Photo: Youth group from Blooming Glen (Pennsylvania) Mennonite Church participating in Servant Projects at Camp Ithiel. Photo by Vada Snider. 

This week, Mennonites young and old will be venturing into the Orlando heat to embody the convention theme “Love is a Verb” through Servant Projects in partnership with organizations across the city.

While Servant Projects have been offered at previous conventions, the 2017 Mennonite Church USA Convention Planning Committee decided to make Servant Projects required for all convention participants, unless they chose to specifically opt out of the activity. Convention Planning Committee member Scott Hartman explained that the committee believed the decision to make the projects a requirement is an excellent way for more participants to experience the convention theme, “Love is a Verb.”

“It is an active theme and part of being active and showing that theme is through service,” said Hartman.

Servant Projects are spread out across the Orlando metropolitan area and offer attendees a way to participate in various efforts that are working towards bettering the Orlando community.

“The Orlando Servant Projects are mostly farther away [from the convention center], towards the north side of the city,” said Arloa Bontrager of Goshen, Indiana, Mennonite Mission Network director of SOOP and Youth Venture programs and Convention Servant Project coordinator. “If you’re only staying in the area of the convention center, then you are only seeing the glitz and glamour of the tourist region.”

The Servant Projects started Tuesday morning for those who arrived early in Orlando, and will continue throughout the week. The youth groups of Salem Mennonite Church in Freeman, South Dakota, Belmont Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana, First Mennonite Church of Denver, and Marion Mennonite Church in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, kicked off their convention week by pulling out invasive plant species at the Henry Nehring Gardens in Gotha, Florida. The Nehring Gardens strive to rehabilitate and conserve the six remaining acres of Nehring’s original tropical plant conservatory through the work of volunteers.

“It is meaningful that [the gardens] have been working to restore this historical place,” reflected Annie Carlsen of Salem Mennonite Church.

Just a half mile down the road, the youth of Blooming Glen (Pennsylvania) Mennonite Church were able improve the infrastructure of Camp Ithiel, a Brethren in Christ church camp in Gotha, Florida. The group worked to pull Caesar weed out of the shoreline of Camp Ithiel’s lake, making the camp a more hospitable place for the youth who come to the camp each summer.

Evan Delp of Blooming Glen Mennonite said the project was meaningful for him because it was great to “be a part of a large group of peers that [he] is already close to, and be able to see the group thrive and work together in a new location.”

Other groups were also able to work at Matthew’s Hope Ministries, an organization that works as a ministry outreach for homeless people in Orlando. Youth groups sorted food, clothing and hygiene items that will later be distributed to homeless people in the area.

Servant Projects will continue for youth groups and adult participants throughout this week at different locations throughout the Orlando area.

“[Servant Projects] are a way for participants to be thinking about the broader community that we are gathering in, instead of just thinking about ourselves,” said Susan Nisly of Hutchinson, Kansas, director of Mennonite Mission Network’s Service Adventure program.