Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church - Volunteer of the Month

Member of the Month — July 2008
Emily Systma
Emily Systma can remember her first days visiting the children's area at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. It was in the summer of 2000, when she had started to work as an intern for the church. The renovations and the creation of the Center for Christian Education were still only a dream at the time.

"It sort of felt like exile," she said. "It didn't feel like the energy of the church was there."
But much has changed since then. Families now have a home in the large new education center underneath the sanctuary. And Emily has found her church home as well, becominga central figure in family life at Fifth Avenue.

Her growing list of roles is testament to her commitment as a servant and leader – Kindership Committee chair, youth group leader, Vacation Bible School volunteer, Mom's Bible Study member and Family Ministries committee volunteer. Her efforts have helped nurture and expand family life at Fifth Avenue into the central role that it occupies today.

"Emily embodies the servant-leader model at Fifth Avenue," said Jacob Bolton, Director of Family Ministries. "When Emily is in charge of doing something, everybody is reassured it will be done well, and you always come away feeling good about it."

It's no coincidence that she found her home at church among families. A native of St. Louis, she moved to Hoboken, N.J., in 1996 and became a teacher at the Mustard Seed School, an interdenominational Christian school in Hoboken. In 2000, she met her husband David at a church in Hoboken; soon after they were married in 2001, they went in search of a new church home.

Remembering her summer as an intern at Fifth Avenue, she brought David to an evening service that was held at the time, 5 at Fifth. They looked no further. They started to become involved in church life through the Couples Club, but it wasn't until the arrival of Will that they began to immerse themselves.

"After Will was born, we knew that this was our niche," she said.

It helped that she could draw on her experience as a teacher, both of junior high school students and pre-school children.

"It's been a natural way to get involved," she said. "There are a lot of similarities."

If there is anything Emily would like to encourage at Fifth Avenue, it would be to have more people who are not parents – grandparent-types and singles, she says – volunteering at Family Ministries.

"It's a great and vibrant program, and it would be lovely if there were more people in the basement who weren't parents," she said.

She urges those without children to pay a visit to the Center for Christian Education. "It's a very alive program," she said. "I'm excited about it for my child and myself."

Respectfully submitted,
Bob Goetz

Members of the Month