CRC/RCA Ties Abound in Holland
Several innovative ministries linking Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and Reformed Church in America (RCA) congregations have been and continue to spring up in different forms in Holland, Mich.
Emerging from the congregations themselves, these grassroots ministries reflect a shared vision for missions as well as the broader move by the two denominations to work together in a variety of ways.
These ministries and projects in Holland have reconfigured themselves to, among other things, heal old rifts, pool resources for urban and multi-cultural ministries, build a house for people with special needs, and to offer ministry to Korean-speaking people.
Two of the newly revamped ministries will, in fact, be formally brought to life in earlySeptember.
Pillar Church
Pillar Church, a Christian Reformed Church congregation, is taking steps to reconcile a historic, 130-year split involving the CRC and the RCA.
The split occurred in 1882 when members of Pillar Church, then a RCA congregation, walked out over a dispute. The building was eventually taken over by a CRC congregation.
InSeptember, Pillar Church will be formally joining the RCA — and at the same time keeping its ties with the CRC, meaning the congregation will have a dual affiliation.
Once the largest church in Holland, Pillar Church had seen a decline in membership and was faced with making some hard decisions.
“We underwent a discernment process, trying to determine what would be a vibrant ministry on this corner in the city,” said Rev. Chris DeVos, pastor of Pillar CRC.
“We ended up deciding that what we wanted to do was to seek a dual affiliation and join the RCA,” he said. “We feel that this is a move toward reconciliation.”
Pillar Church has called and will be installing a RCA pastor to serve along with DeVos at the stately church located near the campus of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary.
Pillar Church plans to focus its attention on solid preaching, on students at the college and seminary and on the growing number of people who are moving into apartments and other spaces downtown.
“We will be continuing Pillar Church with a new face,” said DeVos.
The Intersection
The other effort to be launched inSeptember is The Intersection, the combination of a CRC and a RCA congregation that will share resources to do urban ministry.
Located on the same campus near downtown Holland, The Intersection joins Crosswinds CRC and Grace RCA in a relationship in which they will share finances and pursue a vision of doing multi-cultural ministry in the city of Holland, said Rev. Jeff Meyer, pastor of Crosswinds CRC.
But each congregation, he said, will worship in separate locations on the same campus on Sundays.
While a range of details still need to be worked out as this relationship goes forward, the congregations are convinced that they are following the right path.
They believe that joining the resources of congregations in the two denominations is both a practical move and a venture of faith.
“God has been so much of a part of this from the start,” said Meyer. “We have a vision of being a community center as well as a church.”
Maple Avenue
Maple Avenue Ministries, the oldest of these collaborative efforts, is the result of a collaboration between Maple Ave. CRC and Christ Memorial RCA.
Maple Ave. CRC had seen its membership decline and with it a lack of resources to reach out to the neighborhood whose ethnic make-up was changing around it, said Rev. Dave Kool, who once served at Maple Street Ministries and is now president of an organization that works to plant churches in urban areas in Michigan and elsewhere.
Christ Memorial had resources, said Kool, but was also undergoing changes at the same time it felt the need to minister to a city whose culture and ethnic make-up were being transformed.
The collaboration did not come without members of both churches undergoing a great deal of soul-searching and expressing strong emotions.
But eventually, said Kool, the congregations agreed to link, believing that together they could have a greater impact on Holland than they could alone.
Holland Korean Church
The Holland Korean Church is the result of collaboration between the CRC, RCA and one of the Presbyetrian churches in Holland.
The three groups had seen the growth in the number of Koreans, especially engineers, who came to Holland to work in the LG Chem car battery plant.
With this in mind, they approached Rev. John Kim, a veteran minister and former seminary president, who agreed to become pastor of the church.
The church is currently in the process of emerging as its finds its way along, reaching out to Korean-speaking people in the best ways possible.
The church is also a center for Korean culture in the area. It holds special ceremonies and brings in Korean choirs, dancers and drummers to help mark important occasions.
“We minister mostly to non-believers who are coming to church for the first time in their lives,” said Kim.
At the same time, he said, members “at the church are very solid, quiet and sincere. Many like the traditional worship.”
Kim’s church will also be holding a special event, in this case an open house and ping-pong tournament in earlySeptember. For more information, email: [email protected].
My Father’s House
And then there is a church plant, La Casa de Mi Padre (My Father’s House), sponsored by the RCA and being hosted by Montello Park CRC in Holland.
Faced as are many churches with a declining membership in the city, Montello Park had to look at its future and ask how long it would be able to remain sustainable.
In the process, they had the chance to offer La Casa de Mi Padre space in which to start a bilingual church focuing on the needs people, many of whom are Hispanic.
“We’re very excited,” José Durán, pastor of La Casa de Mi Padre, told the Banner for an article earlier this year. “I really like to be working like this, breaking barriers, in the sense that this is not about denominations. It’s about kingdom mentality.”
Facing the Future
Dan Roels, pastor of Montello Park CRC, said hosting a church plant was not on Montello Park’s radar. But God had other plans and now the new church is very much a part of Montello Park’s ministry.
As other CRC congregations face similar challenges, Roels said to the Banner, “Being honest about your current reality prepares you to embrace God’s future in ways you probably don’t anticipate. . . . When a church can courageously keep the kingdom mission central, it can boast in what Christ continues to do despite the challenges.”
Taken together, all of these collaborations exemplify a movement that offers hope and a chance for revitalization in both the CRC and RCA, said Rev. David Kool.
“It is unbelievable to look at the cooperation we have seen between the CRC and the RCA in this area over the last few years,” said Kool.
“The people have been called to mission. When that happens, you can work through the details.”
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