Ryskamp to Retire from World Renew

Andrew Ryskamp says one image especially sticks in his mind from the nearly 41 years he has served with World Renew.

It was early in his career and he was working with refugee camps in Bangladesh--a country that had just come through a civil war and one of the worst floods in its history.

“I watched a child who was in the worst stages of malnutrition on his last evening of life,” recalls Ryskamp.

“Watching that child die had a big impact on me. I asked myself, ‘What can we do to prevent children like that from dying.”

In many ways, Ryskamp, who will retire in July, has devoted his career to answering that type of question. And he has done this in a variety of settings.

From Bangladesh, Ryskamp went to the Philippines, where he worked with a leper colony, in rural agricultural projects and, along with Christian Reformed World missionaries, with people living in urban communities.

He also served as an interim director of staff in Sierra Leone and spent many years building up the CRC’s diaconate in North America.

For the last 17 years, he has been the U.S. director of World Renew, formerly known as the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC).

“All all along the way, the Lord has prepared me for each next step in the journey,” he said.

Ryskamp grew up on farms in Canada and studied agriculture and management in college.

In his various positions, he has traveled the world, seeing firsthand the ways in which the CRC is able to reach out to enhance agricultural production, respond to disasters, address issues of health care, build churches, foster faith, and create jobs.

“The church has given me opportunities and experiences that I wish it could give every one of its sons and daughters,” he says.

“I’ve been able to see how the church can be an ambassador of reconciliation, of transforming the mind so people can be attuned to God’s will.”

Each place he has  visited, and the people there, he said, have stories to tell.

Even when he’s not there personally and instead hears accounts from his staff, the stories speak volumes, often offering a more hopeful look at the world.

For instance, he recently learned of Muslim families in Niger protecting Christian families under attack by the group Boko Haram.

“Those kinds of stories help shape one’s perspective,”
he says.

Also, he has appreciated the chance he has had to connect with others and to share the CRC’s Reformed, world-and-life view, he says.

“In contexts where there are few Christians, people have often asked why we are different. Why do we do what we do?”

He lets them know, he says, “that we can’t separate our faith life from our professional life.”

For him, speaking into the lives of people with words and deeds has been “a profound spiritual experience.”

Although the CRC is a small denomination, he says, “we are able to share the resources that God has given us and have had opportunities to collaborate with many people in many ways.”

Connecting with those whom World Renew serves has also been valuable--since these people give back much in return.“We learn a great deal from those who the world might consider the least and the lost,” says Ryskamp.

“I’ve learned perseverance and courage of faith from many of these groups. They are strong believers.”

Asked why he is retiring now, he says he believes the agency is on solid ground and in capable hands. “The pieces are all in place, and it is a good time to turn it over to the next generation of leadership,” he says.

As he looks back, he says there were difficult experiences, including watching that child die of starvation in Bangladesh.
But in that case, there was also good news.

Ryskamp returned several years after that child died. World Renew, he says, along with other groups, had been able to help the people produce much-needed food.

“Bangladesh had become a showcase of what good development work can do,” he says.

World Renew and its partners had been able to find and plant a certain type of wheat from India along with other crops and to teach people different farming techniques that helped them improve the yield of crops, he says.

“When I went back, the amount of crops that were growing in what had been empty fields was amazing.”