Created to Serve - Serving Across Borders
Created to Serve
Serving Across Borders
by Grace Bruins
Our 2026 school theme celebrates that each student is uniquely “Created to Serve God in His World.” In addition to exploring this theme through chapel and worship, our students are living that calling both here in our community and abroad.
We invite you to follow along the journey our students take this year as they learn what it means to be created to serve in God’s world.
Serving Across Borders
In August, 43 CWC student athletes and 15 adults traveled to Santiago, Dominican Republic with GO Ministries. Students laid flooring, painted, served alongside local ministry leaders, and used something familiar—sports—to build relationships with children in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Inviting a child into a volleyball game or kicking a soccer ball together created opportunities to build relationships across differences in language and culture.
Those connections are part of a ministry that continues long after visiting teams return home. GO Ministries works alongside local leaders in discipleship and church planting, with more than 300 churches planted across the Dominican Republic. Our students had the opportunity to contribute to that ongoing work and see how their gifts could support the service of others.
A Calling That Comes Home
God worked in the lives of our students throughout the week, too. They returned to Wisconsin excited about being everyday missionaries and recognizing opportunities to serve in their own communities.
One student reflected, “I felt convicted about being intentional in accepting my ‘mission’ — connecting with these kids [in the Dominican Republic], and with kids back home, and with my community.”
Another student agreed, saying they didn’t expect to connect service to mission work: “Going into the trip, I didn’t think that God would be moving during all that we did. I thought we were just going to work and not really do much spiritual stuff, but I’m very glad we did, because I grew a lot closer and feel better about talking about God to others. I think God changed my mind on things and how I see them.”
Adult leaders on the trip encouraged students to take what they learned in the Dominican Republic and bring it back home. Students challenged themselves in unique ways:
- “I want to share the gospel whenever I get the opportunity.”
- “Some people can be misunderstood, and I want to get better at seeing people with an open mind rather than having opinions before even talking to them.”
- “I want to have more in-depth conversations about Jesus and our faith in my friend group more regularly.”
That connection between serving abroad and serving at home matters. If you follow along, we’ll continue sharing stories of student service closer to home.
Using Our Gifts for God’s Purposes
For our students, the Dominican Republic trip was both an opportunity to serve and an invitation to keep growing. The willingness to pick up a paintbrush, welcome a child into a game, or help wherever needed can carry into our classrooms, teams, churches, and neighborhoods.
Our hope is that students continue noticing the people God places in front of them and asking, “How can I serve today?”
Thank you to everyone who gave to make this trip possible and lifted our students and leaders up in prayer. Your support helped students discover how God can use their gifts across borders—and carry that calling home.
Want to read more about our students’ trip to the DR? Read daily blog posts written during the drip by our High School Chaplain, Jason Ruis.