Renovation and Expansion of a Church Building and of God’s People

Some of the stained-glass windows have been repaired and reinstalled, while others are in the process of being refurbished as part of a more than $2 million renovation and expansion of First Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Outside the church, workers are busy putting up walls and  starting on the roof, and inside they are finishing the floor for what will be a new entrance, foyer, and classrooms for the oldest CRC in Grand Rapids.

Looking out a window at what will be the new entrance, Rev. Randy Buursma, the church’s pastor, said he feels a tension rising as the work is moving forward on the project, which is partly funded by a grant from the National Fund for Sacred Spaces.

“It’s exciting to see this happening, but I keep wondering how we will live into the expectation of what God is preparing us to do when this is done,” he said.

Multicolored stained-glass windows and the new space in which to welcome people will be good — and yet brick and mortar and glass can go only so far in helping a church live out the message of the gospel.

“I find it challenging to be living in the tension between having an aesthetically pleasing building that will give us more room for the nursery, the youth group, and the fellowship hall. It will help us do ministry more efficiently,” said Buursma.

“But will this be a place that will help move us to reach out to those around us? As we expand and renovate the building, I hope God will use and also expand us so that we can honor and expand God’s kingdom.”

Along with the grant, First CRC has undertaken a $2 million capital campaign for the renovation of the church, which was built in 1911 and is located just east of downtown.

The award to First CRC, said Chad Martin, director of the National Fund for Sacred Spaces, comes as part of a $14 million grant allocated to assist aging churches in need of repair and restoration.

Martin added that the grants provide funds for planning and for capital costs for at least 50 individual congregations across the U.S. from a diversity of faith traditions over a period of four years.

“First CRC has now nearly completed our program,” said Martin.

A team of clergy and lay leaders from the congregation participated in a training event alongside eight other congregations earlier this year to learn more about community-wide capital campaign strategies, he said.

As part of this initiative, they received a planning grant to help pay for some of their architectural fees, and, he said, “they have been awarded a $100,000 capital grant to help pay for costs related to the historic preservation part of their current building project.”

Martin said First CRC is one of the first congregations to arrive successfully at this stage of the process by having been approved for a major grant for their capital project.

As he looks toward to next March for the completion of the work, Buursma said he is doing what he can to prepare the congregation for a new time of ministry.

“My hope is that a spiritual renovation is taking place so that we will be able to follow the Spirit in what God is preparing us to do,” he said.

“I think we want to be a congregation that loves one another, that doesn’t judge each other, and that carries one another’s burdens” while responding in creative ways to the people living nearby in the surrounding neighborhoods.