“It is amazing what one week can do for the rest of your year,” said Lydia Abma, a high school senior from Grand Rapids, Michigan who hopes to start Calvin College in the fall. “It is like spiritual nutrition that feeds you all year long.”

Lydia was one of 47 young people who travelled to Burlington, Ontario for a week in July as part of a Youth Unlimited SERVE mission trip. Over the course of the week, she and her peers volunteered at a vacation Bible school, did landscaping for the elderly, invited neighborhood children to a picnic in the park, and also deepened their own personal faith.

The trip was hosted by Burlington Christian Reformed Church and sponsored by World Renew.

“We want to encourage young people to see the strong connection between serving locally and serving globally,” said World Renew’s Director of Church Relations, Peter Bulthuis, explaining why World Renew had supported this event.  “When we serve our neighbors in need, the challenges, rewards and renewed sense of community are similar whether we serve at home or around the world. Our hope is that once young people begin on this journey, they won’t want to stop.”

That’s exactly what happened in Lydia’s life. In her first year of high school, Lydia was presented with the opportunity to attend a SERVE mission trip.  

“I went because it was the thing to do,” she confessed.  “If you were in the church youth group, you go on SERVE.  Once you go and find out what it is all about though, you can’t resist going again.”

Since that first trip four years ago, Lydia has gone on four additional service trips including two international ones. She has learned that the benefits to those volunteering are as great or even greater than those they serve.

“You take a week and indulge in devotion time and worship time, it feeds you all year long,” she said.

To assist with this worship experience, World Renew provided a pastor, Lesli Van Milligan, to lead the group in worship and devotion at Burlington CRC.  Following worship or at other times during the week, the volunteers were also encouraged to use three prayer rooms at the back of the sanctuary.  

The first prayer room focused on prayer for our world and included information about some of the injustice, poverty and hunger issues that World Renew is responding to globally.  The second prayer room focused on the work, people and communities being served by the volunteers during their one-week trip. The last prayer room asked volunteers to pray for their home communities and ways that they could serve “the other 51” weeks of the year.  

In fact, “the other 51” was the theme for the whole week.  For Heather deHaan, one of the SERVE organizers and a member of Burlington CRC, that theme was successfully communicated not just to the volunteers but also the church itself.

“We feel that SERVE has really benefited our whole church as we live out the vision that God has for Burlington CRC to become immersed in our community,” she said. “We are grateful for the partnership with World Renew and encourage all the participants to continuing living their mission in our communities and the greater world.”

Lydia agrees.  She says that the experience during the week has definitely inspired her for the coming year.

“My favourite part was volunteering with the Friendship Vacation Bible School. I would love to get involved in something like that once I return home,” she said.