Notes on the Religious History of Holland, continued ...

4. Some Separatists under Dominie R. Smit of Drenthe united with the Associate Presbyterian Church. Van Raalte and the Holland Classis united with the old Dutch Reformed Churches in New York and New Jersey in 1850.

5. In 1857, other Separatists established what today is called the Christian Reformed Church. Four congregations and one minister went into the new organization.

6. English speaking congregations and/or other denominations came to Holland. The Methodist Church was organized in 1861, Hope Reformed Church in 1862, and the Episcopal Church in 1867. A Methodist elder by the name of Clapper conducted revivals in the area, of which even Van Raalte approved. The Methodists under Isaac Fairbanks and others may have initiated the temperance movement in Holland, Michigan. The Women's Christian Temperance Union was organized in 1877.

7. Other congregations were organized in town. The Central Avenue Christian Reformed was organized in 1865, Third Reformed and Ebenezer Reformed in 1867, the Lutheran Church in 1888, and the Roman Catholic Church by the end of the 19th century. The Dutch Reformed people were especially anti-Roman Catholic in their feelings as were other Protestant denominations, but the Nativist attitudes in the earlier part of the 19th century in America affected all denominations.

8. The Dutch Reformed Churches were torn by great dissension in 1879 when an ex-Mason came to town and preached against secret societies. The congregation of First Reformed Church (the Pillar Church people) seceded from the Reformed Church in America in 1882 and joined the Christian Reformed Church in 1884. The remnant of First Reformed Church regrouped and built its new sanctuary at Ninth and Central which later became the Salvation Army building.

9. The First Baptist Church was organized (Immanuel Baptist) in 1929. The Presbyterians organized about 1960 by a dissident Methodist group; Christian Science Society was here in the mid-20th century on 11th Street for a time. The Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses came to town. The Berean and the Protestant Reformed Churches are splits from the RCA and the CRC. The Church of Christ located on Hoover Boulevard.

10. The impact of the Reformed community can be seen that in within the general parameters of the original De Kolonie there are 73 CRC and RCA congregations and ministries today.

11. Much religious dissension came to the Holland community through the Reformed congregations of Afscheidenen origin.

12. All Baptist churches in the Holland area seem to be of the Fundamentalist variety. There is yet no American Baptist Church.

13. Due to the strong religious flavor of the town and the stress given to orthodoxy, no Unitarian or Universalist congregations have been established.

14. Thus far, the few Jewish families in town go to Grand Rapids to attend synagogue.

15. The first Pentecostal church in town is the Assemblies of God congregation on the east side of town. Many Hispanic Pentecostal churches have been established and they tend to be storefront churches. Faith Temple, now on the south side of town, is Pentecostal and charismatic.

16. I do not know the date of the coming of Wesleyan churches to the area. Central Wesleyan has in the past dozen years become a major presence.

17. No African-American congregations have yet been established. Most Asian immigrants have gone to CRC churches because that church has sponsored many of the Asian people in town.

Source: The Holland Museum