Rachel and Ryan Ver Wys: “We wanted to help transform communities. From there, the ripples of renewal began.”

Ryan Ver Wys, fresh from an eye-opening Calvin semester in Honduras, felt called to social work. Rachel Knibbe had a heart for community organizing. And both wanted to work in an urban setting. They decided to pool their interests — and their lives.

Young as they are, Rachel and Ryan have already begun making a broad impact. In work that spans the country from their home in Bellflower, California, they’re meeting the challenge raised by their faculty “marriage mentors” at Calvin: “How can you use your calling to serve others?”

At the offices of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), Rachel Ver Wys works as a nationwide coordinator for justice education and service learning. “Churches can be powerful agents for change,” she says. “I provide resources to help churches help God’s people — in economics, health care, school systems, institutions, and communities.”

Those resources aren’t just bureaucratic handouts; they’re hands-on, life-changing opportunities. Thanks to a grant from one of Rachel’s justice projects, a non-profit organization in Washington State established “asset-based groups” to develop leaders in a low-income neighborhood. People in the groups learned how to organize, how to talk to the police about criminal activity, how to gain a voice.

Ryan, too, has started ripples of renewal. Through Christian Reformed Home Missions, he’s working with a young community church in North Long Beach, California. Some of his time goes into New Focus, a class and support group that helps people become accountable — and able — to get themselves out of debt.

He also works with the church’s young people: “It’s a wonderfully diverse community — Latino, African- American, Caucasian, Pacific Islander. Many of these kids have been told over and over that they’ll never amount to anything. We’re trying to build their expectations.”

Daily, Ryan and Rachel see it happen: Each person who grows in freedom and confidence — through skills of leadership, financial literacy, or a hopeful new start — opens a door through which others follow. “Calvin taught us that our minds are a gift, and that we should use them to share God’s redeeming power,” Rachel says. “When we do that, it works.”

Rachel and Ryan Ver Wys
Rachel: Justice education and
service learning coordinator
Ryan: Youth ministry director
Both: Calvin College, B.S.W. ’00