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Spring-street

Spring Street CRC, Grand Rapids, MI, 1857-67

History

First CRC was organized on March 19, 1857 by members seceding from Second Reformed Church due to the work of Haan Gijsbert Haan.

Representatives of the Grand Rapids, Graafschap, Polkton, Vriesland, and Noordeloos congregations organized as the Classis of Michigan on April 29, 1857. This is the birthdate of the Christian Reformed denomination.

The city of Grand Rapids expanded its borders in 1857. On the north, it was bounded by Richmond and Sweet, on the east by Fuller, on the south by Hall, and on the west by the Grand River and Garfield. The 1860 U.S. Census showed Grand Rapids with a population of 8,085, of whom 867 were Dutch-born. While the urban population had tripled in a decade, there were 4.5 times as many Dutch-born. (This takes no account of the American-born children of these immigrants.)

As with many churches near the old Calvin College Franklin campus, membership declined during the 1966-73 period as the college slowly relocated to its current location on the edge of the city.

Visit the First CRC website.

Historical Details

Names

  1. Spring Street, 1857-67
  2. Commerce Street, 1867-1912
  3. Bates Street, informally, 1912-present
  4. First, 1912-present

Locations

First-3-churches

Downtown locations of First Reformed, Second Reformed, and First Christian Reformed churches.

First CRC separated from Second Reformed in 1857 and built its first sanctuary on Spring Street SW (now the northwest corner of Ionia and Weston, 1 on map), where it remained until 1867. The congregation located at 58 Commerce Ave. SW (2) from 1867 to 1912, moving to 650 Bates St. SE in 1912, where it remains to this day.

Pastors

  1. Hendrik Geert Klyn, 1857-58
  2. Wilhelmus Hein Van Leeuwen, 1863-67
  3. Roelof Duiker, 1867-72
  4. Gerrit E. Boer, 1873-76
  5. John (Jan) Kremer, 1877-79
  6. Jan Hindrik Vos, 1881-1900
  7. Tiede Vander Ark, 1900-05
  8. Gerrit Johannes Haan, 1906-08
  9. Peter Ekster, 1908-18
  10. Edward J. Tanis, 1919-27
  11. David Douwe Bonnema, 1927-41
  12. Edward F. Visser , 1942-51
  13. William Van Rees, 1951-60
  14. Marvin Beelen, 1961-71
  15. Charles Terpstra, 1970-82
  16. Donald Jack Klop, 1973-80
  17. Rodney Eugene Alexander, 1982-84
  18. Daniel Gilbert Bos, 1983-84
  19. Morris N. Greidanus, 1985-2002
  20. William De Vries, 2003-11

Daughter Churches

  1. East Street (now Eastern Avenue), begun 1876, organized 1879
  2. Alpine Avenue, 1881-1992
  3. Fourth (now LaGrave Avenue), 1887 - first English speaking congregation
  4. Fifth Ave. (later Franklin Street), 1887-1967
  5. Grace, 1962, cosponsored with Neland Ave.

Membership Overview

The Christian Reformed denomination did not collect annual membership statistics until 1881, when it published data for the previous year. Total membership peaked at about 1,800 and was nearly cut by half when it launched two daughter congregations in 1887.

Professing membership didn't reach its peak until the early-to-mid 1960s, after which it went into serious decline as the composition of the neighborhood went through significant changes.

1st-crc-members

Membership data, First Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, MI

Overall Membership Data

Green (lower) line shows membership in families; blue (middle), professing members; red (top), total members; and magenta (thin), non-professing members. Note effect of forming daughter congregations in 1881 and 1887.

First-crc-youth

Youth ratio, First Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, MI

Youth Ratio

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

First-crc-growth

Five year growth rate, First Christian Reformed Church, 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.

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