DENVER–It’s a Sunday evening in June, and at First Mennonite Church of Denver, Room B06 is wall-to-wall with air mattresses. The building is buzzing as 68 high-schoolers and sponsors pack themselves into the three Sunday school classrooms that will be their living quarters for the week.
One of the DOOR-Denver (Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection) staff members, Jesus Garcia, watches in amusement. “I’m pretty sure I slept on a bed of nails on my youth group mission trips,” he jokes.
Originally “Denver Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection,” DOOR was formed in 1986 in Colorado’s capital by Mennonites. In 2002, the “D” was changed to reflect the program’s expansion to Atlanta, Chicago, Hollywood, Miami and San Antonio. Today, the urban immersion service program is officially a partner with Mennonite Mission Network and Presbyterian Church USA, and will help more than 3,000 short-term participants “see the face of God in the city” this year alone.
This week’s youth, from First Congregational Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.; First United Methodist in Sapulpa, Okla.; and Macalester Plymouth United Church of Christ in St. Paul, Minn.; quickly realize that although they won’t be sleeping on beds of nails, they will be out of their comfort zones.
“We’re going to make you as uncomfortable as possible—in a good way,” Antonio Lucero, DOOR-Denver’s city director, says during orientation. He frames the week by talking about issues facing urban neighborhoods and asks everyone to respect the community and be receptive to what the people they will be serving have to offer in return. “Attitude is very important,” Lucero says.
During the week, the youth split up, alternating work sites. One morning, a large group heads for the Food Bank of the Rockies, a sprawling warehouse that distributes food to more than 1,100 hunger-relief agencies in the region.
Teams of three to five fill food orders in scavenger-hunt fashion, rolling wide wooden flats to and fro across the cement floor, dodging motorized lifts and stacking their carts chest-high with dented boxes of Triscuits, bags of produce and cans of soup.
Closer to downtown, youth act as “personal shoppers” at Metro CareRing, a food pantry where counselors develop customized grocery lists for recipients, taking into account family size, nutritional balance and personal food preferences. One volunteer finishes bagging up an order and hesitates before calling out a name to the group waiting in the lobby, nervous about pronouncing it incorrectly.
Meanwhile, at Sunshine Academy, the high-schoolers become a human jungle gym for nine young children. Those sent to the Brothers Development help construct houses for low-income residents, people with disabilities and the elderly. Volunteers at Network Coffee House spend their time mostly just chatting with the people for whom the café is a safe place to get off the street, meet friends for chess and grab a free cup of joe.
One evening, everyone heads to Sun Valley, one of the most economically challenged neighborhoods in Colorado. The youth go door-to-door, distributing flyers for a free cookout at a local urban church called Tha Myx. The church building is painted graffiti-style. The DJ pumps Christian hip-hop music from the sanctuary, where strobe lights and a fog machine set the stage for local rap artists. Some of the youth nod to the beat with the 20-plus community members who have come inside to sit and eat; others play basketball outdoors with the neighborhood children.
At the final reflection service Thursday night at Red Rocks, a natural amphitheater set in the foothills overlooking Denver, one of the youth strums a guitar and another leads praise songs. Youth share stories about where they saw God in Denver—they talk about being humbled by the generosity they encountered in the people they were trying to serve, impressed by the spirit of their team members and moved by the hope of people they previously saw as hopeless.