With Cornerstone’s Leadership Journey program, many students participated in a service project helping the Grand Rapids community, but some students went beyond this.

As one of the CU urban ministry opportunities, sophomore Danielle Westmaas, along with other students Courtney Grek, Rebecca Boblett and Lynette Musser, drives to downtown Grand Rapids each Tuesday night to Urban Family Ministries on Eastern Avenue.

The main part of the evening involves helping the children with crafts, according to team leader Westmaas. She  said the evening begins with a game of hide-and-seek.

After the game, the kids and volunteers delve into a variety of crafts from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Westmaas said she first became involved with Urban Family after working at a camp for inner city children last summer. She fell in love with the culture and the children.

“I was actually at Civitas, and Urban Family had a booth and Emma [Rosauer, senior and CU’s urban ministries coordinator] was there,” Westmaas said.

Civitas is an event on campus every year where nonprofit organizations and churches from the area send representatives to campus, so students can become involved.

“I wanted to be involved in urban ministry, so I signed up,” she said.

In addition to these craft nights, a handful of LJ groups work with Urban Family for their service project. However, instead of volunteers going to Urban Family, the kids come to CU.

Lauren Honigford, a freshman whose LJ group works with Urban Family on Wednesday nights, said she enjoys her involvement with Urban Family because “it gives kids a chance during their week to hang out and have fun with college-age students. When I was that age, it would have been the coolest thing ever to have older kids pay attention to [me], especially because these kids don’t get a lot of that attention on a regular basis.”

Another way CU is involved with Urban Family is through their Super Saturdays program at Calvary Church, where several CU students volunteer on their own.

Gerald Longjohn, director of ministry development, said the reason CU encourages students to serve in the community of Grand Rapids is to reinforce the fact that ministry is a part of discipleship.

“Ministry is not just something you schedule into a one week spring break trip,” he said. He also said ministry is part of spiritual growth. “You can grow to a certain point, but unless you are actively serving, you can’t grow beyond that point.”

Longjohn also said serving is a way for CU to be a good neighbor to the surrounding area and expose students to all areas of GR.