Sunshine Community was sponsored by Mayfair
and organized in 1971. A number of members left when Rev.
Vander Meer resigned his pastorate, left the Christian
Reformed denomination, and began New Community Church in
1991.
Locations
1219 Bradford St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
(1923-49)
918 Benjamin Ave. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
(1949-79)
3295 East Beltline NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
(1979-89)
3300 East Beltline NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
(built 1988)
Pastors
Edwin Visscher, evangelist, 1961-65
Lewis R. Vander Meer, 1972-91
H. J. Teitsma, 1979-82
T. J. Berends, 1986-87
Matthew Heard, 1993-present
Thomas Mayo, 1995-present
John Wilczewski, 1997-present
David S. Huizenga, 1997-present
Membership
Sunshine may be the largest congregation in the history
of the Christian Reformed denomination; it is definitely the
largest in metropolitan Grand Rapids.
Green (lower) line shows membership in families; blue
(middle), professing members; red (top), total members; and
magenta (thin), non-professing members. Note large drop in
membership following departure of Rev. Vander Meer, who then
founded New Community Church.
Red line shows nonprofessing members as a percentage of
total membership.
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. Note range of scale: due to incredible
growth rates, use of normal scale is impractical.
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.
Reformed.Net is a personal research site. The
historical church profiles on this site are not church home
pages nor am I a member of the churches profiled on this website
(except for Orchard Hill Reformed). These church profiles are only
intended to provide a cursory overview of a congregation's history.
Information on this site copyright 1996-2008 by Dan Knight unless
otherwise noted.
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Reformed.Net is a personal research site. The
historical church profiles on this site are not church home
pages nor am I a member of the churches profiled on this
website (except for Orchard Hill Reformed). These church
profiles are only intended to provide a cursory overview of a
congregation's history.
