By Jennifer Renkema

It’s 1995 in Michigan. My parents have asked our non-CRC church to transfer our memberships back to the CRC. We had been living in an area with no CRC churches, so a different denomination - one with an historically good relationship with the CRC - had been our home. We’ve moved though, and that church won’t transfer the membership. They don’t like some parts of the CRC’s theology anymore. These things they don’t like - they don’t seem to be salvation issues. I’m confused - why can’t we disagree on these things? Shouldn’t the church be more united than this? Should we really be judging each other this way? What does the world see when we do this to each other? Don’t we all profess to be part of one “holy catholic church?” I’m going into high school. I won’t forget.

It’s April 2015 in Maryland. I’ve been the church food pantry director for about a month, and I’m driving on the Capital Beltway on the way to our distribution. I know we don’t have enough volunteers for the day, but I have a plan. Our participants come early to line up. Some have offered to help. I arrive at the church, unlock the doors, and take a look at all that needs to be done. We need to bag up the bulk produce, and I will need people to help restock as people come through the pantry to choose their food. I head back outside and address the people in line. Can we work together?

It’s the summer of 2019. I’m sitting in our pastor’s office, and we’re making a list of the churches in our neighborhood. They aren’t CRC (there aren’t many of those out here in Maryland) - but that shouldn’t matter.  I’m going to reach out to them to see if they would like to join us in this small food pantry ministry of ours. We’re serving about 75 households a month. Would they like to volunteer? Do a drive for hygiene items? Can they help? We’d be better together.

It's November 2019. Those churches didn’t get back to me. I am wondering why it is so hard to work together. But the Catholic church across the street, which has been helping for a few years already, just called. They want to do a fundraiser for the food pantry. Can we help? They are recruiting people to join a walk. Can we invite people to walk and raise support? Let’s work together.

It’s December 2019. The ladies who I asked to volunteer at the food pantry in 2015 are gathered in our lobby bagging produce. They’ve invited their friends to join them. They laugh and chat. This little food pantry is a comfortable place to join the community. There is joy here. They don’t attend our church. Some have other churches of their own. But we’re together. 

It’s May 2020. Our whole world has changed. We just got the check from the fundraising walk. We’re opening the food pantry every week now, and the numbers of people coming are soaring. 83 households… 149 households… 211… 325... Churches are calling us - how can they help? What can they do? Suddenly, we have seven churches involved. Catholic, Presbyterian, CRC, non-denominational. The synagogues are calling. How can they help? They’ve seen what we’re doing. They can’t unsee it, those lines of people waiting for food. Financial donations are rolling in. Who are all these people who are giving? We don’t know them. We’re doing more together.

It’s 2023. The food pantry is open twice a month now. We’re serving about 700 households each time, and we need about 50 - 60 volunteers every time. The volunteers are still coming from different churches, they are coming from the synagogues, they are coming from the catholic and public schools, they are coming from the neighborhood. They are of our faith but with different theology, they are of different faith, they are of no faith. They speak different languages - Spanish, French, Cantonese, English. Each time we gather, we are glad to be together. We’re all better this way. I won’t forget. 

*The graphic below includes is names of all volunteers at our local food pantry as of March 2022