EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of GCU Magazine.
Photos by Ralph Freso
University Pastor Dr. Tim Griffin called Grand Canyon University’s service culture the “greatest story never told.”
Thirty-five Local and Global Outreach ministry groups. Two-hundred student leaders.
Add GCU CityServe to that, and that’s more than 700 student volunteer opportunities.
Every week.
While some students choose to attend a university because of academics or athletics, students also have said they chose GCU for service – and it’s one of the ways the university is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
The Week of Service, from Oct. 26-Nov. 2, featured more than 1,000 opportunities to volunteer across 40 ministries, with the week bookended by two signature campus events, GCU CityServe and Lopes Go Local, the Habitat for Humanity home improvement blitz in which hundreds of students descend on multiple homes to complete painting and landscaping projects.
The Week of Service, a hallmark of GCU’s values, expressed who GCU is at its core, but it isn’t limited to one week.
When classes are finished and all the homework is turned in, GCU students serve their local community through various ministry opportunities offered by the Spiritual Life department.
Children, teens, the elderly, the homeless, refugees, prisoners and human-trafficking survivors are just some of the communities Spiritual Life student leaders and volunteers reach through the GCU Park Ministry, Flourish Thrive, Neighborhood Ministry, Hope Wing, Colter Commons and the Homeless Ministry.
“We are here in this location for a reason,” said Local Outreach Manager Aaron Koehne. “We get to be a branch of GCU that gets to do these things in the community and highlight what is important to us as a university.
“We want to keep all our ministries relational. That is our goal with students, to be able to build on those relationships each week with these people and love them well.”
Ministries take place every week, and every week the Spiritual Life staff sees a new influx of students signing up as volunteers, eager to be a part of something bigger than themselves and lend a helping hand where it is needed the most.
“We have students come and say, I grew up in a place where everyone looked like me and acted like me. To come here is stepping into an entirely new reality,” said Global Outreach Ministry Coordinator Brennan Smith. “It helps shape their worldview in a more well-rounded way.”
One of the recently introduced ministries is Kairos, whose focus is to come alongside resettled refugees and help them acclimate to life in the U.S.
Student leaders and volunteers travel to their apartment complexes to host community-building events, in which they teach them how to speak English, run errands and even teach basic driving skills.
“We hope as we do life with them, we will get to introduce them to Jesus,” said Global Outreach Manager Njenga Maina. “That is the best thing and what our students are passionate about. It’s just loving on them and hoping we are living out Matthew 25, which talks about feeding the hungry and helping those in dire need.”
Roughly 100 students volunteer weekly at a slew of children’s ministries, such as Canyon Kids, Camp Flourish, Temple Dance and Refuge, to play games, make crafts and share stories about Jesus. Volunteers will drive to apartment complexes that serve as transitional housing for refugee and immigrant communities, such as Thrive, and bring youth to campus to play soccer or for some other activity.
“We have been with some of these apartment complexes between five to 10 years doing ministry,” Maina said. “The kids we first worked with in the beginning have grown, and so we started a youth program for them, teaching the Bible and mentoring them.
“For us, it’s amazing to see these kids that our students have been discipling over the years and are now thinking of going to college. One of them is even talking about going to GCU.”
One of the traditions for Local and Global Outreach is where close to 200 youth visit campus for a family-friendly soccer game. Student leaders organize teams that represent different countries to create a bit of fun competition.
That semiannual game tradition launched the Week of Service, whose goal was to spread the spirit of service to students who might not know about all the chances to serve.
“We wanted to mobilize our campus and really be in the spotlight for the week to provide even more opportunities,” Maina said. “There is so much we could do if we came together as a university. We can do so much good in our community and bring joy.”
The Spiritual Life staff has seen the department’s programs grow with every incoming class over the years, and oftentimes, it is one of the reasons students choose to come to GCU, said Koehne.
“We’ve had a lot of students in the past say they came to GCU because of service opportunities,” said Koehne. “Students find so much joy in serving, and they find their community in it. We have so many volunteers sign up sometimes to the point where we are having to limit volunteers from some of the ministries because we reach capacity.”
Liza De Guerengomba, a senior software development major, found her fit as a volunteer her freshman year. That led her to get involved as a student leader for her remaining three years of college.
“I always wanted a community as a freshman, and once I started volunteering, I found that,” De Guerengomba said. “Everyone wants community, and you can find that while serving because you get to meet like-minded people.”
Student leaders like De Guerengomba, all 200 of them from Local and Global Outreach, gather with their teams to plan and organize their ongoing ministries, discuss how they can continuously improve them and what new ideas they can introduce. They connect with various departments, securing event space, transportation, necessary equipment and materials for planned activities.
“We like to refer to our ministries as ‘student led and staff assisted,’” Smith said. “We do the administrative stuff, and our students get to do the fun event planning. They are the ones who are really building the relationships with these communities by recruiting their friends and other GCU volunteers.”
Student leaders have the opportunity to make these ministries their own and build them in ways they know will connect and immerse other college students with the surrounding community.
“This is a great opportunity that is presented to GCU students,” said Global Outreach student leader Dylan Vanderleest. “You don’t have to seek it out, it is presented to you.
“The world is really big, and there are a lot of people out there who are in situations as an ordinary American you would never come into contact with unless you seek it out. There are so many people who want to be known, loved and helped.”
It is a mutual relationship among the communities being served and the students who get to serve. While these communities are learning practical tools from students, often students are learning how to step into a different world from where they grew up.
It is transformational ministry in students’ lives just as much as it is for these communities because they get to learn how to work and love cross-culturally and build skills that will benefit them in their lives outside of college.
“Our goal as a university and part of our program is to create globally minded Christian leaders,” said Smith. “You can’t do that until you step into that cross-cultural environment.”
Similar to De Guerengomba, Smith found his place in college when he began serving in Global Outreach ministries. As a student leader for three years, he developed a deep passion for the program, which led him to extend his involvement and become a ministry coordinator.
“I fell in love with it and the people I got to do it with,” Smith said. “When I got the opportunity to come back on staff, I took it without hesitation. To see the impact we can have on and off campus and on individual students’ lives is really worth showing up here every day.”
It is a common misconception that missionary work is only done in a different country. Service and missions are needed everywhere, even in the neighboring communities.
“Every day is service week for us,” De Guerengomba said.
GCU staff writer Izabela Fogarasi can be reached at [email protected]
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