Young Adults Participate in Vision-Casting Trip

In May 2024, 29 young adults from North America visited four locations in Europe. Their purpose was simple: to see what God is up to.

The trip was cohosted by Generation Spark, the intergenerational ministry initiative formed as a partnership between Thrive and the Reformed Church in America (RCA). Generation Spark partners with the local church and its leaders to build authentic mentoring relationships between 16- to 24-year-olds and older spiritual mentors within their local congregations. The program supports churches seeking to implement faith-based intergenerational mentoring safely and intentionally.

Ron deVries, consultant in youth and emerging adult ministry at Thrive, serves with the Generation Spark leadership and helped guide the young adult team through this trip. The itinerary included introducing participants to various church plants, encouraging leadership development, and allowing them to be a witness to what God is doing in countries outside North America. One group traveled to Portugal; one, to Hungary; one, to Appeldoorn in the Netherlands, and one, to Rotterdam, also in the Netherlands. 

Each group began their week visiting local pastors and leaders and listening to stories of how their churches started or have been renewed. The young adults then connected with some members of the churches to experience the local culture and better understand why and how God led those specific people to that specific part of the world.

From Jesus’ parable of the sower in Luke 8, deVries shared some insight about God’s work in mission that many of the participants hadn’t noticed before: 

“In this story, the sower is scattering the seeds – not in perfect rows to be harvested with efficiency, but in ways that could offer surprising results because the sower doesn’t always know exactly where the seeds will land,” he said.

At the end of the week, all the teams gathered in the Netherlands at a converted monastery to worship, to reflect on stories of how they saw God at work, and to share communion before traveling home.

Cruz Menchaca of Mission Church in Tucson, Ariz., and Kylie Kalmbach of Avenue CRC in Edmonton, Alta., noted that they were “encouraged by the work and grace of God in Europe” through this trip and “inspired by what they experienced.” 

Myriam Kalmbach, a member of First CRC in Denver, shared that through this experience she had an “increased hope for the future of the church.” 

“I get excited about walking alongside youth and young adults,” deVries reflected. “Through global experiences like this international learning trip and through my local work with classis youth ministry champions, who often serve as coaches for churches in their areas, I am always encouraged by the wisdom and leadership of this generation.”

To find out more about Generation Spark or future young adult opportunities like this trip, please reach out to [email protected] or connect with Ron de Vries at crcna.org/thrive/regional-connectors.