A Faith Family on Alger Street Since 1939
Seymour Christian Reformed Church has gathered on Alger Street in southeast Grand Rapids since 1939. Set in the Alger Heights neighborhood, the congregation describes itself as an intergenerational faith family where five generations come together each Sunday. The church is affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church in North America and traces its identity to that Reformed, Trinitarian heritage while serving as a neighborhood hub for worship, education, and outreach.
Five generations in the same room is unusual, and the church leans into it. Worship, programs, and outreach are built around the idea that people of every age have something to bring and something to receive.
Sunday Mornings at 9:30
Worship is the heart of the week. Services begin at 9:30 AM and last about seventy-five minutes. The musical and liturgical style is a deliberate blend: organ and a contemporary band, hymns and newer songs, liturgical elements from the Reformed tradition alongside fresh expressions of praise. The worship page describes the goal as worship that is spirit-inspired, participatory, accessible, reverent, inclusive of every age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status, always changing while remaining faithful to the church's historical Reformed tradition.
After the service, there is a short time of fellowship with coffee, tea, and cookies, followed by Sunday school and other programs that usually run until about 11:50 AM. A welcome desk in the lobby is staffed for visitors who want to learn more. The last Sunday of every month is Family Worship Sunday, when the whole congregation stays in the sanctuary together for the full service.
Children in the Sanctuary and Downstairs
Children are part of the Sunday gathering from their first visit. A newly remodeled nursery on the lower level cares for infants and toddlers through age two. Little Lambs, also downstairs, is set up for two- and three-year-olds who are not quite ready to sit through the whole service. Children in preschool through fifth grade begin in the sanctuary with their parents and are then invited downstairs for Seymour Kids Worship.
On Family Worship Sundays, Seymour Kids Worship is dismissed so the whole church stays together. Childcare for nursery through first grade is still available on those days.
Midweek Ministries on Wednesday Evenings
Beginning each September and running every other Wednesday through April, the church fills with children and adults for Midweek Ministries from 6:15 to 7:45 PM. Three programs run side by side for kids:
- Kingdom Kids for preschoolers and kindergartners, meeting in the Little Lambs room downstairs, with Bible stories, crafts, songs, and games.
- GEMS for girls in first through eighth grade, opening with praise and worship in the sanctuary and then splitting into small groups by age for badge work, Bible lessons, crafts, and service projects. GEMS is open to the community.
- Cadets for boys in first through eighth grade, with Bible lessons, projects, games, service opportunities, a camping trip for older boys, and a day in the woods for younger ones. Seymour Cadets is also open to the community.
Adults gather at the same time for the ALPHA film series, and the Midweek Prayer Group meets in the Fellowship Room at 5:30 PM on those Wednesdays to pray for the congregation.
Music and Play on Tuesdays
Tuesday mornings from 9:15 to 10:45 AM are for the church's littlest neighbors. Music and Play is a weekly gathering of music and playtime for young children and their caregivers, a relaxed, intergenerational doorway into the life of the church.
Take Two: Hygiene on Take Two-sday
Take Two is Seymour's hygiene pantry, and it has earned its own nickname: the second Tuesday of each month is "Take Two-sday." From 4:00 to 6:00 PM the pantry is open to anyone in the community who can use soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, and similar basics. The pantry is hosted in partnership with Take Two.
Small Groups and Delta Groups
Small groups are described by the church as "where we are truly the church." Groups meet bi-weekly or monthly, in homes, at the church, or in coffee shops, and they gather around a stage of life, an interest, or a more open-ended shape. The path to joining is straightforward: fill out the interest form, receive a suggested group, and try it out.
Delta Groups are a special expression of the same impulse. During Lent, the church forms groups of three who commit to reading the Bible daily, praying daily, and meeting weekly for sharing and prayer. The Greek letter delta evokes both the triangle of three members and the Trinity, and in math it stands for change. The hope is that the season changes hearts.
Youth Ministry: Sunday School and Youth Group Nights
After Sunday worship, students in sixth grade meet in the main level of the youth house for Sunday school from 10:45 to 11:45 AM. Seventh and eighth graders and high schoolers meet on the upper level. Sunday evenings add another layer: middle school youth group nights run from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on the third Sunday of the month, and high school youth group nights run on the second and fourth Sundays.
The youth ministry frames itself around three commitments: sharing life together, life-giving relationships, and having fun together. Students are matched with mentoring adults as well as peer groups. The high school Sunday school and youth group schedules follow a published curriculum.
Adult Ministries: Bible, Breakfast, and Lunch
Several recurring rhythms shape adult life at Seymour:
- The Women's Fellowship Bible Study meets bi-weekly on Wednesdays from 9:30 to 11:00 AM.
- The Men's Breakfast Bible Study meets bi-weekly on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 AM around coffee and bagels.
- ROMEOs (Retired Older Men Eating Out) meets monthly for lunch at an area restaurant and welcomes friends from outside the church.
- The Ladies Prayer Group meets bi-weekly before Midweek Ministries to pray for the church and personal needs.
- Pacesetters is the church's senior fellowship, with coffee and donuts, breakfasts at local restaurants, card-making, and quarterly gatherings with friends from Raybrook.
Two small groups are currently available for young adults, and the Young Adults ministry offers connection for college-age participants.
Care Ministries and Visitation
Pastoral care is woven into the congregation's life. A Director of Visitation and Hospitality, along with a Visitation Team, regularly visits homebound members who cannot easily come to worship or communion. Anyone can call the church office to set up a conversation with a pastor. The Midweek Prayer Group meets in the Fellowship Room at 5:30 PM on Midweek Wednesdays.
A Shepherd Board, organized into seven zones with paired elders and deacons, watches over the congregation by neighborhood cluster, ensuring that members in every part of the church's reach are known and cared for.
Team Spark and Wings of Hope
Two monthly gatherings serve neighbors beyond the congregation. Team Spark, a Parkinson's support group open to the public, meets on the second Sunday of each month from 3:00 to 5:00 PM. Wings of Hope is a Widow's Group that meets on the second Monday from 12:00 to 2:00 PM for lunch, fellowship, and support; widows from across the Grand Rapids area are welcome.
Returning Citizen Reentry
The Returning Citizen Reentry ministry partners with Celebration Fellowship CRC to walk alongside people returning from incarceration. The church's chaplain for prison and returning citizens, Larry Van Zee, helps people reenter family, church, and community life. He joined Seymour's staff in 2009 after serving with the Peace Corps and with Resonate Global Missions as a church and community developer for thirty-two years.
Leadership and Staff
Seymour is led by Pastor Brian White (Worship and Administration) and Pastor Shawn May (Youth Ministry and Congregational Life). Brian holds an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary and came to Seymour in 2017 from churches in Oklahoma, New Jersey, Japan, and California. Shawn also arrived in 2017, after youth ministry in Central Michigan, a church plant in Midland, and work with at-risk adolescents in Saginaw. Together they shepherd a staff that includes Lori Schreur as Director of Visitation and Hospitality, Abby Enos as Director of Children's Ministry, Wendy Zwiers as Director of Music, and Larry Van Zee as Chaplain of Prison and Returning Citizens Ministries.
A council of elders and deacons, along with a chair, clerk, treasurer, and other officers, provides governance under the church's Reformed polity.
A Church Built for the Long Haul
From a Tuesday morning sing-along with toddlers to a Saturday wedding rehearsal, from a Wednesday night Cadets meeting to a Sunday sermon in the All Things New series, Seymour's calendar is built around the conviction that intergenerational life together is itself a gift worth tending. The church's current sermon series reflects a season of prayer and discernment about how God is renewing Seymour as a congregation, while its long history on Alger Street keeps it rooted in the same Alger Heights neighborhood it has served for more than eighty years.