SERVE–Looking Back & Looking Ahead

By Michelle Porco
Riverdale Baptist Church, Whitehorse, YK

One of my family’s favourite activities in the spring and summer is gardening. It’s an easy and fun activity for my two young children to do with us. We prepare the soil by adding fertilizer and removing rocks. Once there is no threat of frost in June, we plant the seeds. We add the water and wait for the bright Yukon sun to do what it does best: shine for long periods of time, providing light and heat. In a week or two, we see little seedlings appear. Last year, half of our seeds didn’t germinate because of colder temperatures. So, we had to replant seeds in mid-to-late June, meaning that the same variety of plant grew at a different pace, and we were steadily harvesting throughout the summer. As the plants grow, my children eagerly inspect them, wondering when they will be ready to eat. Sometimes it is hard to be patient, but tasting a pea that hasn’t ripened convinces my children it’s better to wait.  

Once we start to see the red tops of radishes poke out of the ground, my son picks them and promptly goes to deliver some to our neighbour and all his friends at school. Radishes are harvested first, followed by the greens, then peas, beets, and carrots. The tomatoes get brought inside to finish ripening, and the potatoes are the last to be done. 

Hosting SERVE is a lot like gardening with children. The soil must be carefully tended to make it ready for the seeds. It is gentle work to ready a community to discern God’s call to host SERVE. The discernment process takes time to germinate and sprout, nurtured lovingly and patiently, as questions and concerns are explored. Once the community discerns a call to host SERVE, the gardening gloves get fitted and the gardening tools acquired. 

One of the most important gardening tools is Peter Anderson, CBWC’s Director of Next Generation Ministries. He encourages, equips and resources the entire community to participate in the process. Some people help during the seedling stage, others help to nurture and care for the plant until it is time to harvest, and others are there for the harvest.  

All stages are important and needed for a plentiful harvest. Despite our best efforts, there are always external circumstances beyond our choosing. We do our best in all situations, with trust and humility. Hosting SERVE is a unique opportunity for a church community to grow, to trust, to connect, to bless, and to harvest. The fruit of SERVE is not simply the week of SERVE, but the entire process from discerning as a community, to preparation, to problem-solving, to the actual week, to the impact after hosting SERVE. Like a garden, the harvest of SERVE happens at different rhythms and paces, a steady and continual fruit-gathering. 

I hope that you will look at the soil of your community and consider gently picking out the rocks and adding the fertilizer needed to invite your community to discern a call to host SERVE. 

Looking Forward to SERVE 2026
By Laura Giesbrecht
Brightview Church, Wetaskiwin, AB

Here at Brightview, we are thrilled to see what the Lord has in store for SERVE 2026, as He works in and through His people to be His hands and feet. So far, we have been firming up the main logistical components of SERVE—such as accommodations for the youth, locations for meal prep and how our church’s building will be best utilized, as well as gathering an incredible team of coordinators to help organize SERVE. With these in place, we are excited to get the word out to our community about SERVE and start organizing the projects, teams of people, and all the other details that make SERVE possible.  

Most importantly, we are also asking the Lord to prepare our hearts as a church, that we may be ready to love and serve one another, the youth, their leaders, and our community well. 

Our desire for SERVE 2026 is to provide a space where the youth who come will experience even greater depths of Christ’s love through service, worship, His Word, as well as the conversations and interactions they will have along the way. Our prayer is for this to be a pivotal moment in each of their lives—one through which they come to know Christ more and fully commit their lives to loving and following Him. And we pray that our youth will experience the great, incomparable riches found in loving and serving others, especially when nothing is given in return. For our community, our desire is for them to experience the love of Christ through the generous service of His people. We are also eager to see what service opportunities will arise and connections will be strengthened because of SERVE 2026.