News

Wisconsin Church Celebrates Grand Opening

Nov. 18, 2009 - Close to 100 worshippers gathered for the late-October grand opening service of the garden, a new Wisconsin church supported by Home Missions.

Home Missions Focuses on Clusters at Calgary

Nov. 12, 2009 -- More than 60 people will gather in Calgary, Alberta, next week to talk about how new ministries are starting and growing in regional ministry clusters and networks.

CRHM Worker Translates Bible Study

Oct. 30, 2009 — Viviana Cornejo, ministry developer for Hispanic ministry for Christian Reformed Home Missions, recently translated into Spanish a Coffee Break Bible study for Latino woman attending a weekly program connected to Crosswinds CRC in North Holland, MI.

Fire Guts Popular CRC Coffeehouse

Oct. 27, 2009 – The Green Bean, a popular Seattle, Wash., coffeehouse owned and operated by a Christian Reformed Church congregation in the city’s Greenwood neighborhood was destroyed in a fire early in the morning of Oct. 23.

Campus Ministry Sponsors Shoe Drive for Darfu

October 15, 2009 -- On a recent April Sunday, April 26, Pastor Ken Vander Wall went to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to view an event called A Display Of Shoes For Darfur, in which shoes were lined up to draw attention to the victims of the Darfur genocide.

Ethics Expert Named to Lectureship

Oct. 6, 2009 — Calvin College Philosophy professor Ruth Groenhout has been named the Calvin Worldview Lecturer for 2009-2010.

'We Owe Our Existence to Ministry Shares'

Sept. 22, 2009 – As soon as he had the chance, church planter Chris Mitchell started to tell the people in his fledgling congregation about the Christian Reformed Church's system of raising funds through Ministry Shares.

inSpirit Church Launches

Sept. 8, 2009 — About 150 people listened as Pastor Randy Ledeboer began speaking about the vision for starting and building "inSpirit Church" – a newly formed "unique church" that meets in a office/warehouse just south of Grand Rapids, Mich., in the Cutlerville - Byron Center area.

Urban Youth Hear About Agape Love

August 11, 2009 –- More than 170 young people from cities all over North America gathered recently to hear Rev. Glenn Hudson give a challenging message about love—the kind of agape love that Jesus Christ promoted and not the type of love as portrayed in popular culture.

Church Planter Seeks to Fill Spiritual Void

July 29, 2009 -- When church planter Todd Murphy and his family moved to Providence, Rhode Island eight years ago, he was told that ministry in New England could not be successful. It was hard for him to argue with that. "Providence is a spiritual black hole," he says. "People there are cautious and often consumed with their own lives."

Campus Minister Hired at Fanshawe College

July 9, 2009 -— Several years ago, while Kelly Sibthorpe was working as a youth pastor, he realized that youth who struggle for identity need to identify with Christ.

Next Stop "Unchurched" Portland

June 8, 2009 -- When Portland, Oregon native Jason De Vries and his wife Mishaela were considering sites for their new ministry, they knew their hometown would make the perfect location.

Coffee Break Conference

May, 14, 2009 -- Nearly 700 women gathered in Oakville, Ontario recently for The Amazing Race. But this wasn’t a taping for the popular television show of the same name (although that was some of the inspiration).

Pastor Graduates From New CRC Online Program

May 5, 2009 -- Twenty years ago, Carlos Palacios traded the terror and violence of an unstable Peru for the hope and promise of a new life abroad. Although he wasn’t sure what he should do once he arrived in a new country, he felt God calling him to ministry.

Preaching the Message of the Belhar

April 24, 2009 –- Rev. Tommy Moore says the Belhar Confession, like the Bible itself, focuses on the crucial theme of reconciliation between God’s people.

Campus Ministry Conference Focus on Diversity

April 14, 2009 -- Christian Reformed Church campus ministers from across North America will gather in New Jersey next month to celebrate and to learn methods to help support the diversity of God’s kingdom.

'Deeper Journey' Series Begins

April 3, 2009 -- The first retreat in the "Deeper Journey" series, sponsored by Christian Reformed Home Missions, offered the 26 participants a break from their normal routines and a chance to build a closer relationship with God and one another.

CRC Congregation is 'Model Ministry'

March 9, 2009 –- Even in difficult financial times, Pastor Juan Pablo Sanchez of Vida Nueva CRC (New Life Christian Reformed Church) is creating a model Christian community that sees its mission as reaching out to and serving the needs of its neighbors, says Javier Torres, regional leader for Latino ministries for the Christian Reformed Church.

Agencies Help New Church Buy Building

February 23, 2009 -- Financial support from two Christian Reformed Church agencies played a big role in helping a new congregation whose focus is on serving the needs of Spanish-speaking people to purchase and move into a former Methodist church in the Patterson, N.J., area.

Shack Author Discusses Novel

Feburary 18, 2009 -- Where is God in a world filled with such unspeakable pain? When Mackenzie Philips broaches this subject with "God" in the New York Timesbest-seller, The Shack, the answers he receives challenge his beliefs about God’s character, power, mercy, and grace, as well as his perception of what it means to be loved by Him.

HM Helps Present Talk by "The Shack" Author

Home Missions Helps Present Talk by "The Shack" Author Home Missions is co-presenting a sold-out presentation by William P. Young, author of The Shack, at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois on Tuesday, February 17.

Ontario Churches Challenged to Be Missional

February 2, 2008 -- A recent conference presented by Christian Reformed Church Home Missions Central and Eastern Canada Ministry Team challenged more than 200 people to focus on the communities outside their congregations' walls.

Home Missions Sponsors Speaker

Christian Reformed Home Missions is already doing many of the things to connect churches to their neighborhoods that author and researcher David Kinnaman suggested in his presentation on Thursday at the January Series at Calvin College.

CRC Agencies Breaking Barriers

Christian Reformed World Missions and Christian Reformed Home Missions have recently launched joint efforts to revitalize the work they do by working more closely together. They also want to find ways to encourage congregations to get more involved in local and global ministries.

Ontario CRC Opens Ministry Centre

January 13, 2009 -- Since its formation in 2005, The Journey, a growing Christian Reformed congregation in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, has achieved a certain level of "success." Now at 170 members, the church still enjoys a steady stream of newcomers most Sunday mornings.

Conference To Explore 'Missional Living'

"Missional Living: Touching Lives . . . Impacting Communities" will take place on Saturday, January 24, 2009, at Georgetown Christian Reformed Church in Georgetown, Ontario.

New Church Hopes to Use Simple Approach

When Rev. Randy Ledeboer launches a new church near Cutlerville, Mich., sometime next year, he hopes to provide a simple approach to worship. "The world is very complicated, and people want something simple," he says. "We want to just focus on worship, small groups, and service in the community."

Theology is 'On Tap'

Like most campus ministers, Rev. Michael Wagenman is always looking for new and compelling ways to make a case for Christianity to university students. That search led Wagenman to create an unorthodox event: a theological study group that meets at the local student pub.

CRC Establishes Prison Church

After many months of dreaming, planning, negotiations and meetings, the Ionia Bellamy Creek "Celebration Fellowship" Prison Congregation - the first of its kind in Michigan - has begun to hold Bible/book study and worship services.

New Book Collects Calvin Worldview Lectures

For the past ten years, Christian Reformed Home Missions has partnered with Calvin College to send Calvin professors on speaking tours of secular university campuses. Now, many of those lectures are being published in a new anthology.

Turning Disciples into Loving Leaders

Several years ago, Michael Johnson was starting a church in Texas with Christian Reformed Home Missions. Things were going pretty smoothly. The church was growing, but after a while different people started leaving for different reasons.

Youth Take Center Stage at Coit CRC

The future success and health of the CRC lies in engaging its youth in relevant ministries and in giving them ownership of those ministries, says Rev Jerome Burton, pastor of Coit Community Church in urban Grand Rapids, Mich.

Home Missions Taps Interim Leader for Canada

Home Missions church planter Adrian VanGiessen has accepted the invitation to serve as interim Leader for Home Missions' Central and Eastern Canada Ministry Team. Beginning November 3, VanGiessen will assume the role previously held by Ben Vandezande, who is now director of Home Missions.

New Wisconsin Faith Community Takes Shape

The recently established Fond du Lac Christian Fellowship traces its roots to three couples ministering through a divorce-care program.

Breaking Bread Before Breakfast

Considering that college students are notorious for sleeping in after late nights studying (and socializing), who would actually turn up for a eucharist service at 7:22 on Tuesday mornings?

Home Missions Co-Sponsors Worldview Lecturer

September 3, 2008 -- Calvin College French professor Otto Selles will be the speaker at this year's Calvin Worldview Lectureship, a lecture series that seeks to communicate a Reformed Christian perspective on academics and culture.

Laotian Church Planter Finds 'New Life'

Aug. 26, 2008 -- In the late 1970s, Phonh Sinbondit and his family were living in Laos when Communists took over the country.

Home Missions to Fund 20 New Churches

August 19, 2008 -- More than a dozen multicultural ministries are among the 20 new churches that Christian Reformed Home Missions will help to start in the fiscal year 2008–09.

Chicago Pastor Offers New Approach To Worship

Aug. 5, 2008 -- Pastor Ed Rockett has a vision of using music, dance, drama and theater as a way to address the needs of people attending Sunday worship at his new Christian Reformed Church congregation on the south side of Chicago, Ill.

CRC Names Interim Director for Home Missions

July 25, 2008 -- The Christian Reformed Church in North America on Friday announced that Ben Vandezande will take over this fall as interim director of Christian Reformed Home Missions. Vandezande currently serves as Home Missions regional team leader for Eastern Canada. He will replace John Rozeboom, who has been director of CRHM for 22 years.

Old Mission, New Ministry

Susan LaClear grew up in a Christian home in Holland, Mich., and attended Christian schools from kindergarten through high school. But she never understood God’s call on her life until she went to a secular college, the University of Michigan.

Urban Pastors Follow Jesus into the Streets

Clarence Presley and Rik Stevenson are building their congregations by following the lead of Jesus who took his message to the people where they lived, worked and relaxed.

The Spirit 'Rains' at Evangelism Conference

It poured rain all day this past Saturday outside of the conference center in Lombard, Ill., at which 500-plus people gathered for an event presented by Christian Reformed Home Missions.

Home Missions Helps Conferees Fight Fuel Cost

Even though gas prices continue to climb at an alarming rate, plenty of people will still be heading to Lombard, Ill., next month for In Community, Christian Reformed Home Missions’ Small Group & Evangelism Conference.

Brazil Natives Seek Connection in Wisconsin

You might not think of an empty suburban movie theater as an uplifting place to spend a Sunday morning. But if you happened upon the AMC Theater at Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on the first Sunday of the month, you'd step into a full-on, roof-raising, multicultural celebration of Jesus.

Church Planter Starts Fresh in Alberta

Just over a year ago, Rev. Victor Ko was happily and faithfully serving Third CRC, the Kalamazoo, Michigan congregation he'd led since 1999. But then came the call. "I felt the Lord calling me to go plant a new church," Ko says. "He told me to gather people together in Jesus' name."

Two CRC Congregations Win National Grant

The Fund for Theological Education has given a $12,000 leadership development grant to a pair of Christian Reformed Church in North America congregations that have been working together in youth ministry, according to a press release sent out this week by the FTE.