Go and SERVE

Cody Harris was hammering the final nails into an aluminum sheet running just below the new roof of the house outside Holland, Mich.

Harris, a 16-year-old from Imlay City (Mich.) Christian Reformed Church, was part of one of the SERVE work crews volunteering on various, short-term mission projects around Holland last week.

Each day, the crews volunteered at different sites, and Cody’s group ended its week with the roofing project.

“It’s been a great experience,” the young man said when he took a break from hammering. “I could feel God touch everyone’s life this week.”

Although he enjoyed working on the roof, he said he especially liked pitching in a couple days earlier to clean a backyard pool that was full of slime and weeds—and frogs.

“It was really icky. But it was fun to help everyone out and get messy,” he said.

About 50 young people from CRC congregations in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ontario took part in the Holland SERVE projects. Holland is one of nearly 30 sites across North America at which nearly 1,600 young people are scheduled to work this summer.

Hosted by local CRC congregations, the sites range from Austin, Tex., to Crown Point, Ind., and from Fruitland, Ont., to Washington, D.C.

Besides painting and repair work at many locations, volunteers will also spend time at homeless shelters, food banks, low-income housing units, and soup kitchens.

“SERVE is a unique opportunity for students to make an impact and revitalize communities by showing them the love of Christ,” said Jeff Kruithof, executive director of Youth Unlimited, the CRC-affiliated, non-denominational ministry that partners with youth leaders to provide ministry experiences to middle school and high school students.

SERVE is not just about cleaning up garbage and painting fence posts, said Kruithof. The program provides an opportunity for students and churches to connect with the world around them.

“It’s very easy to overlook the needs of our local communities,” said Kruithof. “SERVE is an intentional way to show these communities that they are loved and valued. We aim to show them the love of Christ.”

SERVE was hosted in Holland by Park CRC. Students slept and ate at the church building, and they attended evening worship services and small-group sessions there as well.

During the day, the participants ventured out in groups of about 10 to work on projects ranging from building a fire pit and flower beds at a home for disabled people to painting the garage and cleaning out a chicken coop for a family whose father recently contracted a debilitating illness.

They also did yard work, painted nearby Bravo CRC, powerwashed a deck, and cleaned out the “icky” pool that had frogs in it.

“It’s been exciting to have people from other churches come to be part of our church and to help out with the various needs in our neighborhood,” said Jen Rozema, youth pastor and worship director for Park CRC.

Rozema said she has been on 25 SERVE projects over the years, either as a host, a student, a speaker, a volunteer, or a worship leader. After helping to host this year’s SERVE event in Holland, she planned to take a group from Park CRC to volunteer at a church in Brighton, Ont.

“It is a great experience to be able to blend work, service, and faith,” she said. “SERVE takes students out of their regular environment and puts them in another, and they are then faced with asking where they fit in.”

SERVE, she added, is especially about transformation—encouraging young people through their experiences to return home with a deeper connection to God.

And because it involves CRC congregations from across the U.S. and Canada, SERVE gives its young participants “a full sense of who the CRC is. You don’t realize how big the CRC is until you get together in something like SERVE,” said Rozema.

At Park, almost every one of the church members was involved in some way with the recent event, from cooking meals to volunteering at work sites to running errands to helping coordinate worship.

“This is what church is; this is what church does. We get involved,” said Jill Schrotenboer, a SERVE volunteer and youth leader.

“We come together as a church, and then we go out into the community to let people know we are here and that we care.”

At one of the work sites, Dayna Tempelman, who attends First CRC in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Esther Allison, who attends First CRC in Sioux Falls, S.D., were filling a wheelbarrow with weeds and brush from a family’s overgrown garden.

After dumping the debris in a trash container, they took a break. Joining them was Mireya Halverson, who attends The Village Church in Baldwin, Wis.

“It’s been awesome to help people and fun to hear their stories,” said Tempelman. “Not many of the people are involved in church, but it’s been great to be able to pray with them when they let us.”

Halverson said she appreciated the chance to have SERVE leaders spend time with and pray for her. She also enjoyed getting to know her fellow volunteers.

“I liked hanging out with them and building friendships and getting closer to Christ too,” she said.

Allison said she appreciated the opportunity one day to climb a ladder and try her hand at shingling a roof. “I was up there and was able to conquer my fear of heights.”

Betsy Smith also had the chance to climb up there—and it was her own roof—on one of the first days of SERVE.

On the final day of SERVE, she stood in her front yard and gazed at the new roof, covered with neatly arranged, rust-colored shingles.

Smith said she and her husband have a limited income and have had to watch as their roof deteriorated the past few years. It was rotting and would leak whenever it rained. Neither of them could do what was needed to fix the problems.

“When they told me at church that we had been nominated, I was so excited,” she said.

She was so excited, in fact, that, when the first crew from SERVE arrived, she ventured up on the roof and did some work too. It was invigorating and very satisfying to be part of the effort, she said.

“This has been a tremendous thing. They’ve gone way above and beyond what needed to be done,” said Smith.

“I’ve really liked interacting with the students. It has helped put my faith back in people.”