Our History

Second Christian Reformed Church was formed on Oct. 27, 1920, when 31 members of the Dutch-speaking First Christian Reformed Church in Lynden started an English-speaking congregation. While we still have many members with Dutch roots, ourhurch’s family tree has branches that include those of many 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, originally located at Seventh and Front, 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 have 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), Rev. William Verwolf (1972-86), Rev. Ronald Slater (1973-76), Rev. Andrew Cammenga (1976-85), Dennis Afman, Director of Youth and Education (1982-89), Rev. Louis Kerkstra (1986-94), Rev. Robert Offringa (1989-92), Rev. Thomas Haan (1994-2000), Pastor Jim Carberry (1996-2010), Rev. Mark Davies (2003-2010), and Rev. Ben deRegt (2010-present).