It’s easy to focus on what’s happening around us right now, but the best way to understand who we are is to look at where we’ve come from. This historical path shows us critical decisions that we’ve made and what has been important to us. For us to remain true to the identity that has been established through nearly 100 years of struggle and hard work, we must continue to follow that path. In that way, our history determines our future and guides us about what should continue to be important to us.

For example, in 1974 Madison Square Church called Pastor Virgil Patterson who became the third black ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church and the first to serve in the Grand Rapids area. Throughout its history, Madison has sought to break down racial and cultural barriers to bring together all of God's children and celebrate our differences and our similarities. Madison continues in this direction with its diverse staff and congregation who represent many different backgrounds and give us a better understanding of the world in which we live.

• 1914: Madison Square Christian Reformed Church began as a storefront gospel mission through the initiative of Pastor W.P. VanWijk, the pastor of Oakdale Park CRC. It was called Madison Square Chapel.
• 1943: Gertrude Holekeboer was hired as a second full time staff person.
• 1947: Pastor Walter Dubois was called to lead the work at Madison. At this time Madison began to work toward becoming an organized, self supporting church.
• 1951: A new facility was built on Lafayette, just two blocks west of Madison. The building served as the meeting place until the summer of 1979.
• 1962: Pastor DuBois left to take another position. Mr. William Navis, an unordained graduate of Reformed Bible Institute, took up the work at Madison.
• 1967: Pastor Geurkink was called by the supervisory board to serve as pastor at Madison.
• 1970: After 56 years as Madison, the mission organized to become Madison Square Christian Reformed Church. Pastor Geurkink's ministry helped the church consolidate its position.
• 1974: Pastor Geurkink left Madison Square CRC and accepted a position at Calvin Seminary. A call was extended to Pastor Virgil Patterson. In September Pastor Patterson passed a "Colloquium Doctum" and became the third black ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church. His installation at Madison in October of that same year made him the first black Christian Reformed pastor to serve in the Grand Rapids area.
• 1975: Madison hired a second black staff member, Mr. Tom Raysor, to concentrate in the area of youth work. Mr. Raysor was of Baptist background, was a graduate of a Bible college, and had pastoriously been working for the Grand Rapids Christian Development Center. At least by way of appearance, Madison now seemed to have a staff able to work effectively with the congregation and the community. In July, four black families were baptized into the church. This was a very positive move toward integrated fellowship.
• 1977: In June, Pastor Patterson resigned because of racist attitudes within the denomination and lack of openess to charasmatic expression. In November, Pastor David Sieplinga arrived. He sought to develop in the church an identity as the Body of Christ reaching out to those in need. Madison began to see itself as a church that welcomed those who did not fit, the outcasts of society. If you didn't "fit" anywhere else, you probably could "fit" at Madison. At this time there were 27 families, 63 communicant members, and 86 total members at Madison.
• 1978: During the summer, Mr. Raysor resigned. The council met in an emergency session and decided to extend a call to Pastor Dante Venegas, a Puerto Rican from New York City. In September, Pastor Venegas accepted the position of "Minister of Evangelism" at Madison. Pastor Venegas and Pastor Sieplinga worked together to demonstrate that reconciliation is possible in an integrated fellowship. They set an example for the rest of the church and community by going out into the community together to serve and witness, claiming the neighborhood for Jesus Christ. The membership at Madison grew dramatically during the next few years. The building on Lafayette became inadequate for the needs of the church.
• 1979: In early summer, 12 people committed themselves to receive training in evangelism and go out into the community once a week. Each week the group met and received instruction for 30 minutes, then went calling for 45 minutes. Many of those contacted became members of Madison. In August, a building vacated by Immanuel Presbyterian Church became the new residence of Madison. This building was about five times larger than the old building and came equipped with a fellowship-gym room and many classrooms. The congregation joyfully took its new home and grew to fill the building.
• 1981: In October, 50 families, 135 communicant members, and 225 total members belonged to Madison.
• 1982: Pastor Sieplinga took a call to Chicago. Then Pastor David Beelen was called. Pastor Beelen became co-pastor with Pastor Venegas. They formed a pastoral partnership which lasted until 1996.
• 1985: Having reached the capacity at the morning worship service, a second morning service began.
• 1988: In January, having reached capacity at two services, a third morning worship service began. The church committed to buy more land and expand the present facilities to accommodate the fast paced growth while at the same time remain committed to planting churches.
• 1993: In December, a new sanctuary was completed. Immediately it was necessary to conduct two morning worship services. The Sunday morning attendance was approaching 800 souls. More and more people were being sent out by Madison to do mission work.
• 1996: In August, after 15 years of partnership with Pastor Beelen, Pastor Venegas took a position as chaplain of Alternative Directions. The search began for a new co-pastor.
• 1997: In June a call was extended to Pastor Samuel Reeves of Liberia, West Africa. He accepted the call and he was joyfully inducted as our co-pastor.
• 2003: We began doing ministry based on our spiritual gifts, which are given to everyone by the Holy Spirit.
• 2004: Pastor Sam was called to return to Monrovia, Liberia as the Pastor of Providence Baptist Church. He accepted and agreed to return to Liberia in 2005.
• 2005: The Sunday morning worship schedule was changed to add a third worship service to allow more room for guests and more time to build community in Sunday School classes. Joy Bonnema, Cisco Gonzalez, and Alton Hardy were called to join Pastor Dave and together they formed the Preaching Team.
• 2006: The church leadership is considering how best to grow the church because many of our space for ministry including Sunday morning worship is cramped. Creating new sites and connecting to worship through a video connection is one option being seriously considered.
• 2007: Making Room for New Faces in New Places was our theme for a fundraising campaign to introduce new people to Christ. The funds were raised to renovate and add space the current building, purchase a new building at 1401 Madison SE, and begin a worship service in a new location to reach new people..
• 2008: A fourth Sunday morning worship service was added in a new location at the Gerald Ford Middle School about a half mile north of the church. Attendance started around 140 souls.