Staff from several Christian Reformed Church ministries and denominational support offices moved into the new Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Ministry Support Center at 300 East Beltline SE between Jan. 2 and 6. The site hosted a meeting of church planters from Resonate Global Mission’s Great Lakes Region on Jan. 8.
Resonate, ReFrame Ministries, and Thrive all have staff in the building along with staff from the Office of General Secretary; the U.S. ministry offices, which include the centralized services that support the agencies; and the U.S. Loan Fund. Canadian ministry and agency staff work out of the Canadian ministry office at 3475 Mainway, Burlington, Ont.
The CRC purchased the new Grand Rapids site from Cornerstone University last May after putting up for sale its 70-year-old building at 1700 28th St. Because of changes in ministry and more regional and remote staff, that facility was deemed too large and no longer suitable for the denomination’s needs. After a little over a year on the market, it sold Oct. 7 to the grocery chain Meijer. In anticipation of the sale, staff hosted an open house at the former ministry location July 15.
After closing the 28th Street building, ministry staff worked out of temporary office space rented from the Reformed Church in America until renovations were completed at 300 East Beltline SE.
The original vision of the new space called for a design that "wouldn’t be showy or extravagant,” in keeping with the character of the denomination. "The 'bones' of the new building were good, but the renovation required classrooms to be replaced with private offices and open workspaces," said Dean Heetderks, co-director of Ministry Support Services for the CRCNA, who served on the team involved with the sale of the old building and the purchase and renovation of the new. "Overall, the goal of the new workspace was to allow for more cross-ministry interaction and collaboration in a lighter, brighter, more modern environment."
Staff were welcomed back to work in the new building Jan. 2.
The church planters’ gathering Jan. 8 was part of the group’s five-times-a-year meeting schedule. Ruth Hiemstra, senior administrative assistant for USA Great Lakes, said, “We had a good meeting today with breakfast, share and prayer time, and Albert Strydhorst presented about Timothy Leadership Training resources.” Several of the Great Lakes region church planters are diaspora leaders from different countries. TLT, with which Strydhorst has worked since 2014, is one of three training-focused ministries recently amalgamated with Resonate. It has mission-equipping materials in 35 languages.
Hiemstra said about 18 church planters attended along with some members of the Great Lakes region ministry team. Over the past few years they’ve hosted these meetings at Monroe Community Church in Grand Rapids. The Jan. 8 gathering allowed them also to tour the new denominational facility.
Shirley De Vries, chief administrative officer for the CRCNA, was excited to see this first group host a meeting so soon after move-in day. “I couldn't resist taking a picture,” De Vries said. “This has been a significant project, and seeing it used by these church planters feels like a milestone worth noting.” In general the site is not expected to host a lot of meetings.
“We intentionally do not have large conference rooms because they don't get used frequently,” De Vries said. “Instead we designed the staff lunch room to be able to be used. It has a door that can be closed. We also have a large area when you first come into the front door that is not a closed room but could be used for receptions and larger gatherings.”
De Vries said ministries that need larger meeting spaces have been making use of rooms at Calvin Theological Seminary and Calvin University, a 3-minute drive from the 300 East Beltline location. “We have been operating this way since we moved out of 1700 in July, and it has worked well.”
Staff do expect to have a public opening of the building, but that hasn’t been scheduled yet.