For the past 35 years, Church Partnerships have been an integral part of our goal for every kid in the Western Great Lakes Young Life Region to experience the good news of Jesus. In short, a Church Partnership happens when a church has vision for outreach in their local community, and they trust the local YL ministry to help make that happen. The CP then focuses upon church responsibilities for roughly 75% of the work week and joins a local YL team for the other 25%. In the early 1990s, Rev. Chip Sauer was the first of many CPs over the years at First Reformed Church in Grandville, and he recently supervised a CP at Community Reformed Church in Charlevoix, where he is the lead pastor. And the roots of what is now Eastern Ottawa County YL also happened in the early 90s when Sara (Crips) Kunzi and Chris Theule worked as Church Partners at different churches while planting YL ministries at Hudsonville Public and Unity Christian High Schools.
Over the decades, dozens of men and women have held the “Church Partner” title in our Region, including the current five members in the WGLR Church Partner cohort. And in the order they were hired, here they are!
Seven years ago, after graduating from Hope College and Duke Divinity School, Rev. Joel Boersma stepped into the role of Pastor of College Ministries at Pillar Church in Holland while leading YL College at Hope. It’s a slight variation of his childhood dream of coaching basketball at Hope (and beyond), but he now cherishes the opportunities to walk alongside Hope students in the same way he experienced as a senior in high school through his YL leader. He writes, “An aspect of my work that is both gift and challenge is connecting Hope students to all that’s entailed with Church: Word and sacraments; worship and mission; habits of discipleship and so forth. Related to this is the conviction that ‘your mind matters’ (John Stott’s phrase): exploring the continents-wide, centuries-deep Christian tradition, where ‘faith seeks understanding.’” Outside of work, Joel cherishes time with wife Megan, infant son Samuel, and Zoe, their one-year-old Golden Retriever. And his activities include winters on the slopes, summers on the links and at the Lake, and racket sports year-round.
Early last year, Lauren Abrell joined the staff at First Reformed Church in Grandville and the YL Team at Grandville High School. She recently graduated with her Masters in Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary after completing Calvin University in 2023, but none of her education connected her very well to her childhood dream of becoming a professional music artist (“not sure why as I cannot carry a tune at all–I think I just really liked Taylor Swift!”). She briefly sampled YL for a semester in high school, and now as a CP, she enjoys seeing many of the same kids at church and in YL settings, allowing her “to have a holistic view and approach to their life and faith development.” A challenge, however, is not having the time to do more contact work with kids and leaders. When not working, Lauren enjoys reading, hiking (“wishing I could do the Camino de Santiago again”), and game nights with friends.
Soon after his graduation from Hope College (BA in Psychology, minors in Religion and Ministry) in the spring of ‘25, Alex Stiefel began his Church Partnership at Calvary Christian Reformed Church (Holland), a move he never could have anticipated while dreaming of becoming a professional baseball player as a child. He did play a year of baseball in college, but his first YL experience happened at his first Club as a leader last fall. Since then, he has enjoyed the rhythms of church/YL ministry, especially the contact work he practices faithfully, including “lunches weekly to meet my students where they’re at.” The challenge, however, has been working with two completely different sets of kids, though he is hopeful for some overlap in the future. Alex counts a recent trip to South Africa among his travels (“the best time ever!!”), and he loves sports and being outdoors.
*** Note: Both Lauren and Alex are celebrating their recent engagements (not to each other) and are planning 2027 weddings!
In January of this year, Tim Fennell started his Church Partnership at Christ Memorial Church (Holland) while continuing his Masters in Divinity studies at Western Seminary. He also holds degrees from the University of Florida (BA in English) and the University of Sheffield in England (MA in European Historical Archaeology), neither of which connected directly to his childhood dream of becoming an architect (“because I loved LEGOs”). His introduction to YL happened while teaching at an international school in Costa Rica, and he has served in various YL staff and volunteer roles since then. His joy now is “building the relationships with the students and discovering their passions. The greatest challenge is the balance of work required for the church and YL.” In addition to riding his motorcycle and playing the Gundam Trading Card Game, Tim loves to workout, read fiction, play golf, and surf.
In February of this year, Blake Simons joined the staff at The Tabernacle, a three-campus church, including one in Manistee, where Blake works and does much of his YL contact work at the nearby Armory Youth Project. Although he didn’t achieve his childhood dream of becoming a Navy Seal (“always thought they were the coolest group of fighters”), he celebrates that he now gets “to be a commando for Jesus!” While a student at Byron Center High School, Blake recalls “a couple of YL guys coming during lunch,” and he “once followed a girl to a YL Club.” But after leaving his job in the HVAC industry a few months ago, Blake has shifted smoothly from being a youth ministry volunteer to a “leader of leaders,” both in church and YL, and he has especially enjoyed “getting to interact with students I wouldn’t normally interact with through contact work.” Blake enjoys playing video games with his wife and kids and has developed an interest in golf, though his scores do not (yet!) reflect much success.
Working with the local church is important to Young Life. Although congregations can minister in ways we can’t, Young Life has inroads in communities with kids who are disinterested in church. However, as Young Life staff and leaders care for these kids, we try to help them become lifelong followers of Jesus Christ who will one day be active in the life of a local church.
If your congregation is interested in exploring a partnership with Young Life please contact our Regional Church Partnerships representative, Steve Winkle.
