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Fourth Reformed Church

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Fourth Reformed was organized in 1875 as a daughter church of Second. In 1882, Rev. Lammert J. Hulst led a majority of the congregation (154 of 177 families, 676 of 778 members) out of the RCA and into the Christian Reformed Church. This was the origin of Coldbrook (now Beckwith Hills) CRC.

Locations

1140 Ionia NW (near Walbridge), 1875-81
Coldbrook between Ottawa and Ionia NW, 1881-88
1031 Ionia NW, 1888-1955
Ladies Literary Club, 61 Sheldon Ave. SE, 1955-56
1226 Union Ave. NE, 1955-present

Pastors

Lammert J. Hulst, 1876-81, led 87% of congregation into CRC
Peter De Pree, 1882-91
Peter A. Bouma, 1892-94
John W. Waarnshuis, 1895-1900
Jacob Van Houte, 1900-03
Cornelius Kuyper, 1904-11
Gerrit Bosch, 1912-15
Harke Frieling, 1915-19
Cornelius Muller, 1920-28
James D. Ellerbroek, 1929-41
William A. Swets, 1942-49
Henry P. Kik, 1949-58
Russell E. Horton, 1959-68
Arvin H. Wester, 1969-73
Jerome W. Batts, 1974-77
Arthur C. Johnson, associate, 1976-77
Peter J. Breen, 1979-84
Kenneth W. Kuiper, 1984-??
Terry Thole, 1991-present

Seventh, 1890, released from RCA 1995
Bethel, 1906
Plainfield, 1913-23

Membership

Heavy lines: green (lower) shows membership in families; blue (middle), professing members; red (top), total members. Thin lines: magenta (middle), non-professing members; orange (lower), inactive members; black (top), average worship attendance.

Red line (middle) shows nonprofessing members as a percentage of total membership (inactive members exluded); green (lower), inactive members as percentage of total membership; and blue (higher) average worship attendance 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.

Source: Acts of Synod of the Reformed Church in America. Dates are year prior to publication date since data is gathered at the end of one year and published in the next.

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