CRC Riders Ride for Refuge Ministries

Several members of Team Beyond made a grueling, 28-mile ride over rough trails and one-and-two-track roads in Soroti, Uganda, on Saturday as part Ride for Refuge, a multi-organization, multi-national effort to raise funds for ministry to those need.

"Under the hot African sun, (we rode) the 28 miles to Lake Kyoga and back," says Tim Sliedricht, a Christian Reformed World Missions missionary who works with his wife, Angie, in partnership with the ministry International Teams in Uganda.

Joining the Sliedrichts on the ride were other CRWM-supported missionaries working in Uganda as well Ugandans who will be participating with the help of money raised from the ride in ministry efforts in their country.

Also on Saturday, more than 220 members from Team Beyond, which is made up of many members of the Christian Reformed Church , volunteered at the event or rode through the streets of Grand Rapids, Mich., and elsewhere as part of the effort.

In 2010, the ride brought in $980,000 to help several denominations and Christian organizations fund many causes. So far, Team Beyond has raised nearly $31,000 toward its goal of $80,000.

Much of the support Team Beyond raises will help fund what are called "Transformation Expeditions," which work with the least, last and lost, such as former child-soldiers, street kids, orphans and widows.

Members of the Transformation Expeditions focus on mobilizing people with whom they work to grow deep roots in the biblical worldview, to develop love for God, to value human life, and to spread that love and value to others.

Some Team Beyond riders in Canada will take the streets as part of Ride for Refuge on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Made up of 23 riding groups, Team Beyond gets its name from the ministry team in Uganda for which the Slieidrichts and others work.

"With a vision to see lives and communities transformed by the love of God, our mission in Uganda is to mobilize the local church to help the oppressed," the Sliedrechts say on their blog.

"More specifically, our mission is to . . . reach out with the Father’s love to the poor, the slave and the blind."

Jennifer Kragt rode in Uganda, where she works in ministry, for a cause with which she is personally connected. "I've seen the money that has been raised in the past make a profound impact in the lives of the people we work with in Uganda," she says on her team’s website.

In Grand Rapids, a team from First Byron Center CRC took part in the ride as a "simple (but meaningful) way . . . to engage the problems faced by the displaced, vulnerable and the exploited," says the team's website.

Another rider rode to support a family that has just moved from Byron Center to Uganda to assist in ministry there.

Yet another Grand Rapids rider, says that he rode "because I have learned so much about how God is using the team (in Uganda) to help the people there . . . the orphans, widows, former child soldiers and displaced people."