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Historical Profile: Common Ground Community Church

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Common Ground Community was organized as Calvary Reformed Church in 1915 as a daughter church of Third and Bethany. The church experienced incredible growth under Martin De Haan, who was deposed in 1929 and went on to found Calvary Undenominational Church.

The church went through a "restart" in 2000 and adopted the name Common Ground Community Church. The "new" church began to worship in the Forest Hills Northern high school auditorium on Sept. 24, 2000 and moved to the original Calvary location on Sept. 16, 2001.

Names

Calvary Reformed Church, 1915-2000

Common Ground Community Church, 2000-present

Location

1515 East Fulton

Forest Hills Northern high school (2000-2001)

Visit the Common Ground Community Church website.

Pastors

Clarence P. Dame, 1916-18
Andrew Stegenga, 1918-19
Miner Stegenga, 1919-24
Martin R. De Haan, 1925-29, founder of Calvary Undenominational Church
Jacob Prins, 1929-34
Harry L. Brower, 1935-41
Jerry A. Veldman, 1943-48
George C. Douma, 1949-57
Donald K. Blackie, 1958-66
Peter J. Breen, 1967-79
James G. De Witt, 1979-present
Tom Archer, 1996-present

Membership

Rev. Martin R. De Haan was deposed in 1929. Over eighty percent of the congregation followed him to found Calvary Undenominational Church.

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.

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.

For more membership data, click here.

Go to RCA geographic index or RCA chronological index.

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