Our Christmas Eve Service will be held from 5-6pm on Saturday, December 24th. (Please note that we will NOT be worshipping on Christmas morning.) We are hoping to provide childcare for children 4 and under so stay tuned for more information on that. If not, we’re hoping the little ones will enjoy the service with […]
We are helping a Congolese family of six get settled in America after arriving just a few weeks ago. A major needed item are winter books. Boots do not have to be new, but should be in good used condition. You can click here to find details of what exactly is needed. If you are […]
Recently we shared the exciting news that we have received a Lily Grant to fund a 2017 sabbatical for Chris. We made a video that shares details about what that means for the Branch and for the DeBlaays. Give it a watch by clicking here.
Branch Retreat This weekend (9/24 & 9/25) is the Branch Retreat, starting at 2:00 pm on Saturday. It will be held at the DeBlaay-Oeverman homes (2020 and 2030 Madison). This event is completely free of charge! Here’s a rough timeline of events (emphasis on ‘rough’…it’s a flexible time together and we may move things around as needed). […]
Sept 11 – BranchKids Kick-off Nursery: Infants – 24 months Toddler: 2 – 3 year olds PreSchool: 4 – 5 year olds Grade School: 1st – 4th grades Join us as we begin a new year and new curriculum in BranchKids. Nursery, Toddler and PreSchool classes meet downstairs in their rooms at the beginning of […]
It’s hard to believe that Autumn is near, isn’t it? Kids are going to be starting school, the air around us will be cool and we’ll either embrace or avoid pumpkin flavored everything. We have big plans at the Branch for this Autumn and we hope you’ll be able to join us for a lot of […]
Every week we’ll be posting some ideas on how you can more deeply engage the Old Testament. Parents: these tools will be written in a way so that you can use them with your kids. If you do use them with children, it may work well to pick one question/activity per day. This will keep things […]
This summer we’ll move through the entire Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi. Our hope is that on this epic journey, we’ll discover that the Old Testament isn’t just a collection of ancient stories, but it is our story. And the better we understand it’s beauty, truth and depth, the better we will understand the New Testament, […]
Are you looking to help with CREATE but cannot volunteer? Below is a list of items commonly found in your recycle bin that would give the kids the materials they need to make something new and beautiful from something old and used up. Please consider sorting through your recycling bin over the next few weeks […]
This Sunday, May 22nd the Branch church and Comunidad Cristiana de Grand Rapids (CCGR) will be worshipping together at 11 am (Branch-ers, you get to sleep in a little!). Please join us to celebrate our partnership with our CCGR family! We can’t wait to see you! (we will have all Branchkids rooms up and running this […]
This Sunday we’ll end worship a bit early to give us time to vote on the two Steward nominations to fill Jeff VerKaik’s and Carrie Elzinga’s spots. Becky DeGraaf has been nominated for Steward of Resources and Mike DeBlaay for Steward of Care. Bios of each are below. If you cannot be at the Branch […]
Alger Heights Canvassing Neighborhood Listening Opportunity – Jenn Reidsma, Community Coordinator, is currently looking for church members to help with community canvassing on Saturday, May 14 from approximately 9:30-noon. Volunteers will be asked to knock on doors and conduct short interviews. Training will be provided in the evening before the canvassing and there will be a debriefing meeting […]
Love. Is there another word more widely used in our world today? We say we love hot dogs or Dora, and a short time later pledge our life-long, unconditional love to another. It’s a word we use to describe our feelings or what we think. But love, in its fullest, truest sense, is infinitely more. Love […]
The Branch has three Stewards of Care and and three Stewards of Resources. Each serve for a three year term, which means that every year one Steward of Care and one Steward of Resources rotates off. This year, Carrie Elzinga (Care) and Jeff VerKaik (Resources) will be stepping down. The process for adding Stewards begins […]
A team of people at the Branch have created a guide for Lent. Each week has a personal reflection, questions to help process the passage, suggested Scripture for the week and a prayer. You can download the whole guide here: 2016LentGuide Or, if you’d prefer to read it right here, we’ll post each week’s reflection and resources […]
The Branch is looking to hire 1-2 individuals for the BranchKids Director and Administrative Assistant positions described below. We will either hire one individual as the BranchKids Director and one individual as the Administrative Assistant or hire one person for a position combining the duties. If you or someone you know is interested in either of these […]
We’re taking time each week to write in more detail about our 2016 Strategic Plan (i.e. where we are going to focus our energy and resources in the next year). If you didn’t catch the first post in this series, we encourage you to do so here. Action 2: Offering lavish hospitality and care In the […]
