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History of North Kent Presbyterian Church, Rockford Michigan
The Joy Presbyterian Church was a mission church sponsored by North Park Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, and under their sponsorship
and guidance, the congregation (Joy Presbyterian) which was to become North Kent Presbyterian Church first met in the old Belmont Town Hall
in March of 1958. Two elders, Edwin W. Mawby and Arthur Finch and their wives, gathered a small group of families and began meeting with
North Park’s prayers and financial assistance. Those first few families, bound together by ties of faith and fellowship, met every challenge with
complete confidence that “God’s will be done” in spreading his word into a new mission field in growing northern Kent County.
With the help of David Bos, a Princeton Theological Seminary student sent by the Presbytery to guide the group, the congregation soon grew to
require large quarters. In October of 1958, the old Sage School on M-44 was pressed into service as the first “home” of the North Kent
Presbyterian Church. The story goes that a skunk under the building interfered with at least one Sunday service. The Rev. Alex Ungvary
became part time pastor in the winter of 1959, leaving when he was asked to assume full time duties at Oakhill Presbyterian Church in Grand
Rapids in early 1960. Dr. Ralph Lindsay of Kalamazoo capably fulfilled as supply minister through the winter of 1960.
In April of 1960, Rev. Manson Lowe came to the church with the official designation of “organizing pastor.” The church that was to become North
Kent bought six acres, including the portion upon which the church now stands. Ground was broken that year, and the congregation built the shell
of a ranch house to the north of the present church, designed and built under the supervision of Mr. And Mrs. Cornelius Schans with the help of
church members. In June of that year, the first building on the property was completed. This building became the manse, but was originally built
with virtually no inside walls to accommodate up to one hundred worshippers in our first permanent home. Church services were held in
the unfinished and open first floor. Nursery was in the garage, Sunday School met in the basement rooms, and there was a kitchen at the back of the main room.
Officially, North Kent Presbyterian Church came into being on May 7, 1961. This was done by the Presbytery of Western Michigan of the
United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The Presbytery thought the name should reflect location, so Joy was
discarded and we became North Kent. It was a long period of gestation to reach this formal milestone. There were 125 charter members. The first
Session members were Howard Boehm, Truman Cowles, Arthur Drumm, Arthur Finch, Edwin Mawby, and John Venman.
Ground was broken for the first phase in 1963. The present Lowe chapel was begun. Truman Cowles, an architect and church member, designed
our present sanctuary. The church was built by the men and women of the church on nights and weekends. Some of the material was shipped
into Rockford by rail. John Venman, Art Drumm, Ray Roberts, Floyd Graham, Donald Kilts, and Gary Rollenhagen used Venman’s
landscaping trucks to haul it to the site. After the contractor finished putting up the exterior shell, church members including the youth, finished the interior work. The lighting fixtures (chandeliers) in the sanctuary was designed and built by Ray Roberts, the pulpit and baptismal font (plywood and covered with glued on white fish tank gravel) were designed and built by Art Drumm and Ray Roberts. The interior staining, including the ceiling, took several weeks.
The youth asked to have it named in honor of Pastor Lowe, and so it was. The chapel designation came because the thought was that a larger
sanctuary would be built to the south of the chapel. The last floor tiles had been installed in the wee hours of the morning by some of the men
just in time for the dedication. It was Dr. Lowe’s last Sunday, and the job “just had to be done.”; Three years after organizing, on Palm Sunday,
April 5, 1964, our church sanctuary was dedicated.
Exactly one year later, almost to the hour, on Palm Sunday, April 11, 1965, a tornado blew the roof off the building and knocked down the rear
wall. Hurriedly, the Youth Group and their sponsors, who had been meeting in the manse basement, gathered books, chairs, and other
equipment from the chapel and carried them to the “white house.” Services were held the following Sunday in “the house that was a
church.” It wasn’t as convenient as before, because the stud walls were delineating the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. But services went on.
The damage done by the storm was particularly distressing to the congregation because the church had just extended a call to the Rev. Jack
Luidens of Milwaukee, who would arrive with his family, wife Bess and daughters Sally and Priscilla, in June. Again, with exceptional effort on
behalf of all the members of the congregation, the damage was repaired and the manse completed, just under the wire, with linoleum and carpet
installed on the 23 rd and the moving van arriving on the 24 th . It’s hard to imagine what that original building was like. The sanctuary
windows extended down close to the ground. There was a serving window from the present furnace room into the sanctuary, since that
space was also the fellowship hall. The furnace room was also the kitchen, thus the serving window. The bathrooms were directly across the
hall from the furnace room, and the south wall was where the double doors into the Teeuwissen room are now. The north wall was extended
straight back from the sanctuary to the wall at the side of the stairs. The area where the stairs begin now contained a very small pastor’s office.
The stairs ran up the wall from the bathrooms to what was called the crying room, now a place our church teens like to claim.
The parking lot and the path over to the manse got very muddy at times. Sunday School and Nursery were held in the manse basement. Planks
were put down across to the manse to walk on. Our own plank path! The parking lot and the drive between the church and the manse were paved in 1968. Member and elder George Cowlishaw came into a Session meeting and announced, “Enough is enough!” His car was stuck in the mud. He made a motion to pave the lot and drive, and it passed, resulting in a paved lot and drive.
Sometime in here a lot was sold to our neighbor on the south. 1.5 acres to the north was sold. In September of 1971 Dr. Walter Teeuwissen came to serve us as Stated Supply and in February of 1974 accepted our call and was installed. During Dr. Teeuwissens tenure we saw many changes. Lacking Sunday School space, Pastor Teeuwissen and Ray Roberts looked at portable units to use. They couldn’t find a suitable model, so Session asked Ray to design one to fit the church needs. A blueprint was drawn and taken to Michigan Trailer. They sent the print to a trailer manufacturer and one was constructed, brought on site, and used for several years. It sat directly behind the original building with a connecting door through what used to be the back wall. Lowe chapel had acquired portable classrooms to provide space for the expanding Christian Education program, which
was still meeting in the basement of the manse.
As families continued to join the North Kent congregation, the pressure on the existing space became more severe, until it was decided to add a
permanent wing to the building. On April 4, 1976, the first permanent addition to the church building was dedicated. A fellowship room and
kitchen, classrooms, Pastor’s office, bathroom and secretary’s office were built. The fellowship room had a fireplace! The pass through
window was eliminated and the bathrooms updated. A new boiler was installed to heat the addition.
When Dr. Teeuwissen retired to become pastor Emeritus of North Kent, the congregation called Pastor Timothy Yoon in February of 1980.
Pastor Yoon brought his family from Kansas, and brought a deep personal commitment to the active sense of mission upon which the
church was founded.
The Rev. Wilbur R. Cloosterhouse, D.D. came to us an Interim Pastor in November of 1982 and served us well through November of 1983. At
that time the Rev. Kurt Stiansen answered our call and he, his wife Sharon and their daughter Kara moved into the completely redecorated
manse in time for Christmas. They came to us from the Schoolcraft Presbyterian Church. Rev. Stiansen’s joy in serving God and his children
was an inspiration to us all.
During Rev. Stiansen’s tenure, projects included a complete interior facelift of all church facilities from the carpet up, and the
initiation of two worship services on Sunday, which remained for about four years until the need of the church again changed. The adult Sunday
School program was outstanding. To attempt to reach out to more families, with emphasis on our youth needs, we tried holding youth
Sunday School at the same time as Worship. We tried this for about four years. Attendance did not grow as we had hoped and the Adult Sunday
School floundered. In 1999, they started having Sunday School meet at 9:30 am and worship following at 10:45 am, followed by a social hour.
During Kurt’s tenure, the deacons developed a Shepherding list in which the congregation’s names are divided for care. The strong music
program always present continued, and was a joy to all who hear it.
Another success was the, “Dinners for Eight”. Many means for mission developed including Pennies from Heaven, Adopt a Family at Christmas,
North Kent Service Center, raffles and fund raisers for needy individuals and our youth group and the Hunger Walk. A Boy Scout Troop was
founded and we became a meeting place for AA groups. We hosted a cub scout pack for three years until they outgrew us. They have since returned and meet on Thursdays.
An outstanding example of foreign mission is the Mwandi Hospital Mission in Africa. Rev. Stiansen and the church at this time created our care of the
community through a Mission Statement. The office, classrooms, and fellowship addition to the church worked until 1993, when the church family and community again felt the need for more space.
During this time, the Rev. Dr. Stiansen and his family moved out of the Manse into their own house. This and other needs of the church
precipitated the sale of the Manse with .52 acres, leaving us with 3.65 acres. With the sale of the Manse came the need for separate utilities and
hook ups for the church.
The office, classrooms, and fellowship addition to the church worked until 1995, when the church family and community again felt the need
for more space. Chaired by Art Spalding, co-chair Ray Roberts, a committee began working with a design company. The committee got
discouraged with what was being presented, and asked Ray to draw up plans and specs. He did so, and the committee liked them and ok’d them.
In Michigan, a license is required to do architectural work, so the committee hired an architect, passed Ray’s plans on to them, and they
were done officially.
Guidance and assistance was sought for and given to us by the Presbytery. A great deal of hard work, especially by elder Art Spalding
and Ray Roberts, led to drawings, architectural prints, scale models and lining up of pledges and funding for the project. The committee hired Marsman Construction Co. to start the new addition In April of 1999, to be overseen by Ray. The Pastor’s office was expanded, a conference room and classrooms were added. The fellowship
room was extended, removing the fireplace. The room we use for storage was added off the fellowship room. Bathrooms were moved and enlarged
with access off the fellowship room. The narthex was enlarged to its current size, also.
Rev. Dr. Stiansen requested retirement at a called congregational meeting on December 7 th, 1997, with an effective date of December 31 st, 1997. It was a sad goodbye after fourteen years of successful ministry together.
On March 4th, 1998, the Interim Pastor position was filled with an unanimous and enthusiastic recommendation for the Rev. Dwight
Hillstrom. We had a “Town Hall” meeting (Pot Luck) to get to know Dwight. He would begin service on March 31, 1998. Dwight and his
wife Edie had just retired in November of 1997 from the First Presbyterian Church of Alma, Michigan after serving there for 21 years.
Dwight had his home in Hudsonville.
Following Dwight’s interim time, the church for a short period of time called Benebo Fubara Manuel in 2000 to help lead the church. Since
Pastor Bene was from Africa, and was studying theology in Grand Rapids for a short period of time, this presented a lot of opportunities for
cross cultural education and exploration as well as friendships.
In the latter part of 2000, the Rev. Helen Collins was called to lead North Kent Presbyterian Church. Helen very much enjoyed good music
and sang soprano in the church choir. The Hand Bells were purchased while she was here. Helen was at North Kent for the great Pumpkin Patch
experiment in which the congregation turned much of the property into fields and grew pumpkins. The congregation worked with the boy scouts
to sell and to give out pumpkins to the community. Pastor Helen also tirelessly served the Presbytery of Lake Michigan on their Committee for
Preparation for Ministry. This committee shepherded many new candidates for ministry through their formation process. In the later part
of her ministry at NKPC, Rev. Helen struggled against cancer. There was a major disagreement in the congregation about if she should take
early retirement. Rev. Helen retired in 2014 and died from cancer on Palm Sunday 2019.
Following Rev. Helen Collins, the interim pastor, Rev. Paula Vander Hoven was called in 2014 to serve North Kent. She spent many
hours listening to the congregation and did a great deal of pastoral work healing and bringing people back together. Her time with North Kent
concluded the summer of 2016.
On July 1st, 2016, Rev. Karen Fitz La Barge was called to North Kent Presbyterian Church. The bell choir and the youth group were
restarted in 2016. Marketing became an early focus and a beautiful electronic sign was designed and installed in 2018. The congregation faced the 2020 Covid epidemic by switching to online services starting March 15th 2020 and finally moved back to in person worship in the Sanctuary on June 6th 2021. The congregation celebrated the return to in person worship by purchasing a brown Kawaii grand piano for the sanctuary. In September of 2023, Children's Sunday School was restarted again after it's closing due to the pandemic. A rotation model with Story, Music / Drama, Craft and Videos has been adopted for during the worship hour.
As a congregation, we are looking forward to a bright future powered by the Holy Spirit to share the love of Christ with our neighbors.
How will you be a part of this congregations history?
The Joy Presbyterian Church was a mission church sponsored by North Park Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, and under their sponsorship
and guidance, the congregation (Joy Presbyterian) which was to become North Kent Presbyterian Church first met in the old Belmont Town Hall
in March of 1958. Two elders, Edwin W. Mawby and Arthur Finch and their wives, gathered a small group of families and began meeting with
North Park’s prayers and financial assistance. Those first few families, bound together by ties of faith and fellowship, met every challenge with
complete confidence that “God’s will be done” in spreading his word into a new mission field in growing northern Kent County.
With the help of David Bos, a Princeton Theological Seminary student sent by the Presbytery to guide the group, the congregation soon grew to
require large quarters. In October of 1958, the old Sage School on M-44 was pressed into service as the first “home” of the North Kent
Presbyterian Church. The story goes that a skunk under the building interfered with at least one Sunday service. The Rev. Alex Ungvary
became part time pastor in the winter of 1959, leaving when he was asked to assume full time duties at Oakhill Presbyterian Church in Grand
Rapids in early 1960. Dr. Ralph Lindsay of Kalamazoo capably fulfilled as supply minister through the winter of 1960.
In April of 1960, Rev. Manson Lowe came to the church with the official designation of “organizing pastor.” The church that was to become North
Kent bought six acres, including the portion upon which the church now stands. Ground was broken that year, and the congregation built the shell
of a ranch house to the north of the present church, designed and built under the supervision of Mr. And Mrs. Cornelius Schans with the help of
church members. In June of that year, the first building on the property was completed. This building became the manse, but was originally built
with virtually no inside walls to accommodate up to one hundred worshippers in our first permanent home. Church services were held in
the unfinished and open first floor. Nursery was in the garage, Sunday School met in the basement rooms, and there was a kitchen at the back of the main room.
Officially, North Kent Presbyterian Church came into being on May 7, 1961. This was done by the Presbytery of Western Michigan of the
United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The Presbytery thought the name should reflect location, so Joy was
discarded and we became North Kent. It was a long period of gestation to reach this formal milestone. There were 125 charter members. The first
Session members were Howard Boehm, Truman Cowles, Arthur Drumm, Arthur Finch, Edwin Mawby, and John Venman.
Ground was broken for the first phase in 1963. The present Lowe chapel was begun. Truman Cowles, an architect and church member, designed
our present sanctuary. The church was built by the men and women of the church on nights and weekends. Some of the material was shipped
into Rockford by rail. John Venman, Art Drumm, Ray Roberts, Floyd Graham, Donald Kilts, and Gary Rollenhagen used Venman’s
landscaping trucks to haul it to the site. After the contractor finished putting up the exterior shell, church members including the youth, finished the interior work. The lighting fixtures (chandeliers) in the sanctuary was designed and built by Ray Roberts, the pulpit and baptismal font (plywood and covered with glued on white fish tank gravel) were designed and built by Art Drumm and Ray Roberts. The interior staining, including the ceiling, took several weeks.
The youth asked to have it named in honor of Pastor Lowe, and so it was. The chapel designation came because the thought was that a larger
sanctuary would be built to the south of the chapel. The last floor tiles had been installed in the wee hours of the morning by some of the men
just in time for the dedication. It was Dr. Lowe’s last Sunday, and the job “just had to be done.”; Three years after organizing, on Palm Sunday,
April 5, 1964, our church sanctuary was dedicated.
Exactly one year later, almost to the hour, on Palm Sunday, April 11, 1965, a tornado blew the roof off the building and knocked down the rear
wall. Hurriedly, the Youth Group and their sponsors, who had been meeting in the manse basement, gathered books, chairs, and other
equipment from the chapel and carried them to the “white house.” Services were held the following Sunday in “the house that was a
church.” It wasn’t as convenient as before, because the stud walls were delineating the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. But services went on.
The damage done by the storm was particularly distressing to the congregation because the church had just extended a call to the Rev. Jack
Luidens of Milwaukee, who would arrive with his family, wife Bess and daughters Sally and Priscilla, in June. Again, with exceptional effort on
behalf of all the members of the congregation, the damage was repaired and the manse completed, just under the wire, with linoleum and carpet
installed on the 23 rd and the moving van arriving on the 24 th . It’s hard to imagine what that original building was like. The sanctuary
windows extended down close to the ground. There was a serving window from the present furnace room into the sanctuary, since that
space was also the fellowship hall. The furnace room was also the kitchen, thus the serving window. The bathrooms were directly across the
hall from the furnace room, and the south wall was where the double doors into the Teeuwissen room are now. The north wall was extended
straight back from the sanctuary to the wall at the side of the stairs. The area where the stairs begin now contained a very small pastor’s office.
The stairs ran up the wall from the bathrooms to what was called the crying room, now a place our church teens like to claim.
The parking lot and the path over to the manse got very muddy at times. Sunday School and Nursery were held in the manse basement. Planks
were put down across to the manse to walk on. Our own plank path! The parking lot and the drive between the church and the manse were paved in 1968. Member and elder George Cowlishaw came into a Session meeting and announced, “Enough is enough!” His car was stuck in the mud. He made a motion to pave the lot and drive, and it passed, resulting in a paved lot and drive.
Sometime in here a lot was sold to our neighbor on the south. 1.5 acres to the north was sold. In September of 1971 Dr. Walter Teeuwissen came to serve us as Stated Supply and in February of 1974 accepted our call and was installed. During Dr. Teeuwissens tenure we saw many changes. Lacking Sunday School space, Pastor Teeuwissen and Ray Roberts looked at portable units to use. They couldn’t find a suitable model, so Session asked Ray to design one to fit the church needs. A blueprint was drawn and taken to Michigan Trailer. They sent the print to a trailer manufacturer and one was constructed, brought on site, and used for several years. It sat directly behind the original building with a connecting door through what used to be the back wall. Lowe chapel had acquired portable classrooms to provide space for the expanding Christian Education program, which
was still meeting in the basement of the manse.
As families continued to join the North Kent congregation, the pressure on the existing space became more severe, until it was decided to add a
permanent wing to the building. On April 4, 1976, the first permanent addition to the church building was dedicated. A fellowship room and
kitchen, classrooms, Pastor’s office, bathroom and secretary’s office were built. The fellowship room had a fireplace! The pass through
window was eliminated and the bathrooms updated. A new boiler was installed to heat the addition.
When Dr. Teeuwissen retired to become pastor Emeritus of North Kent, the congregation called Pastor Timothy Yoon in February of 1980.
Pastor Yoon brought his family from Kansas, and brought a deep personal commitment to the active sense of mission upon which the
church was founded.
The Rev. Wilbur R. Cloosterhouse, D.D. came to us an Interim Pastor in November of 1982 and served us well through November of 1983. At
that time the Rev. Kurt Stiansen answered our call and he, his wife Sharon and their daughter Kara moved into the completely redecorated
manse in time for Christmas. They came to us from the Schoolcraft Presbyterian Church. Rev. Stiansen’s joy in serving God and his children
was an inspiration to us all.
During Rev. Stiansen’s tenure, projects included a complete interior facelift of all church facilities from the carpet up, and the
initiation of two worship services on Sunday, which remained for about four years until the need of the church again changed. The adult Sunday
School program was outstanding. To attempt to reach out to more families, with emphasis on our youth needs, we tried holding youth
Sunday School at the same time as Worship. We tried this for about four years. Attendance did not grow as we had hoped and the Adult Sunday
School floundered. In 1999, they started having Sunday School meet at 9:30 am and worship following at 10:45 am, followed by a social hour.
During Kurt’s tenure, the deacons developed a Shepherding list in which the congregation’s names are divided for care. The strong music
program always present continued, and was a joy to all who hear it.
Another success was the, “Dinners for Eight”. Many means for mission developed including Pennies from Heaven, Adopt a Family at Christmas,
North Kent Service Center, raffles and fund raisers for needy individuals and our youth group and the Hunger Walk. A Boy Scout Troop was
founded and we became a meeting place for AA groups. We hosted a cub scout pack for three years until they outgrew us. They have since returned and meet on Thursdays.
An outstanding example of foreign mission is the Mwandi Hospital Mission in Africa. Rev. Stiansen and the church at this time created our care of the
community through a Mission Statement. The office, classrooms, and fellowship addition to the church worked until 1993, when the church family and community again felt the need for more space.
During this time, the Rev. Dr. Stiansen and his family moved out of the Manse into their own house. This and other needs of the church
precipitated the sale of the Manse with .52 acres, leaving us with 3.65 acres. With the sale of the Manse came the need for separate utilities and
hook ups for the church.
The office, classrooms, and fellowship addition to the church worked until 1995, when the church family and community again felt the need
for more space. Chaired by Art Spalding, co-chair Ray Roberts, a committee began working with a design company. The committee got
discouraged with what was being presented, and asked Ray to draw up plans and specs. He did so, and the committee liked them and ok’d them.
In Michigan, a license is required to do architectural work, so the committee hired an architect, passed Ray’s plans on to them, and they
were done officially.
Guidance and assistance was sought for and given to us by the Presbytery. A great deal of hard work, especially by elder Art Spalding
and Ray Roberts, led to drawings, architectural prints, scale models and lining up of pledges and funding for the project. The committee hired Marsman Construction Co. to start the new addition In April of 1999, to be overseen by Ray. The Pastor’s office was expanded, a conference room and classrooms were added. The fellowship
room was extended, removing the fireplace. The room we use for storage was added off the fellowship room. Bathrooms were moved and enlarged
with access off the fellowship room. The narthex was enlarged to its current size, also.
Rev. Dr. Stiansen requested retirement at a called congregational meeting on December 7 th, 1997, with an effective date of December 31 st, 1997. It was a sad goodbye after fourteen years of successful ministry together.
On March 4th, 1998, the Interim Pastor position was filled with an unanimous and enthusiastic recommendation for the Rev. Dwight
Hillstrom. We had a “Town Hall” meeting (Pot Luck) to get to know Dwight. He would begin service on March 31, 1998. Dwight and his
wife Edie had just retired in November of 1997 from the First Presbyterian Church of Alma, Michigan after serving there for 21 years.
Dwight had his home in Hudsonville.
Following Dwight’s interim time, the church for a short period of time called Benebo Fubara Manuel in 2000 to help lead the church. Since
Pastor Bene was from Africa, and was studying theology in Grand Rapids for a short period of time, this presented a lot of opportunities for
cross cultural education and exploration as well as friendships.
In the latter part of 2000, the Rev. Helen Collins was called to lead North Kent Presbyterian Church. Helen very much enjoyed good music
and sang soprano in the church choir. The Hand Bells were purchased while she was here. Helen was at North Kent for the great Pumpkin Patch
experiment in which the congregation turned much of the property into fields and grew pumpkins. The congregation worked with the boy scouts
to sell and to give out pumpkins to the community. Pastor Helen also tirelessly served the Presbytery of Lake Michigan on their Committee for
Preparation for Ministry. This committee shepherded many new candidates for ministry through their formation process. In the later part
of her ministry at NKPC, Rev. Helen struggled against cancer. There was a major disagreement in the congregation about if she should take
early retirement. Rev. Helen retired in 2014 and died from cancer on Palm Sunday 2019.
Following Rev. Helen Collins, the interim pastor, Rev. Paula Vander Hoven was called in 2014 to serve North Kent. She spent many
hours listening to the congregation and did a great deal of pastoral work healing and bringing people back together. Her time with North Kent
concluded the summer of 2016.
On July 1st, 2016, Rev. Karen Fitz La Barge was called to North Kent Presbyterian Church. The bell choir and the youth group were
restarted in 2016. Marketing became an early focus and a beautiful electronic sign was designed and installed in 2018. The congregation faced the 2020 Covid epidemic by switching to online services starting March 15th 2020 and finally moved back to in person worship in the Sanctuary on June 6th 2021. The congregation celebrated the return to in person worship by purchasing a brown Kawaii grand piano for the sanctuary. In September of 2023, Children's Sunday School was restarted again after it's closing due to the pandemic. A rotation model with Story, Music / Drama, Craft and Videos has been adopted for during the worship hour.
As a congregation, we are looking forward to a bright future powered by the Holy Spirit to share the love of Christ with our neighbors.
How will you be a part of this congregations history?
