If you’re looking for a warm church that commits to an intensely pertinent Gospel in the Reformed tradition of the Christian faith, we invite you to worship with us. Our 1,800 members come from across West Michigan and gather weekly in our sanctuary for relevant Biblical preaching, beautiful music, and inspiring worship. We expand our worship through intentional outreach in our community and world, attentive care for our members, and plenty of spiritual enrichment and social opportunities for everyone. We focus on a living Savior who provides genuine solutions to the deep needs of a hurting world. We are committed to need-meeting ministry in His name, and we are committed to being real people who enjoy real life and who cry real tears. Because we are a fairly large and diverse group in terms of age, occupation, marital status, lifestyle, and physical ability; our members create many accessible opportunities for community service, Bible study, and small social groups. We worship God, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, and we enjoy expressing our vision of His holiness through traditional music and formal liturgy. Music plays an integral part of our weekly worship gatherings. Congregational singing—of both traditional hymns and newer ones—is typically supported by our pipe organ. Vocal choirs, handbell choirs, small ensembles, instrumentalists, and vocal soloists provide additional music offerings. Led by the Holy Spirit, we seek to worship and serve God in all of life, transforming His world and being transformed to reflect the character of Christ. Founded by 36 Dutch immigrants on February 24, 1887, LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church has always been deeply committed to both this local community and worldwide missions. God has seen fit to guide and bless these commitments with sustained growth, spiritual gifting, and a continual stream of new work for our members.
LaGrave Live with Reverend Peter Jonker
Claim This Podcastby Reverend Peter Jonker
Podcast Overview
If you’re looking for a warm church that commits to an intensely pertinent Gospel in the Reformed tradition of the Christian faith, we invite you to worship with us. Our 1,800 members come from across West Michigan and gather weekly in our sanctuary for relevant Biblical preaching, beautiful music, and inspiring worship. We expand our worship through intentional outreach in our community and world, attentive care for our members, and plenty of spiritual enrichment and social opportunities for everyone. We focus on a living Savior who provides genuine solutions to the deep needs of a hurting world. We are committed to need-meeting ministry in His name, and we are committed to being real people who enjoy real life and who cry real tears. Because we are a fairly large and diverse group in terms of age, occupation, marital status, lifestyle, and physical ability; our members create many accessible opportunities for community service, Bible study, and small social groups. We worship God, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, and we enjoy expressing our vision of His holiness through traditional music and formal liturgy. Music plays an integral part of our weekly worship gatherings. Congregational singing—of both traditional hymns and newer ones—is typically supported by our pipe organ. Vocal choirs, handbell choirs, small ensembles, instrumentalists, and vocal soloists provide additional music offerings. Led by the Holy Spirit, we seek to worship and serve God in all of life, transforming His world and being transformed to reflect the character of Christ. Founded by 36 Dutch immigrants on February 24, 1887, LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church has always been deeply committed to both this local community and worldwide missions. God has seen fit to guide and bless these commitments with sustained growth, spiritual gifting, and a continual stream of new work for our members.
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12/23/2024
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Recent Episodes
June 28, 2026
LaGrave Live, June 28, 2026
LaGrave Live LIVE Morning Worship Service 06-28-2026 The Way of Wisdom About The Service: We will continue our summer sermon series called The Way of Wisdom. Pastor Jonker will preach and he will look at various Proverbs that offer us wisdom for how we speak to one another, which is a significant theme in the book. Order of Worship: https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-6-28-AM-Order-of-Worship.pdf About the Church: We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months) We'd love to hear from you: Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact Let us pray for you: Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/ Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178 The June special offering is for Pine Rest Patient Assistance Fund: Part of Pine Rest Foundation Fund offering financial assistance for individuals, families and children who need care. Listen on the go: Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT Follow us! Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc Website: https://www.lagrave.org #LaGrave #LaGraveCRC Life-Giving Words and the Wisdom of the Tongue The Weight and Wonder of Words The service centers on the spiritual importance of words, beginning with a children's message that introduces the Bible as God's Word. The pastor explains that Scripture contains words that guide, comfort, strengthen, and reveal God's love through Jesus Christ. A story about a childhood friend in the Netherlands during wartime illustrates how a single line from Psalm 57 brought peace during danger and fear. A Wisdom Series Turns Toward Speech The sermon continues the summer series on wisdom literature, focusing on selected passages from Proverbs. The pastor explains that while Proverbs addresses many areas of life, one of its largest and most striking concerns is speech. The sermon organizes the selected proverbs around three themes: the power of words, the character of words, and the heart behind words. Words Can Wound, Heal, and Create The first major sermon theme is the power of speech. The pastor contrasts the familiar phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones” with the biblical claim that the tongue has the power of life and death. Through personal reflection and examples of both hurtful and loving words, the sermon emphasizes that speech can wound deeply, heal relationships, encourage faith, and help people flourish. Gentleness Against the Culture of Outrage The sermon then turns to the character of speech, especially gentleness, kindness, timing, and restraint. The pastor contrasts Proverbs' wisdom with the way social media often rewards outrage, alarm, accusation, and harshness. He argues that biblical wisdom calls people not only to speak truth but to consider the tone, tempo, and timing of how that truth is spoken. Timely Words in Human Relationships The pastor applies the wisdom of timely speech to friendships, marriages, families, and conflict. Using the example of a conflict-averse person and a person who wants to fix problems immediately, he explains that wise speech pays attention to the needs of the other person. The sermon emphasizes that there are times to speak and times to wait, and that words can be truthful but still unwise if spoken at the wrong time. Speech Rooted in the Heart and in Christ The final theme is that wise speech comes from the heart. Drawing from Proverbs and Jesus' teaching that the mouth speaks from the heart, the pastor says that anger, bitterness, fear, gentleness, patience, and love eventually reveal themselves in words. The sermon closes by calling
June 22, 2026
LaGrave Live, June 21, 2026
LaGrave Live LIVE Evening Worship Service - Amos and Amaziah About The Service: Pastor Jonker will preach on Amos 7. Order of Worship: https://lagrave.org/wp-content/upload... About Us: We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months) We'd love to hear from you: Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact Let us pray for you: Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/ Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Givi... The June special offering is for Pine Rest Patient Assistance Fund: Part of Pine Rest Foundation Fund offering financial assistance for individuals, families and children who need care. Listen on the go: Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle Soundcloud: / lagravecrc Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT Follow us! Facebook: / lagravecrc Instagram: / lagravecrc Website: https://www.lagrave.org #LaGrave #LaGraveCRC Amos, Amaziah, and the Holy Affliction of God’s Justice Evening Worship at LaGrave Church This live evening worship service from LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church is led by Reverend Peter Jonker and centers on the encounter between the prophet Amos, the priest Amaziah, and King Jeroboam II. The service opens with Scripture, worship, and a reflection on Psalm 146, emphasizing that believers should not put ultimate trust in princes or human rulers, but in the Lord who upholds the oppressed, feeds the hungry, frees prisoners, watches over foreigners, and sustains the fatherless and widow. Reverend Jonker frames the evening as a meditation on how church and state interact in Scripture, especially when God’s justice confronts political and religious power. Prayer for the World’s Large and Small Histories The pastoral prayer names God as King of kings, Lord of lords, and ruler over both the “big history” of nations and the smaller histories of ordinary lives. Reverend Jonker prays for places marked by war, suffering, and violence, including Sudan, Ukraine, Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel. He also prays against the bitterness that violence plants across generations and asks God to make His people peacemakers. The prayer then turns close to home, lifting up LaGrave’s neighbors, people struggling with addiction, trauma, and mental illness, and members of the congregation facing illness, surgery, recovery, hospice, and personal burdens. Amos 7 - A Prophet Confronts Power The central Scripture reading is Amos 7:10–17, where Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reports Amos to King Jeroboam and accuses him of raising a conspiracy in Israel. Amaziah tells Amos to leave, return to Judah, and stop prophesying at Bethel because it is “the king’s sanctuary” and “the temple of the kingdom.” Amos responds that he was not a professional prophet or the son of a prophet, but a shepherd and dresser of sycamore fig trees whom the Lord called to prophesy to Israel. Reverend Jonker notes that Amos is a difficult figure, blunt and unsettling, more committed to God’s righteousness and justice than to popularity or social comfort. Prosperity, Injustice, and the Unwanted Word Reverend Jonker explains that Amos prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II, a time of outward prosperity, national stability, and economic success for Israel. By conventional standards, Jeroboam looked like a successful ruler: the borders expanded, enemies were defeated, the economy was strong, and the nation appeared secure. But the biblical assessment was different: Jeroboam did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Into that prosperous world, Amos spoke against injustice, warning that the wealthy lounged in comfort while trampling the poor and ignoring the needy. Jonker stresses that Amos’s words were not pleasant, but they were necessary because Go
June 15, 2026
LaGrave Live, June 14, 2026
LaGrave Live LIVE Evening Worship Service - Questions and Answers 6-14-26 About The Service: LaGrave member, Rev. Laurie TenHave-Chapman, will preach from Acts 8:26-40, a passage that reminds us that there are many who are looking for Jesus as the answer to their deepest questions. We will also celebrate the Lord's Supper together. Order of Worship: https://lagrave.org/wp-content/upload... About Us: We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months) We'd love to hear from you: Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact Let us pray for you: Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/ Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Givi... The June special offering is for Pine Rest Patient Assistance Fund: Part of Pine Rest Foundation Fund offering financial assistance for individuals, families and children who need care. Listen on the go: Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle Soundcloud: / lagravecrc Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT Follow us! Facebook: / lagravecrc Instagram: / lagravecrc Website: https://www.lagrave.org #LaGrave #LaGraveCRC Who Will Teach Me About Jesus? Questions, Witness, and the Spirit’s Unexpected Appointments A Service Framed by Mission and Worship This live evening worship service at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church opens with worship language drawn from Psalm 96, calling the congregation to sing to the Lord, declare His glory among the nations, and worship in the splendor of His holiness. The service includes a welcome to those gathered in the sanctuary and online, and a warm introduction of Reverend Lori TeneHape Chapman, a LaGrave member, as the evening preacher. Because this is a worship-service transcript, the music portions appear heavily distorted by transcription and should be treated only as musical segments rather than reliable lyrical text. A Confession of Faith and a Prayer for Missionaries Before the sermon, the congregation reads from the contemporary testimony “Our World Belongs to God,” focusing on the church’s mission to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, care for the sick, and free the prisoner. The pastoral prayer then expands that mission focus globally. The congregation prays for missionaries and ministries in North America, Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Africa, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, India, Peru, and other regions. The prayer asks God to bless those serving students, children, families, churches, special-needs communities, and unreached or difficult mission fields. Philip, the Ethiopian, and the Question That Opens the Door The Scripture reading comes from Acts 8:26–40, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. The passage tells how an angel directs Philip to the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza, where he encounters an Ethiopian official reading from Isaiah. When Philip asks whether the man understands what he is reading, the Ethiopian responds, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” Philip then begins with that passage and tells him the good news about Jesus. When they come to water, the Ethiopian asks what prevents him from being baptized, and Philip baptizes him. Searching for Truth in a Confusing Culture Reverend Chapman begins the sermon with a memory of seeing a billboard for a cannabis company using religious language: “church,” “cannabis,” and “baptism by fire.” She reflects on how jarring those words felt together and uses the example to raise a larger question about how Christians engage a pleasure-seeking culture filled with confusing messages. She connects this to Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is truth?” and reminds listeners that Jesus is the one who called Himself the way, the truth, and the life. Ordina
52 total episodes available
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