History[]
Highland Hills Christian Reformed Church was organized in 1950. It merged with Alpine Avenue CRC to form Westend CRC in 1992.
Historical Details[]
Location[]
- 1015 Westend Avenue NW], Grand Rapids, MI 49504 (built 1950, now Westend CRC)
Pastors[]
- Jacob D. Eppinga, 1951-54
- A. C. De Jong, 1954-60
- N. L. Veltman, 1962-67
- M. R. Doornobos, 1968-77
- J. F. De Vries, 1977-83
- K. J. Nydam, 1981-84
- John Hofman Jr., 1984-90
Membership Overview[]
Highland Hills CRC got off to a fast start, growing from 50 families to 150 over about a dozen years - and thanks to the Baby Boom, the number of baptized, non-professing members brought total membership past the 700 mark before 1960. There was a rapid decline in non-professing members starting in the late 1960s as these children made profession of faith and went off to college and jobs, often taking them away from Highland Hills.
There was a second membership spike around 1980, followed by a period of steady decline. My best guess is that this was due to the a second generation of home owners with children moving into the neighborhood, displacing first generation empty nesters, and then seeing their own children grow and leave the nest.
Membership data, Highland 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, Highland Hills CRC, Grand Rapids, MI
Youth Ratio[]
Red line shows nonprofessing members as a percentage of total membership.
Five year growth rate, Highland 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.