Mission Statement
Project Neighborhood is an opportunity for students to live in an intentional residential community within an urban neighborhood. Together, students commit to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ by learning to relate to others as image bearers of God, bridging social and economic barriers, and developing vision and capacity for service. This is a caring, accountable environment, shaped by prayer and Biblical principles. Students covenant to live their Christian faith together in their home and neighborhood in specific and tangible ways.
Purpose
Project Neighborhood is an alternative housing opportunity for Calvin students to live in intentional Christian community in the city of Grand Rapids. Participants are committed to personal spiritual growth, structured time together as house residents, and service to the neighborhood and community. Intentional community is hard work. It takes commitment by participants. But if you're interested in the challenge of learning to love God more fully and learning to love your neighbor more authentically, then this may be an option for you. Guidance from community leaders, college representatives, and in-house mentors will lead you to personal growth, as well as opportunities for making an impact in the community.
PN History
Project Neighborhood officially began in the spring of 1998, with the move-in of 7 students with Bruce and Sue Osterink into the Koinonia House on Lake and Auburn. The planning for PN had been going on for some time, Bruce and Sue Osterink (friends of the college) began inquiring about an intentional Christian community of Calvin students as early as 1996. Chaplain Dale Cooper called together an exploratory committee to dream about it, and in the spring of 1997 a large group of people were called together for more formal brainstorming and planning.
Calvin began looking to purchase a house with funds specifically raised by Bruce Osterink and Chaplain Cooper. and begainvestigated several houses. In the fall of 1997, the house on Lake Drive was purchased from Wedgewood Christian Services, which had been using the house as a group home. Conveniently, the zoning for this home was maintained, allowing us to have up to 9 students and 2 mentors live in it. The first group of students moved into the Koinonia House in the spring of 1998.
As part of the programming of the house, Rhonda Berg developed a one-credit seminar course to accompany the program, which students were required to take. Calvin also developed a house covenant (or contract) which residents had to sign. Students looked negatively upon the contract, so Calvin turned over the work of writing a “covenant” to the residents themselves, with very few guidelines from Calvin. And the students were asked to commit 10 hours per week to service in the neighborhood.
In late 1998, First Christian Reformed Church approached Calvin about its old parsonage, which had been recently vacated. The PN committee decided to step out in faith and open a second PN house with the church, with students working in the church’s ministries for their service connection. In the summer of 1999, the church renovated the home and applied for a zoning variance to allow up to 7 students plus the mentor(s), though there haven't been more than 6 students in the house at any one time. The first group of students moved into the Harambee House in the fall of 1999. The ministry of “presence” in the neighborhood was particularly helpful and noticeable here, and the Harambee House quickly became a favorite place for neighborhood children to visit.
In 2000, Eastern Avenue CRC made a strong pitch for a PN house in their old parsonage as well. New construction at their church necessitated the house to be moved north on Eastern to an empty lot. The congregation made this decision on faith, as the costs were high. The Peniel House opened in the spring of 2001. Because of the building move, however, the house fell under more strict building code issues and is only able to accommodate 5 students plus the mentor(s).