Calvin News

Every Sunday this semester at Calvin College the "Jesus Bus" rolls out of the campus and heads to a local church.

Only the bus isn't really a bus.

Rather it's a weekly caravan of five cars that visits a different church each week during the fall semester, giving Calvin students a sampler of what's available in Grand Rapids in the way of churches.

The churches the students visit represent a variety of Christian beliefs and worship styles, from small storefront congregations to venerable orthodox churches to suburban mega-churches.

Calvin junior Amos Groenendyk came up with the idea, the name and even a t-shirt that features a bus logo on the front which reads "Jesus Bus 2005" and the disclaimer on the back, "Not an actual bus."

But while the bus doesn't actually exist Groenendyk's idea has done nothing but gain momentum since he came up with it a year ago.

"When I started the Jesus Bus," Groenendyk recalls, "I said, 'I want you to find a church family but before you find a church family, I want you to see what's out there.'"

Groenendyk, a Pella, Iowa, native, is a member of Bolt-Heyns-Timmer's Barnabas Team, which promotes spiritual leadership in Calvin's residence halls.

This fall, the bus' itinerary includes Evergreen Ministries in Hudsonville, Centerpointe Church, Madison Square and La Grave Avenue Christian Reformed churches, Vineyard Church North, Mars Hill Bible Church and Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, among others.

Groenendyk also plans on visiting a Catholic-Anglican congregation and Pentecostal and African Methodist Episcopal congregations.

"I'm running out of weeks," he laments. "Too many churches."

The Jesus Bus stops "running" at the conclusion of Calvin's fall semester, to allow the student riders to settle into church homes. While some of the churches on the route are picked because they are popular student church homes, others are chosen because they are atypical.

In these congregations the students often encounter belief systems and practices that are well outside their worship experience.

"A lot of people have never been outside their own denomination," Groenendyk says. "Or even if they've been outside their own denomination they haven't been to a church that isn't like theirs."

But, he adds, the Jesus Bus experience is not a type of religious tourism but rather a stretching experience.

Groenendyk, a pre-seminary student majoring in communications, religion and psychology, tries to impress upon the students the need to respect other religious practices. There are things students can learn, even from the most way-out churches, says Groenendyk.

"You learn how to worship God in different ways, in new ways," he says. "You incorporate that into your worship life."

Following each Sunday service, the group caravans back to Calvin's dining hall to eat and discuss that week's worship experience.

Jay Wise, the resident director of Heyns Hall, is enthusiastic about the Jesus Bus experience.

"It's just one more way of getting freshmen acclimated to the Grand Rapids area," he says. "When students come here, worship is one of those things that is an adjustment for them. Especially for freshmen, it makes the transition easier from hometown to college. I keep thinking that it's going to dwindle down,” he adds, “but we’ve had a steady group every Sunday."