Philippi, West Virginia, population 3,300, was a Service Adventure placement for 25 years, and closed their unit most recently in 2016. Tyler and Hannah both spent a year in Service Adventure; for Tyler, 2007-2008, and Hannah, during 2008-2009. Both growing up in “Mennonite meccas” of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, it was in the land of Philippi where Hannah and Tyler were challenged to embrace a broader understanding of the Mennonite Church.
During our time in Service Adventure, we experienced ways of being in Mennonite community that were different from our home church experiences. Both of us had attended rural congregations of 80-120 members and were accustomed to having the people around us understand what it means to be Mennonite. In Philippi, we each quickly realized that we could not tell our coworkers we were Mennonite without expecting to explain our different Christian beliefs. Also, the Philippi Mennonite Church demonstrated a new way to be at church on Sundays, as the congregation is lay-led by its 30-45 members. The church building is a house, at times used as a guest home for community volunteers or church members. On Sundays, the rows of chairs are set up in the living room with a right side and left side that face toward one another instead of toward a central altar. The physical setup of the meetinghouse is a direct demonstration of the congregational value of community with one another. During Service Adventure, we both remember becoming more involved in church than previously in our lives, as a lay-led church requires member participation for a service to occur!
In the mountains of West Virginia, a beautiful landscape with a struggling economy, this church practices intentional care for the earth in simple ways. We remember making jam from wild elderberries, learning house building skills from church members, and being encouraged to garden and recycle. Church folks shared with us their knowledge of gardening, cider making, woodworking, and beekeeping. While we continue to be enthralled with all of these fine skills, both of us have yet to truly succeed at any of them (although we do dream!).
For Hannah, after a year of service work in a preschool and at a low-income clinic, she headed to college for a degree in nursing. She now lives in Washington, D.C., works as a nurse, and is connected to a lay-led congregation that reminds her of Philippi Mennonite Church.
Tyler worked primarily for Heart and Hand, a social service agency of the United Methodist Church, doing maintenance work on their grounds and helping in their thrift store. He spent the summer after Service Adventure doing farm work and building a new house with a family from the church. After returning to Pennsylvania for college and work, six years later, Tyler moved near Philippi to Shepherd’s Field, an intentional community made up of a few Philippi church families. This time, he mowed lawns, completed other odd jobs, and pitched in with cabin building for a friend, and eventually returned to Pennsylvania where he currently drives truck delivering heating and diesel fuel.
For both of us, Philippi has been a home away from home. We’ve continually appreciated the genuine kindness of the Philippi folks and their interest in our lives; whether we have stopped in to visit for a day or stayed around for months at a time!
As 18-year-olds in Service Adventure, church members in Philippi helped us grow up, articulate our beliefs, and gain skills along the way. We’ve held on to valuing community living, and continued connecting to our service placement. While we entered Service Adventure years ago thinking we would be helping someone else, it has remained true that we have received the most in return. Service Adventure has certainly served us well!
