VANCOUVER 2017 SERVE TEAM

On July 8, nine members of Willoughby Church will travel to First CRC in Vancouver to participate in a week of service in partnership with Youth Unlimited. Our team includes 2 adults—myself (Curtis) & Julia Ravensbergen, and 7 youth—Emmalee Tuininga, Hamish Parke, Justin Schoenit, Tamara Schoenit, Rebecca Versluis, Daniel Rodermond, and Benjamin Rodermond.

When we arrive in Vancouver we will spend the first 2 days becoming accustomed to our new surroundings and a busy schedule. Our team will be separated and placed in small groups with leaders and youth from the other churches attending. These small groups will work, worship, discuss, and pray together for the duration of the week. 2 days of the week, the groups will head offsite in the morning to one of the various worksites that First Van CRC has coordinated for the week. At these sites we will work with existing diaconal projects already happening in the church.

Each evening will be filled with dinner, chapel session with a speaker and worship, small group discussion time and free time. One day of the week, as a large group, we will all have a day away, visiting the Sea to Sky Gondola and other Vancouver sites.

This is going to be an awesome week that will provide each member of our SERVE team with amazing stories to tell when they return. We will have a wonderful opportunity to intentionally serve God in an environment that might be different than what we are used to. This will result in some stories about new people we meet, tangible interactions with our Savior, funny moments throughout the week, tearful experiences of hurt, loss, and joy, and stories of community.

I want to encourage each of you to ask any member of our team why they signed up for this experience, what they are looking to learn or discover, and how you can pray for them. It may only be a small number from our body going to serve in Vancouver, but we represent the larger body of Christ here at Willoughby and we want you to be a part of it.