In the 1970s the city of Hudsonville, Michigan was experiencing a population growth that also was reflected in the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church. Hudsonville PRC outgrew its little white building on the southeast corner of VanBuren and School Street, and decided to relocate to a brand new facility on a hill less than a mile away on 32nd Avenue.

In the next few years the congregation experienced more steady growth in membership, so a decision was made to establish a daughter congregation in Byron Center, Michigan in order to help alleviate overcrowd­ing in the “new” church building. In 1994 the pews were again full, and Georgetown PRC became the next daughter of Hudsonville. Only 5 years later the “prob­lem” of overcrowding once again prompted the forma­tion of a committee appointed by the Council to investi­gate yet another daughter congregation in the Hudsonville area.

In February of 2001, 33 families and 18 individuals from the Hudsonville congregation met in the gym of Heritage Christian School, along with a few families from other area PR congregations. By May the group had grown to 41 families. The name Trinity Protestant Reformed Church was chosen and approval was grant­ed to organize by Classis East. Interestingly, some of the other names in the running were Zion, Calvary, and Providence, all of which are now names of PR churches that have come into existence after Trinity’s formation.

The group continued to meet on Sunday for worship in the mornings at Heritage School and in the after­noons at Hudsonville Reformed Church. The Hudsonville Reformed Church was looking for a group to pur­chase its building after a new facility was completed for its worship services. The building they wished to sell was located on the northwest corner of VanBuren and School streets—the opposite corner from which Hudsonville PRC had moved only a few years earlier!

June 18, 2001, our congregation was organized with Hudsonville’s Pastor B. Gritters leading the ser­vice. Two months later, on September 12, a combined prayer service was held midweek with Hudsonville and Georgetown PRCs after terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center. It was comforting to gather amid all of the chaos and uncertainty with the mother church and an elder sister congregation to pray to God and sing praises to the One who governs and controls all things.

Later that month our newly formed congregation voted to purchase the Reformed Church building. This was possible because of the generosity of Hudsonville PRC in the form of large financial gift to Trinity as we began as a new congregation. The sanctuary seemed huge. The balcony and back three rows of pews on the main floor were blocked so everyone had to sit together “up front.”

Candidate Rodney Kleyn accepted our call to be our pastor in October of 2002. After labor among the saints of Trinity for seven years, Rev. Kleyn moved to Spokane, WA. Candidate Nathan Decker was the next to become our pastor and lead us in the green pastures of God’s Word. By this time the growth spurt had struck Trinity. The back rows were opened, the balcony was filled to capacity and a monitor was set up in the basement. By 2017 the time had come to expand the facilities. During the summer of 2018 construction was in full swing on a new sanctuary. Because the location of the air ex­change units necessitated removal for construction, we were left with no way to cool the building. Hudsonville PRC graciously allowed us on hot and humid Sundays to worship in her sanctuary in the afternoon between her services. A mother never forgets her daughter!

After completion of the construction in September of 2018, the whole congregation was again able to assem­ble in worship in the new sanctuary. After many years of worshiping in different areas of the building, sepa­rated by walls and distance, it was a joyous occasion to worship physically together again! Our new addition included not only a new sanctuary and new bathrooms, but also a much larger narthex area in which members could fellowship after the services.

After Rev. Decker took a call to serve in Grandville PRC, we were overjoyed to have Rev. Bill Langerak “come over and help us” as our next pastor in 2019.

Our congregation is active in Bible study societies, catechism instruction of the youth, and evangelism. In 2019, we were privileged, on behalf of the PRC seminary, to host the Dordt 400 conference in our new sanctuary. Synod 2020 plans (D.V.) to meet at Trinity.

Trinity has enjoyed peace and growth under the faithful preaching our pastors have brought Sunday to Sunday. We have also experienced the blessings of affil­iation with the Protestant Reformed denomination. She did not hesitate to provide pulpit supply in our vacan­cies. Joined together as a denomination, we can send out missionaries to spread God’s Word and train men in the seminary to proclaim that Word in the local congre­gation. Our prayer as a congregation is that God finds us faithful to His calling to preach the Word until the return of Christ Jesus.