Beckwith Hills Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Original Coldbrook building.

Starting out at Fourth Reformed Church, the congregation seceded from the Reformed Church in 1881 and joined the Christian Reformed denomination in 1882, taking the name Coldbrook. It changed its name to Beckwith Hills when it relocated in 1963.

History

Beckwith Hills Christian Reformed Church began as Fourth Reformed church in 1875. Along with several other Reformed Church congregations in the Great Lakes region, it seceded from the RCA in 1881 over the issue of lodge membership, retaining the congregation's property on Coldbrook Ave., and existing as an independent church for a year. (A small minority of Fourth Reformed remained loyal to the Reformed Church, retaining their church identity.) When it joined the CRC in 1882, Coldbrook became the fourth Christian Reformed congregation in Grand Rapids.

Coldbrook was originally located at Taylor and Barnett NW, then moved to Barnett and Ionia NW in 1875. The congregation moved to Chelsea Road NE in 1963 and adopted its new name.

• Visti the Beckwith Hills website

Historical Details

Names

1. Fourth Reformed
2. Coldbrook
3. Beckwith Hills

Locations

1. 1140 Ionia NW at Barnett, Grand Rapids, MI (1875-1910, now Schaafsma Heating)
2. 7 Barnett Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI (1910-63)
3. 2100 Chelsea Road NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505 (built 1963)

Pastors

1. Lammert J. Hulst, 1876-1906
2. John (Jan) J. Hiemenga, 1907-13
3. Ymen Peter De Jong, 1913-17
4. Lambertus Veltkamp, 1918-25
5. Edward Bernard Pekelder, 1935-35
6. Thomas Yff, 1936-43
7. Enno Leonard Haan, 1944-49
8. Richard R. De Ridder, 1949-53
9. Richard Rienstra Sr., 1954-69
10. Orwin Wayne Duistermars, 1970-74
11. John Joldersma, 1976-87
12. L. Bryce Mensink, 1989-95
13. Edward J. Blankespoor, 1995-2006
14. Richard L. Pinckney, 2007-present

Daughter Churches

1. Creston, 1915
2. Ionia Avenue, 1920

Membership Overview

Membership data, Beckwith Hills CRC, Grand Rapids, MI

Membership Data

Green (lower) line shows membership in families; blue (middle), professing members; red (top), total members; and magenta (thin), non-professing members.

Youth ratio, Beckwith Hills CRC, Grand Rapids, MI

Youth Ratio

Red line shows nonprofessing members as a percentage of total membership.

Five year growth rate, Beckwith Hills CRC, Grand Rapids, MI

Five Year Growth Rate

Red line shows five year growth rate. A five year growth rate between 10% and -10% is considered stable; greater than 10% indicates a growing congregation; one below -10% indicates a church in decline. This makes no allowance for daughter churches.

Data source: Yearbooks of the Christian Reformed Church. Dates are year prior to publication date since data is gathered at the end of one year and published in the next.