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Historical Profile: Church of the Servant CRC

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Church of the Servant (CoS) began an an alternative or experimental church in the late 1960s. The Fellowship of the Acts was not officially tied to any church or denomination, although a good portion of its members were Christian Reformed. At one time they met in the Baxter Christian School gym.

This may have been the first "concept church" in the denomination; heretofore most churches had been geographically based. Core concepts from the church's beginnings included not expending great resources on a building (it was 20 years after organization that CoS moved into its own facilities), social justice, celebrative worship, weekly communion, and an equal role for women in the ministry of the church.

Church of the Servant was organized as a Christian Reformed congregation in 1973. It is one of those rare churches which has had more locations than pastors. Using rented space, relocating as necessary, and adding a second morning worship service when numbers exceeded space allowed consistent growth through 1990 at minimal expense.

Names

Fellowship of the Acts (before organization)
Church of the Servant

Locations

Oakhill Presbyterian Church, 1930 Leonard Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
Creston Christian School, 1031 Page Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI, 49505
Mulick Park School, 1761 Rosewood Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
Seymour Christian School, 2550 Eastern Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507 (1980-93)
3835 Burton Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 (built 1993)

Pastors

John Vriend, 1974-82
Jack Roeda, 1983-present

Membership

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

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.

For more membership data, click here. View map showing Oakhill Presbyterian Church, Creston Christian School, Mulick Park School, Seymour Christian School, or current location, or page showing all five maps.

Visit the CoS church website.

Go to Grand Rapids geographic index or chronological index.

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