Agape Hammond – Parker, Colorado … Welcoming people through the door is just one of treasurer and member Shawna Sajdak’s many roles at Newday Adventist Church in Parker, Colorado. The church’s very mission statement includes the phrase “Christ-followers who, together, love God and serve people.”

“I love to serve at Newday! One of my favorite ways of serving is as a Sabbath morning host,” remarked Shawna, smiling as she commented. She continued, “In this role, I get to talk, smile, and laugh with people—and I get to call it serving!”

You can tell the role is suited for Shawna just from this conversation: “It’s so much fun for me and so rewarding to hear people talk about how friendly our church is. I’m honored to be a part of that.”

And yet, this isn’t about one member’s choice to serve. It is about every person that takes the first step into serving others as Christ describes in 2 Corinthians 9:12: This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

In the 19 years that Newday Adventist Church has been in Parker, countless people have chosen to answer the call to serve as Christ served. From setting up chairs at events to ensuring those in faraway countries have enough to eat. No job is too small or too large for the church family.

A good example of this is the annual Christmas Store, a partnership between AdventHealth and Newday Church, that brought Christmas to more than 200 families this past holiday season. Or consider ThankFULL, another successful partnership with AdventHealth. This year saw 142 complete Thanksgiving meals, including the turkey, provided to families in the Parker area.

Nowhere is the oft quoted saying “it takes a village” more apt than in the church. This is where the community comes together to share life. Within the church, families grow, share, serve, and make the world a better place.

However, we don’t just serve our own church or our own community; we are also heavily involved in serving communities around the world. Many of our projects involve collaborations with existing organizations that are already making a big difference, either locally or globally.

Over the years, a few of these collaborations have included such organizations as World Vision, World Relief, Step 7, Parker Task Force, International Justice Mission (IJM), and more.* We are grateful to every person that takes that first step into mission and for God’s leading in the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

* Please note that these organizations are not affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) nor the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.

—Agape Hammond is the Upper School English teacher at Mile High Academy. Photos by George Siagian and Agape Hammond.