Youth and Adults in Action
Usually service expeditions are confined to groups of youth or else adults. But St. John's United Methodist Church, Paradise, Pennsylvania, combines all ages past junior high in its semiannual work trip to the Appalachian Mountains.
Every two years a group of eight to eighteen from the church help a United Methodist parachurch organization build houses for needy folk in the mountains.
"The age mix is a real plus," says Mary Carrigan, a group leader since 1972.
"We have the freshness of youth and the experience of age on our trips." Ages range from 16 to 70 years old.
They leave Paradise on a Saturday morning, stop overnight at a Methodist church along the way, and arrive at their destination by Sunday noon.
They live in a one-room bunkhouse, joining other church groups who have come for the same reason.
The parachurch group instructs them about what jobs they are to perform and where. The routine chores include putting up drywall, paneling, painting, puttying windows, and even building outhouses.
One year the Paradise group helped a man who was an alcoholic; he lived in an old chicken house with cardboard walls. The group completely rebuilt his home, and in the evenings when he would come home from work, they spent time with him, sharing and living their Christian testimonies.
"This man was so touched that a bunch of people would help him," says Carrigan, "that from the time we got there until the time we left, he did not touch one drop of alcohol."
According to Carrigan, some of the more visible benefits of the trip occur in the group members themselves. "Those who go are completely changed by the conditions they witness firsthand," she points out. "Some have gone into social work as a result of their involvement."
Carrigan and her ...
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