Jane Loerop is a member of Elmhurst (Ill.) Christian Reformed Church. Now in her 70s, she has written, in 15 short chapters, what happened to her when she took seriously God’s command that we love our neighbor. She calls it “hospitality,” but it has nothing to do with “something out of Emily Post or Martha Stewart.” Rather, she says, it means that you make yourself available to whoever needs you.
Loerop started with one poor family and went on to help homeless people, women with unwanted pregnancies, immigrants, refugees, survivors of murder victims, and families of alcoholics. When she found that the Little Lambs program at her church shared its name with a program among orphans in the Ukraine, she began to visit those orphanages. She made 14 trips to the Ukraine. Teaching and entertaining the orphans required much hard work and prayer in distressing circumstances.
When the Loerops had been married for fifty years, they, with their offspring—all 23 of them—went on a three-generational mission trip.
Reminiscing about her life of ministry, she says that success is hard to measure. “The bottom line is found in neither numbers nor money; the important thing is obedience to the Lord.”
May she have many imitators in the Christian Reformed church. (CreateSpace)
About the Author
Rev. Andrew Kuyvenhoven is a retired pastor in the CRC. A former Banner editor, he’s also author of The Day of Christ’s Return and, along with his son Leonard, co-author of Forgiveness, both from the What the Bible Teaches, What You Need to Know series from Faith Alive Christian Resources.
