By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The decision to move from a glorious Gothic stone church in Grand Rapids' Heritage Hill neighborhood to a vacant yet-to-be renovated warehouse in Heartside wasn’t an easy one for the congregation of Bethlehem Lutheran Church to make, but in October 2007, the church made the move to 250 Commerce SW. By then the first phase of renovations—26,000 square feet of contemporary worship space, daycare facilities, and offices—were complete.
Within weeks, the church launched the MAJIC (Musical Arts for Justice In the Community) concert series featuring national and regional musicians performing secular music. The concerts are free with a suggested $10 donation. The series includes a visual artists’ gallery.
“Our purpose was to help these artists gain some publicity and to bring in money for social justice ministry,” says Jay Schrimpf, senior pastor. “One hundred percent of the profits go to charity. Last year, $7,000 went to the Coalition to End Homelessness. We’re about two weeks away from deciding this year’s recipient.”
The Heartside area has a number of homeless persons who benefit from services provided by the nearby Guiding Light Mission, Mel Trotter Ministries, Degagé and God’s Kitchen. And to be in an area of the city that needs human services was the goal of Bethlehem Lutheran’s congregation.
“We had to decide: We could either spend all our money and time and energy fixing our old church building or we could spend it on ministry,” says Pastor Schrimpf. “When we answered the question that we wanted to spend it doing ministry, the next question was, 'Where do we move?' The congregation voted to move to where the need is.”
Since then, the church’s Hill Child Development Center, a 30-plus-year-old ministry, has partnered with Mel Trotter to provide childcare for homeless mothers and other lower-income families.
Source: Pastor Jay Schrimpf, Bethlehem Lutheran Church
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Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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