I did the RAD program, now Journey International, in Northern Ireland 10 years ago. Since then, I graduated from Huntington University with a BA in History and Philosophy; I served with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Hebron, Palestine; and I received a master’s in International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute, which included a six-month internship in South Africa. I have come full circle to again volunteer in a Mennonite Mission Network program, this time with the Mennonite Voluntary Service program. My placement is with Mennonite Church USA in Elkhart, where I help coordinate educational opportunities about Israel-Palestine across the church.
In Northern Ireland, I worked at an outdoor center run by the YMCA, and with an after-school drop-in center run by a local church. The work is not what I remember most about my time, although taking kids through ropes courses, and spending most days climbing mountains was pretty great. What I remember most, and what has most shaped me from that experience, was that I interacted deeply with people who were not Christian. Most of the volunteers at the YMCA came from Ireland or other "post-Christian" societies. This was quite different from my upbringing in a town where everyone would identify as Christian. But it allowed me the freedom to deepen my faith commitment in a place where Christianity wasn’t pre-scripted. It was my first time navigating how I expressed my faith, being challenged to justify my faith stances, and recognizing that people didn’t always see things in the same way I did. I remember after a particularly good theological conversation with an atheist friend I had made, he said, "You know, I think you and I probably have more in common than you would have with the Christians I know." I wasn’t quite sure exactly how to take that, except that I recognized that relationships can be built on commonalities without agreeing.
This has allowed me to bring my faith into many difficult spaces. With CPT, I worked closely with local Muslims, and some Israeli Jews who shared a vision for peace and justice. At Notre Dame, where I studied with people from a variety of cultures and religious backgrounds, I could contribute a unique Mennonite perspective to conversations. In South Africa, I interned with a secular Marxist organization, yet I was able to express how, for me, the work of raising the voices of poor and marginalized "Captonians," residents of Cape Town, was deeply rooted in my Christian faith.
I have done a lot since my time with RAD. But it was that experience that has helped me learn how to deepen my faith through the other diverse opportunities that came later.
