights High School saw that people were willing to help them, it shows them they can help people, too.

Muskegon SERVE was just one week, but the people I worked with have been doing this for years. They have dedicated their lives to helping their community and are very passionate about what they do. They work so hard with so little. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to see, and talk to, and help these people. It’s changed who I am, and I hope everyone gets a chance to have a similar experience. If you ever get the opportunity to go do good, do it. It will be beyond worth it.  

by Andrew Rennie, Lynden SERVE Host Team Member

My second year on the Host Team of Lynden SERVE felt different from the first. The first year left me wishing I could have done more or been more involved. I was inspired by the work of the students, by witnessing their comradery and unity, and by watching our church come together and work purposefully to the glory of God. Still, it seemed to me that my part in this sacrifice of service was missing something.

Reflecting on the old sacrificial system, I realize pleasing sacrifices are rarely spontaneous. The spotless lamb doesn’t walk up to the alter on its own. The firewood must first be collected and seasoned before it’s burned, and the poetry of praise doesn’t just float in on the wind. Each sacrifice is created through availability and intentionality.

For me, the biggest stumbling blocks to serving were having the time to do it (the idolatry of availability) and only wanting to serve in ways I was comfortable with (the idolatry of success).

I know, deep down, that I must say “Here I am, Lord,” and then be willing to listen to his calling.

This year I decided to plan ahead and take the week of SERVE off work. By giving this sacrifice, it kept me available, freeing my mind from work worries and letting me focus on SERVE. I could cheerfully give my time flexibly, offering help wherever it was needed. Being willing to listen to his calling beautified the sacrifice.

As a Christian, I no longer rely on the old sacrificial system our Heavenly Father instituted for his people to enable and restore their relationship with himself. I know Christ accomplished it all on the cross. There is literally nothing I can add to his highest and most holy sacrifice, and yet, I am still called and compelled to live my life as a fragrant offering before his throne.

I want to bring a sacrifice of praise and I want to bring a sacrifice of service. I desire to love God more wholly and abide in him more deeply. Approaching SERVE as a love offering to the Lord this year made all of the difference.

“Here I am, Lord.”

Written by Megan Schouten

My church had gone on many SERVE trips over the years, one of which I was a student participant myself. I’d heard and been a part of so many great stories, but still, SERVE 2018 made me worry. This time, I would not just be a participant, but a leader.

I was worried that being a stranger to the students in my SERVE small group would prevent me from being able to relate to them. As a youth group leader in church, I had lead small groups before, but I already knew those students. I was also worried about the students we would be taking with our own youth group, several who had never participated in SERVE before. I questioned if I would be able to help them process their experiences and grow in their faith while doing so.

But despite all the worry and self-doubt, I knew from my own experience that SERVE is a powerful way for youth to encounter Christ. I didn’t want to miss out on what God had in store for our students at Gallatin Valley SERVE.

Once we arrived, God quickly began to show me all my worries had been in vain. Our theme for the year was Love God, Love the World. That was all I had to do. My sole purpose for the trip was to show the love of God to those around me and let him handle the rest. And he sure did!

Through God’s incredible grace and a fantastic speaker, the students and leaders were challenged to be loved by God, to love him in return and to be an example of that love to others. As always, God showed up and brought some incredible breakthroughs during SERVE.

I was so humbled to watch as the Holy Spirit would lead students to walk up to the front to receive prayer, pray for one another without being prompted and then encourage and engage with one another in small group discussions.

At the worksites, it was the same thing. The students really were the hands and feet of God, showing love to complete strangers, and offering them assistance and kindness without one word of complaint while expecting nothing in return.

I am so grateful to have had SERVE as a part of my story both as a participant and a leader. Both experiences have left me challenged, encouraged and completely amazed at the goodness of our loving God.

Witnessing so many young adults open themselves up to the love of God and seeing a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives has affected my own faith so, so deeply. If I could say one thing to any SERVE leader or volunteer, I would encourage them to let go and let God. Let go of any worries, concerns or doubts that would keep you from participating in this great ministry and let God do his thing; you’ll be amazed at what he does in and through the students, and even in you.

Interview with Scott Post

“I would say youth who have participated in SERVE go on to be more regularly involved in local service opportunities, both while they are in high school and beyond.”

In a cultural climate which tells us our youth are leaving the church and faith in God is declining, Scott believes middle school is a key age to engage students in faith formation.

During the year, Scott encourages his middle schoolers to go past just reading their Bibles and praying every day. “We’ve spent a lot of time in the context of our community intentionally building spiritual practices that help us live out the gospel.” SERVE, for his group, becomes an extension of that goal. “SERVE is a spiritual practice of trying on, for a short period of time, what it means to live out the gospel. Because they had a good feeling or a good experience serving people in these other contexts, they have an easier time thinking, oh, maybe it would be ok to spend my time and my life serving people here, right where I live.”

The students on these trips cannot always see for themselves the impact SERVE has. “[If this is their first time signing up], they are expecting this is going to be an enjoyable trip, most likely with their friends, where they are going to meet new people, learn about God, serve some people and probably have a lot of fun. In the process of reflection [after the trip], they start to see how the experience of SERVE is deeply connected to what they believe about God or what we believe about Jesus or what it means to live out the gospel story.”

There is no doubt in Scott’s mind that bringing both middle schoolers and high schoolers on SERVE is valuable and worth it. He encourages others to “trust the results” and says, “Our church has seen the fruit of [SERVE] play out in these kids’ lives and years down the road. Easily.”