This week, as Grove City celebrated Global Missions Week with chapel programming and special events, students who participated in Red Box GO share their experiences
By Madelyn Taliaferro · Staff Writer
Through Grove City College’s Red Box Global Outreach program, students can turn a calling for summer missions work into an opportunity to serve around the world.
Founded in 1975, Red Box GO has sponsored Grove City students to serve in more than 80 countries globally.
Each year, the program selects several students from a variety of academic disciplines to serve on a cross-cultural mission trip. These students can choose where they want to go and which mission organizations to partner with and share their experiences when they return to campus. The students who served this past summer gave a Faith for Life lecture Wednesday.
One such student, a senior English major who will remain anonymous for security considerations, spent the summer in Southeast Asia. She felt called to relational ministry and wanted to use her experiences in on-campus roles and English education for the kingdom of God. Red Box GO gave her the opportunity, and she found her ministry partners through Global Missions Week last year.
Throughout the summer, she worked at an orphanage, served in after-school English programs and clubs and worked with at-risk women and children.
The most powerful part of her experience was truly living alongside the people she served.
“By living with people and building relationships there, I came to love the people I met. Initially, I was uncertain of what life would be like … because of stigmas and stereotypes,” she said. “However, by meeting real people and having real conversations with them, I have come to realize that these people are just as much God’s beloved creation.”
She described how beautiful it was to see God moving among the nations and softening hearts for the Gospel. As she returned to campus, she was “overcome with clarity” that this was the type of relational ministry she could continue for the rest of her life. Back at Grove City, the relationships she builds and work she does can apply to missions.
Another student spent the summer of 2025 in southern Africa through Red Box GO. There, she could use her math major and classical education minor to help a developing classical education program. She taught, shadowed teachers and served at a local church.
Witnessing firsthand the faithful ministry of so many impacted her. The people she lived and worked with were committed to the Lord’s work right where they were and serving where they were planted.
She explained that missions can be incredibly challenging, but she was confident that it was the Lord’s calling for that season of her life. For those considering missions, she recommends strong spiritual journaling and prayer habits, and she cannot overstate the importance of understanding the culture and context you are entering.
