Corry van der Ende
I was born in Holland in 1948, the eighth child of nine. I have five brothers and three sisters. Ours was a traditional Dutch family with dad working to earn a living and my mother busy in the home caring for the children. Each lunch and dinner was preceded by…
Carol Vanderstoep
We need to be brave with our stories so other people can be brave with theirs. Catherine Center My deep belief is that stories are sacred and have the power to cultivate empathy and justice. Brene Brown I grew up in the Christian Reformed Church, went to Christian elementary and…
Mary Vogelzang
I have a pretty deep connection to the Christian Reformed Church. Both my parents were long-time members; my father was a CRC minister and missionary. Because of this, I moved every seven or eight years, and lived in Chicago; Sheldon, Iowa; Bellevue, Washington; and Newton, Iowa. I am the youngest…
Lyle Clark and Fred Heerema
When Lyle Clark fell in love with a member of the Christian Reformed Church, he was introduced to a way of integrating his faith into his daily life that, as a Christian raised in the Roman Catholic Church, he hadn’t experienced before. And, as a classically trained musician who had…
Child of the CRC
When I was sixteen, I knew who I was. I had been baptized as an infant into the Christian Reformed Church, a sign of God saying “you are mine,” to which I responded with “I am yours” in my profession of faith 16 years later. I had run around the…
Steph Busuttil
My name is Steph. I was raised in the CRC. I am queer, non-binary and I believe in God. These are just parts of what make me wholly and authentically who I am. This is my story. I was a couple months old when my parents adorned me in a…
Terra Hampton
My faith journey has been complicated. As a child I was required to attend a Methodist church, and I did not enjoy going. I fought it even more after I experienced sexual abuse starting in the sixth grade. I became angry with God about why He would let this happen…
Robin Hampton
I attended Sunshine CRC in Grand Rapids from the age of four until I was nineteen. My parents were heavily involved in different ministries, so naturally my sister and I were as well. As a middle schooler and young adult, I spent almost all of my free time at church:…
Sandi Morrison
I was not familiar with the Christian Reformed Church until middle school when I moved to Gallup, New Mexico. Before that, our family had been with a non-denominational mission organization in Ethiopia and other countries in Africa, and I had attended non-denominational churches. When we landed in Gallup, I started…
Brian Zonder
Brian Zonder is a pseudonym Born and bred in the Christian Reformed Church, Brian ticks all the boxes: baptised as an infant, participated in weekly worship, educated in Christian day schools, joined cadets as a boy, attended youth group as a teen, professed his faith as a young adult, and…