About
us
We
are a Second Family
All churches have a personality, and
ours is that of a family. Like any family, we are all very different, yet
like a healthy family we appreciate those differences and how they make us
stronger as a whole. We know and care about each other even when we
disagree, because we share a common Father who calls us to love each other
as a way of showing our love for His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior.
Our
staff
Interim Pastor Jim Carberry has served Second Church since 1996,
first as the director of congregational life, then as an ordained Pastor of
Outreach and Ministries, and since April 2010 as our Interim Pastor. He
loves sports, movies, reading and especially his wife, Nadine, and their
two children, Kaysha and Devin, and his infant grandson, Kaden. Before
going into ministry, Pastor Jim was a newspaper reporter and sports editor.
Pat Sebens is our part-time custodian and a
member of Second since marrying a son of the congregation, Doug Sebens, in
1981. They have three grown children.
Melissa Pecharko is our part-time secretary and with
her husband, Denis, and grown son moved to Whatcom County
in 2005.
Marlae Buss is our part-time bookkeeper. She has
been a member since moving with her husband, Jim, to Lynden in 1990. They
have four children.
Our
history
Second Church was born on Oct. 27, 1920, when the
31 members of the Dutch-speaking First Christian Reformed Church in Lynden
left to start an English-speaking congregation. While we still have many
members with Dutch roots, our church's family tree has branches that
include those of Chinese, Colombian, German, Italian, Irish, Romanian and
other heritages.
We met for a year in the Christian School before buying the property on
Front Street
between Seventh and Eighth streets where we are now located (for $1,500 if
you can believe that). At first, we only had money for a basement, which is
where we met until the church was completed on Nov. 1, 1929. The parsonage
was built in 1924 and later moved to its present site on Grover Street and transformed into
our church offices. Since then we also added an education building in 1978.
Over the years, our ministries
included Sunday School and boys and girls clubs for children; fellowship
activities for seniors and other age groups; transportation, hearing aids
and an elevator for the handicapped and elderly; radio and television
broadcasts for our community; ministries to prisoners and to Cambodian
refugees; support for church plants in Whatcom County and Washington state;
missions to other states and countries; and community involvement in
activities such as Lynden's Million Smiles Playground Project, Habitat for
Humanity houses and Lynden festivals.
We also thank the Lord for the men of
God who have served our congregation: Rev. Edward Joling (1921-26), Rev.
D.H. Muyskens (1926-34), Rev. Watson Groen (1934-43), Rev. John Schuurmann
(1944-51), Rev. Marinus Goote (1951-54), Rev. Enno Haan (1956-60), Rev.
John DeJong (1961-68), Rev. Jerome Batts (1970-72), pastor emeritus Rev.
William Verwolf (1972-86), Rev. Ronald Slater (1973-76), Rev. Andrew
Cammenga (1976-85), director of youth and education Dennis Afman (1982-89),
Rev. Louis Kerkstra (1986-94), Rev. Robert Offringa (1989-92), Rev. Thomas
Haan (1994-2000), Pastor Jim Carberry (1996-present), and Rev. Mark Davies
(2003-2010).
What
we believe
* We are Christian, which means we
believe and confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and we are sothat
He died for us on the cross that we dedicate our lives to Him and want to
follow Him. This understanding of God, the world and our place in the world
comes from the Bible. For a short summary of the basic Christian beliefs,
we would love to share with you the Apostles' Creed.
* We also are Christian Reformed,
which means we belong to a denomination that believes our whole world
belongs to God, and in the love of Christ, the Lord invites us all to become
part of His family. For a deeper look at our basic Reformed beliefs, we
would love to share with you a historical confession called the "Heidelberg
Catechism" or a contemporary testimony called "Our World Belongs To God."
Our
vision
Because we have received God's love
through Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Bible, and have been adopted into
His family...
Our vision at Second Christian
Reformed Church is to build a spiritual family that demonstrates a love for
God and a love for our neighbors locally and around the world.
The focus of this family will be to
model the love of Jesus Christ...
* In our church through
worship, discipleship and ministries - provided for and by each person.
* In our community through regular
service projects for those with physical needs, regular fellowship events
for those with relational needs and regular invitations for those with
spiritual needs.
* In our world through the
expanding support of missionaries and mission programs and through the
encouragement and support of our people to extend themselves in kingdom
services.
