Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.

Congregational Activities

What better place for us to begin this installment of the “News” than with a report of-the organizational meeting of our churches’ 26th congregation – the congregation of our Georgetown PRC, presently meeting in Bauer, MI. Organization took place on the evening of March 2 in the auditorium of the Hudsonville, MI PRC, the church chosen by Classis East to oversee this organization.

Rev. G. VanBaren; Hudsonville’s pastor, chose for his text that evening the passage found in Isaiah 43:21, “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.” And he entitled his sermon, based on that text, “A People Formed for Himself.” The underlying theme in that message was that this newly organized church, like the church of all ages, is formed by God to show His praise. It is a church formed solely for that purpose. After this brief message, the actual organization took place. The ‘charter members of GeorgetownPRCconsistedof28families and one individual from the Hudsonville, MI PRC, two families each from Grandville and Faith, one from Southeast, and finally one newly married couple from the Third Christian Reformed Church in Zeeland, MI, and the Calvin CRC of Holland, MI – for a total membership of 145 souls.

The meeting continued with the election of three elders and two deacons, their signing the Formula of Subscription, and their installation into office. The evening concluded with a closing doxology and benediction, followed by refreshments in Hudsonville’s Fellowship Hall.

What a blessing to have an opportunity to exchange greetings with friends and families gathered to witness this historical event.

For your information, we also include here the name, address, and phone number of Georgetown’s bulletin secretary. She is Tammy Bouma, 5486 36th Street, Hudsonville, MI 49426, (616)-669-2262.

When one of our congregations in Classis West volunteers to host a meeting of Classis, they make the most of that opportunity. The congregation of Hope PRC in Redlands, CA hosted last month’s Classis meeting, but they sandwiched that event between other activities. Because some ministers in the Classis had to be in Redlands over a weekend, Hope invited three different ministers to preach for them. On Sunday, February27, Rev. R. Moore, from our church in Hull, IA and Rev. M. DeVries from our church in Edgerton, MN preached for them. The next Sunday Rev. R. Dykstra, from Doon, IA preached both services. While in Redlands Rev. Dykstra also gave a slide presentation of his recent trip to Ghana on behalf of our Foreign Mission Committee. And on Thursday, the day after Classis, Rev. Dykstra was the guest speaker at a special Hope Christian School chapel.

On the day before Classis met, Redlands Church also hosted an officebearers conference on the subject” Catechism Teaching.” They also planned an evening of different sporting activities and fellowship at their church and school.

In an attempt to make the catechism collection a more significant part of the catechism classes, ,the consistory of the Faith PRC in Jenison, MI decided to designate the collections for a worthwhile cause. So, for the rest of this year’s catechism season, these collections at Faith will be for Faith Christian School in Randolph, WI.

The Council of the Byron Center, MI PRC has once again made Bible reading schedules available to their congregation. These schedules were intended to encourage Byron’s members systematically to read through the whole of the Scriptures, and to promote the private reading of the Scriptures.

Evangelism Activities

In late January there was an organizational meeting of a Church Extension Committee of our Loveland, CO PRC.

At their January meeting, the Council of the South Holland, IL PRC received a request from a Bible study group in Florence, Kentucky to have a visit from their pastor and another council member in order to preach for them and investigate the possibility of a Reformed work in that area. South Holland’s Evangelism Committee has had contact with one of the men from this Bible study group for over two years, and this man, along with another, also visited South Holland’s services in August of ’92. The Council decided to send their pastor and a council member sometime in the spring of this year.

Young People’s Activities

In early February, the Young People’s Societies in the West Michigan area were invited to attend a Mass Meeting held at the Hope PRC in Walker, MI. Rev. J. Slopsema, Hope’s pastor, spoke on the theme, “The Problem of Sexual Immorality.”

The Young People’s Federation Board just recently completed their annual apple pie fund-raiser. Members from each society in the Grand Rapids, MI area were asked to call members of their church to obtain orders. The young people got together on Saturday, March 5, at Heritage Christian School in Hudsonville, MI, to make pies to fill those orders. Between 7:30 a.m. and noon, these young people turned out 1,300 apple pies. After expenses were met, the profits were designated for this year’s convention in Lynden, WA, the first week in August.

Minister Activities

Rev. G. VanBaren, presently pastor of the Hudsonville, MI PRC, has received the call to serve as Loveland, CO PRC’s next pastor.