Michigan—In 1998, a movement began in the Grand Rapids Central Church to start a third church plant. The majority of members present at a specially called meeting expressed their desire to plant a church in the Ada-Lowell-Cascade area.

A small group of seven families explored how to make this happen. It took one year of weekly meetings with prayer and study to establish the mission and goals to form the Lowell Riverside Fellowship Company. Three of the original seven families stayed with the company to nurture its growth to the present time.

David Glenn, pastor, and an intern oversee the company. Church services are held each Sabbath followed by a vegetarian potluck. There is a Bible study/prayer time on Wednesday evenings and a women's and young women's Bible-marking/baptismal group study that meets during the day. Currently, eight people are taking Bible studies, and six of them are preparing for baptism.

One of our goals is to reach out to the community. We started the outreach venture by asking each of the three community governments what the church could do to help them build a better community. A reply came from Ada township requesting help with Woodland Gardens in Ada Park. Now we clean and maintain the wooded garden area and build relationships as we work. The township erected a permanent sign with the group’s name on it as the garden’s caretakers. Take a walk around Ada Park sometime and check up on us!

The main emphasis of the group is “Evangelism Through the Health Message.” We have seven annual Taste of Vegetarian sessions under our belts. Those lectures spawned a Healthy You group that led to Cook N Eat. Cook N Eat is a hands-on approach that includes preparing and consuming the meal, whereas Healthy You provides prepared samples and mini-lectures on the importance of healthy eating. Some ladies from these groups regularly attend our monthly Ladies Night Out.

When the Lowell Wellness Center director learned about the Taste of Vegetarian program, she asked us to provide a diabetic-friendly meal during the Center's Senior Wellness Week. We had met the director at the Lowell Health Fair, where we had a very active booth the past few years. There were many compliments on the positive presentation and benefits rendered with our booth. We are now given the choice spot to set up each year. Paul Adams sets up his compelling temperance booth, and community youth are properly "grossed out" with the results of smoking and its effects on the body. We hesitated to participate in the fair the first year because it was held on Sabbath hours. After counsel and prayer, we decided that this was a vital part of the Lord's work, and God has blessed us abundantly ever since.

Our current church attendance has settled into an average of 30–35 people. We still meet in a home, but we have recently started excavating for our brand new church building. We are excited about this because we have been storing supplies in various homes. The “home church” bulges when everyone attends at the same time, which can swell to almost 50 people.

Everyone in the little church works. We all do what we can to help each other out. Our speakers are from our congregation. That helps us all to be supportive of the presenters each Sabbath. We are not pastor dependent, though we love having our pastors join us from time to time! We have all grown and are still growing so much as we study the Word together.

Those who belong to the fellowship group consider it a privilege. We miss our friends at the Grand Rapids Central Church, but believe we are a part of a real mission that is exciting and rewarding. We look forward to the time everyone can visit us in our brand new church!

Carol Clay, Lowell Riverside Fellowship Company personal ministries leader