History
The first part of 2005 was an exciting time as two churches, Covenant Community Church and Lighthouse Christian Reformed Church, joined together to form one new church: Cornerstone Christian Reformed Church. The merger was fueled by a sense of common vision. Back in November 2003, leaders from Covenant and Lighthouse churches began meeting on a regular basis to talk and pray about the possibility of God leading our two ministries together. At first as we shared, we wondered, “Why?” Why change two ministries that have grown strong and found a meaningful niche in the community over the past ten years? Why rock the boat in a city where constant change is an exhausting norm? Over many months, our questions began to change. “Why not?” Why not bring together two ministries that have such an overlapping, already-shared vision? Why not combine our gifts and resources to harness our different ministry strengths? What would it be like to start a church not from scratch but with deep and rich histories, to bring together not dying but thriving ministries, to submit ourselves to closure for the sake of a new beginning?
In the end, Covenant’s campus focus and Lighthouse’s community orientation were seen as vitally complementary parts of a unified vision. And we began to dream of a church where students would not only learn about life-long discipleship principles but also rub shoulders with others who are pursuing relationship with God in contexts very different than theirs, outside of a university setting. We longed for a church where non-student, resident members of our community could share a common life of faith with students. In January 2005, Cornerstone CRC was birthed out of a belief that people from different walks and stages of life have a great deal to learn from believing, worshiping, and serving God together.