Introduction
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine Christian Reformed church growth and decline patterns in Grand Rapids since 1970. Individual attention is given to each congregation in the city. Sources include denominational yearbooks and information received from surveyed congregations.
Historical Background
Grand Rapids has been the heart of the Christian Reformed denomination from its origin, when members of Second Reformed Church organized an independent congregation (now First CRC) in 1857. Within four weeks the Graafschap, Polkton, and Vriesland churches seceded from the RCA; the Hollandsche Gereformeerde Kerk (Holland Reformed Church) was established on April 29, 1857.
The first English speaking church in the Hollandsche Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk (Holland Christian Reformed Church) was organized in 1887 as Fourth Church (now LaGrave Ave.) of Grand Rapids. In 1890 the denomination united with the True Protestant Dutch Reformed Church and adopted the name Christian Reformed Church.
Classis Grand Rapids was divided into Grand Rapids East and Grand Rapids West in 1898, roughly along Madison Ave. In 1938 Grand Rapids South was created from Grand Rapids West churches south of Fulton Street. (In 1971 Grand Rapids West was renamed Grand Rapids North to reflect this change.) Classis Grandville was formed west of Clyde Park from Grand Rapids South in 1958.The newest classis in metropolitan Grand Rapids, Thornapple Valley, dividing Grand Rapids East south of 28th Street and east of the East Beltline, was established in 1980.
This overview explains why old, established, central city churches such as LaGrave Ave., Grandville Ave., and Bethel are part of a classis stretching as far south as Wayland and why neighboring churches such as Seymour and Alger Park are in different classes. At the end of this paper, I will suggest a restructuring of the Grand Rapids area classes.
Preface
The Christian Reformed Church celebrated its centennial in 1957, just in time to enter the turbulent 1960s. In 1961, several Protestant Reformed congregations (separated from the CRC after 1924 and separated by their own schism in 1953) returned to our denomination. In the same decade, several churches relocated to the suburbs, a few failed, and others began.
The decade was marked by the assassinations of a president, a civil rights leader, and a presidential hopeful; inner city riots borne of anger, frustration, and hatred; great controversy surrounding the Vietnam war; and a counterculture move ment driven by the baby boom.
This provides a partial backdrop for the story of the Christian Reformed churches of Grand Rapids from 1970 to the present.
Overview
As Table 1 illustrates, the number of Christian Reformed persons in the Grand Rapids area has increased slowly. From 1970 to 1975 we see an increase of 5%, a small decline between 1975 and 1980, a 3.5% increase from 1980 to 1985, and about a 2% in crease from 1985 to 1990. Overall growth for the two decades is roughly 10%.
However, this pattern is not consistent between classes. GR East declined from 1970 to 1980, then edged upward. GR North grew consistently through this period, helped by the success of Sunshine. GR South saw remarkable gains between 1970 and 1975, perhaps due to suburban migration. Since 1980, GR South has seen a very small decline.
Classis Grandville declined from 1970 to 1980, but has reversed that trend. Thornapple Valley is essentially the same size as when it formed in 1980. These last two classes are given for comparison, but are not covered by the present research.
Table 1
Classis |
1970 |
1975 |
1980 |
1985 |
1990 |
GR East |
16,922 |
15,843 |
9,561 |
9,927 |
9,966 |
GR North |
8,618 |
8,816 |
9,590 |
10,427 |
10,889 |
GR South |
6,825 |
10,430 |
9,936 |
9,805 |
9,862 |
Grandville |
14,112 |
13,744 |
13,561 |
13,933 |
9,762* |
Thornapple |
5,848 |
6,082 |
5,810 |
||
TOTAL |
46,477 |
48,833 |
48,463 |
50,174 |
46,289 |
- * Classis Georgetown (1988) not included.
- SOURCE: ANNUAL CRC YEARBOOKS
The focus area of this study is congregations of classes Grand Rapids East, North, and South within the limits of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Township. Three congregations (Brookside, Millbrook, and East Paris) are within the city limits but no longer part of Grand Rapids East. The first two will be examined here, while study of the East Paris congregation will be left for a future study.
Foundations
What is the church? Until we answer this question, we cannot evaluate the health of local congregations.
There are two common views of the church, the secular and the Christian. The secular view sees the church as a man-made social structure, perhaps one which modern man has outgrown. In one view the church is grouped with "third-sector human service organizations;" in another it is seen as a support system for those who can't make it on their own.
Scripture presents the church as the community of the redeemed, a people called out by God to do his work in the world. The Heidelberg Catechism describes the church in Q&A 54:
- What do you believe concerning "the holy catholic
church"?
- I believe that the Son of God through his Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith.
The church finds its foundation in Jesus Christ--first in the promise of a Redeemer; then in his life, death, and resurrection. While this gives the church a historical aspect, it does not make the church a human historical construction. The church, the very people of God, finds origin historically in the Word become flesh.
We must further distinguish between three aspects of the church: the kingdom of God at all times and in all places; the visible church manifested in individuals, con gregations, denominations, and parachurch ministries; and the local congregation. While each manifestation of the church is larger than the following one, the latter contain both believers and those who have not yet submitted themselves to God's will.
While membership in the kingdom (through baptism or profession of faith) is through the working of the Holy Spirit, our membership in the local church be comes a matter of personal choice once we are grown. That is, once we reach matu rity, we decide whether to remain allied with our current congregation or seek one which challenges and nourishes us in different ways. This has become more true over the decades as congregations have become increasingly diverse and society has grown more mobile.
Because of this, the local church becomes mostly a voluntary association, and no church, classis, or denomination is a closed system. A closed system is a scientific ideal in which all factors can be known and analyzed, a box which admits no input. Even a church which never transferred a member and grew or declined based on births and deaths would not be a closed system&emdash;God is always active among his people.
Transfers take place in great number. A large portion are due to relocation, some times across state lines, other times to a new neighborhood in the same metropoli tan area. Further, transfers take place not only within denominations, but between them as well. Added to this are evangelism (bringing in the unchurched) and rever sions (erasure, excommunication, lapse, or resignation).
From a church growth perspective, growth comes through birth and baptism, membership transfers, and evangelism. Decline comes through death, membership transfers, and reversions. Of these, only membership transfer is a two-way street.
It is perhaps impossible to measure the health of a church, for that would have to consider not only whether membership is growing, but also the spiritual vitality of the membership, the diversity of ministries present, and support for outside min istries. However, it may be possible to determine indicators of congregational health based on, among other things, membership statistics.
The specific focus of this paper is to examine congregational statistics for health indicators, covering Christian Reformed churches in Grand Rapids.
Methods
This research is based primarily on data provided in the annual yearbooks of the Christian Reformed Church. Additionally, a survey was sent to all congregations in the focus group.
Data in the yearbooks includes families, professing members, total members, baptisms, and professions of faith for all years covered. Additionally, data on deaths, evangelism, and membership transfers are published beginning in 1987. Additional data comes from the surveys.
Of the 38 churches surveyed, 18 forms were returned. Thirteen of these contained at least one year's worth of data; eleven had at least two year's information. Of churches providing data, four (Alger Park, Boston Square, Grace, and Seymour) covered over ten years. The overall average was seven years.
The survey asked whether congregations had been involved in Key '73, "I Found It," the John Guest evangelical crusade, and Coffee Break. It also asked whether they had an evangelism committee. Of churches reporting their involvement, 69% were involved in Key '73, 17% in "I Found It," 50% in the John Guest crusade, and 59% in Coffee Break. Most churches have an evangelism committee; only 12% said they do not have an evangelism committee.
This indicates that our churches are concerned for evangelism, and are more likely to participate in denominational programs (Key '73, Coffee Break), followed by local programs (John Guest), and show little interest in national ecumenical programs (I Found It).
Since data is so sketchy prior to 1987, finding a correlation between evangelism programs and church growth is unlikely. A follow-up survey might generate the required data. Based on the available data, ongoing trends of growth or decline over ride the effect of short term evangelism programs.
The only turnaround from decline to growth which coincides with an evangelism program was at East Leonard CRC which reversed a decline trend in 1973. Whether this was due to involvement in Key '73 or a change of pastor cannot be determined with the statistics at hand.
Evangelism
Of the congregations surveyed, evangelism statistics range from none to very good. Since 1987, Gold Ave. has grown 22% through evangelism, Oakdale Park 15%, and Neland Ave. 10%. The following congregations have also had significant growth (over 2% of the congregation) through evangelism since 1987: Alger Park, 24 mem bers (2.2%); Brookside, 37 (3.0%); Creston, 5 (2.2%); Grace, 22 (4.9%); Hillcrest, 7 (5.8%); Madison Square, 38 (7.2%); Shawnee Park, 19 (3.0%); Sherman St., 18 (5.0%); Sunshine, 161 (4.3%); Twelfth St., 12 (3.1%); and Westview, 22 (2.6%).
Of these congregations, Alger and Brookside show mixed growth signs, and the rest are showing growth. Whether evangelism is the cause or effect of a healthy church, these statistics are encouraging.
In examining the components of growth or decline, we must determine where new members are coming from and where members are going to. On the growth side, 45.6% in the target area comes from CR transfers, 19.5% from other denominations, 27.0% through birth, and 7.9% via evangelism. Of the decline, not counting reversions, 58.9% transfer to other CR congregations, 25.0% transfer to other denominations, and 16.1% have died. This indicates a strong denominational loyalty among those transferring membership, with over 70% remaining Christian Reformed.
In the next chapter, we will examine the growth and decline patterns of the Grand Rapids congregations.
Go to index or go to chapter 2.
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Copyright ©1992, 1996-2000 by Dan Knight
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