A Christ Church outreach service in the Dow Hotel and Conference Center. Courtesy | Aidan Dixon
For the last three weeks, dozens of Hillsdale residents and college students have gathered in the Dow Hotel and Conference Center to attend an outreach service launched by an Idaho church.
The service, currently in search of a permanent home, is a part of an effort to establish a new branch of Christ Church — a Reformed Calvinist church located in Moscow, Idaho, and a founding member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.
Benjamin Merkle, president of New Saint Andrew’s College and a Christ Church member, said in an email that the church is launching this service to support Reformed students attending Hillsdale College.
“Over the last several years, we see more and more kids coming from CREC churches and from classical Christian schools heading to Hillsdale. So we wanted to support that trend by launching this service,” Merkle said. “Our goal is to eventually convert this service into a church plant.”
Merkle said the outreach service is open to all — not just CREC members.
“We invite students and community members to visit any Sunday,” he said. “Distinctives of CREC worship services are a blend of Reformed preaching, liturgical covenant renewal worship, and weekly Lord’s Supper.”
Sophomore Brandon Meeks said he appreciates the core message the CREC promotes.
“The church is very much into the traditional family,” Meeks said. “It heavily promotes living a solid, good, optimistic Christian life, the pursuit of glorifying God through our family and children, and trying to make a positive impact on the world.”
Meeks said students who are searching for a church should consider attending the outreach meetings.
“If you’re looking for a biblical, Calvinist, conservative teaching on the Bible, a very good liturgy that encourages worship of God and confession of sins, and a community between the believers, I would definitely recommend this,” Meeks said.
Aidan Dixon, a Ph.D. candidate in the Van Andel School of Statesmanship, has been assisting Christ Church with the fledgling outreach. Dixon said these first few weeks have been a trial period.
“The goal is to take stock, see who might be suitable for deacons, who might be suitable for elders, see who could potentially be a part of this,” Dixon said. “Then we’ll move forward from there.”
Dixon said each service has attracted between 30 and 50 people.
“Depending on how many people we still have in a few weeks, we’re going to start gauging the possibility of putting a down payment on a building,” he said. “That’s still a ways out, but that’s the goal.”
Christ Church and the CREC are also launching an outreach in Washington, D.C. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is a prominent member and a strong supporter.
Meeks said the CREC’s political engagement distinguishes it from other denominations.
“If we make this positive impact on society, then eventually we can take back America and have it be mostly Christian again,” Meeks said. “I would say that’s one of the big pieces of what the CREC is going for from a purpose perspective.”
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