A Church Built for the University
Ann Arbor Community Reformed Church sits on Broadway Street, a block south of the University of Michigan's North Campus, in a part of town shaped by graduate students, international scholars, and young families. The congregation was organized in 1955 with the explicit intention of being a witness to the university community, and the original property was purchased because of its proximity to campus. That decision still defines the church today.
From the beginning, the congregation has been international and ecumenical in character. Many members came to Ann Arbor through the university, stayed, and brought their backgrounds with them. Others moved on to work across the country and around the world, leaving behind a network of relationships the church continues to draw on. The result is a community that reads less like a neighborhood parish and more like a crossroads.
The sanctuary and a few classrooms were built in 1962, with expansions in 1967 and 1992. In 1990 the church hosted a Christian school on its property; the school eventually moved off site, and the modulars were absorbed back into the building program. A two-story education wing, finished in 2015, replaced aging classrooms and now anchors the church's robust Sunday morning programming for children, youth, and adults.
Worship on Sunday Morning at 10:30
One service gathers the congregation each week at 10:30 a.m. The hour is intentionally set so that an earlier 9:15 faith formation block can feed into it. The order is rooted in the Reformed tradition and refresh in tone: the team calls it "vibrant and rooted, genuinely fresh and deeply Reformed."
Three things sit at the center of the service. First, the preaching of the Word: scripture is treated as pointing to Jesus, and Jesus is treated as the center of all God is doing. Second, the Lord's Supper is celebrated every Sunday, a practice the church traces to John Calvin's conviction that Scripture and Sacrament hold forth the same Lord. Third, the music is deliberately varied. Each person, the staff says, has a musical "heart language," and the service tries to honor both the classic organ-led hymns that longtime members love and the contemporary worship-team songs that newer attenders bring. Members lead music through a choir that rehearses Wednesday evenings and sings every other Sunday, under the direction of Paul Herrema.
Children belong in the sanctuary. After a children's message, three- to five-year-olds are shepherded to a Children's Worship program, while nursery care is offered throughout the service for infants and toddlers. Older children head to age-specific programming before worship rather than during it. Visitors often wonder about dress, and the church's answer is simple: wear what feels right. People arrive in shorts and in suits, and no one is asked to dress one way or another.
For those who cannot attend in person, services are livestreamed on YouTube, and recordings remain available on the church's YouTube channel.
Justice Because of Jesus
Mission and justice work are described as central to the congregation's life together. The Social Justice Team organizes the church around five areas: racial justice and reconciliation, creation care, criminal justice reform, hunger and poverty, and immigration reform. The team frames this work theologically rather than politically: "we pursue justice because of Jesus Christ."
Two projects are run directly by the church. The Rotating Shelter, a program of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, is hosted by AACRC for two consecutive weeks each year. Volunteers provide an overnight place to sleep, warm meals, snacks, and conversation for men experiencing homelessness during cold months. The Food & Faith Garden is planted on church property; volunteers build, plant, and tend the plots, and the harvest is donated to Food Gatherers, the food bank and food rescue program serving Washtenaw County.
Beyond its own projects, the church partners with a wide network of local and global ministries. Members serve Hope Clinic on the fourth Saturday of every month, preparing more than a hundred meals for neighbors in need. They volunteer with Friends in Deed, an interfaith organization responding to unmet needs in Washtenaw County. They participate in Habitat for Humanity's annual House of Faith build days. Closer to Detroit, AACRC supports Cohort Detroit, which walks with young leaders in the city; Hesed Community Church, a joint Reformed Church in America and Christian Reformed Church plant; the Community Assistance Program in the Nardin Park neighborhood; and Detroit's Afro-American Mission (DAAM) in the city's North End.
The church also walks alongside missionaries Jeff and Julie Bouman, who serve with Kalunba, a refugee-serving organization in Budapest, and Jim and Ruth Padilla DeBorst, who live at Casa Adobe, an intentional community in Costa Rica. Closer to home, the Friendship Ministry pairs students and adults with special needs for singing, Bible instruction, prayer, and fellowship twice a month on church grounds.
Children and Youth
The church is openly intergenerational, and its children and youth programming reflects that. Before worship on Sunday mornings, the 9:15 faith formation hour gathers age-specific groups across the building.
For children birth through fifth grade, Kid Connection meets from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. The format blends story and hearing, a large group gathering for singing, and small-group response activities. On the first and third Wednesdays of the month, second through fifth graders return for a midweek program from 6:15 to 8:00 p.m., built around a family pizza dinner at 5:45 p.m. The night weaves prayer, crafts, activities, service opportunities, outings, and fellowship into a single evening. Nursery care for infants and toddlers runs during the 10:30 worship service, and Children's Worship welcomes three- to five-year-olds after the children's message.
Middle schoolers, called ROOTS, meet for faith formation on Sunday mornings and then gather again on the first and third Wednesdays alongside the second-through-fifth program. High schoolers, called REACH, follow the same Sunday rhythm and add a calendar of social activities, service projects, and trips throughout the year. Generation Spark connects youth with older mentors across the congregation. Sophia Knappe coordinates the ministry and serves as the main point of contact for both children and youth.
Faith and Life for Adults
Adult formation happens in two shapes at AACRC. During the 9:15 Sunday hour, House Groups (small groups for members and visitors) and the occasional Big House Sunday (a large-group gathering on a single topic) take place in classrooms around the sanctuary. Outside of Sunday mornings, the church runs a wide range of small groups that meet around tables and food.
Women's small groups meet on Monday evenings, Tuesday mornings, and twice on Wednesdays, reading books chosen to deepen their spiritual journeys. A men's Bible Study meets Wednesday mornings year-round at either 6:30 or 8:00 a.m., with coffee, bagels, and cream cheese on the side and no registration required. Gray Matters, the church's seniors ministry, gathers monthly for education, fellowship, and refreshments, with guest speakers invited to share their stories and expertise. Young professionals, graduate students, and other young adults are invited to the TABLE, a community built around food, games, and events. College students and newcomers to Ann Arbor can also join Tuesday Night Dinners at the Lindquists' home, a weekly meal hosted by a rotating group of "moms." A Craft Group gathers in the fellowship hall on Thursdays for handwork and conversation. The Friendship Ministry completes the picture, providing one-on-one companionship for young people and adults with special needs.
An Independent Reformed Voice
The congregation is independent. It subscribes to the ecumenical creeds of the historic Christian faith and to the historic confessions of the Reformed tradition, but it is not formally tied to a single denomination. Twelve pastors have served the church since 1955. The current roster reflects the congregation's flat leadership: Rev. Mike Hoogeboom serves as Pastor of Mission and Discipleship, having joined in October 2022; Rachel Redder directs communication and community engagement; Sophia Knappe coordinates youth ministries; and Paul Herrema directs the choir.
The congregation summarizes its convictions around five commitments. Jesus is Lord and Savior, and through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, God is redeeming the world. Scripture is the church's story, a special revelation that tells of redemption, grace, and peace. Worship is the church's life, a weekly gathering around word and table that sends members back out renewed. Covenant, not preference, holds the community together, so members commit to learning one another's differences and facing new challenges together. Mission is the church's calling, a participation in God's healing and redemption of the world.
An Inclusion Statement, displayed on the About page, names what that calling looks like in practice. The congregation laments discrimination and prejudice, affirms that every human being is created in the image of God, and rejects discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. It commits to welcoming everyone who comes through its doors to follow Jesus, to work for justice and equality, and to reach across lines of difference with respect, grace, understanding, and love. The statement grounds itself in Genesis 1:26, Amos 5:24, Micah 6:8, Luke 4:18-19, Romans 8:28-31, Galatians 3:28-29 and 5:14, and 1 Peter 3:15.
Sharing in Mission
The church funds its work through tithes and gifts. Members can give through the My Well web platform or the My Well mobile app, both of which allow gifts to be divided by purpose, set up as recurring, and tracked over the year. Checks can also be mailed to the church office, and recurring donations can be set up through a bank's bill pay system. Contact information for the office sits on every page: 1717 Broadway, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, 734-665-0105, office@aacrc.org.
More than seventy years in, Ann Arbor Community Reformed Church remains what its founders intended: a Reformed Christian community at the edge of a major research university, gathering people from across the country and the world around scripture, the Lord's table, and a shared calling to justice and welcome.