MARANATHA CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH (YORK)

York Maranatha CRC was instituted in the fall of 1957, with its mother church being Jarvis Ebenezer CRC. The early years of York with its 24 families were very humble. Church members were happy to see each other every Sunday. It didn't matter that they were worshipping the Lord in a converted school house, with rows of chairs for pews. Two years later we had our first minister. Rev. Hoytema shared 50/50 with Dunnville CRC.

Throughout the sixties we steadily grew in numbers. The Lord truly blessed York. In April 1971 we worshipped in our brand new church building. We said "goodbye" to Rev. VanderKwaak, and "hello" to Rev. DeVries in the summer of 1972. The seventies were not only big inflation times economically, but York was inflating too - as in church growth and closer to the Lord.

In 1977 Rev. Stel replaced Rev. DeVries, who had left the year before. By 1982, with its 22% interest rate, we not only said "goodbye" to Rev. Stel, but celebrated our 25th anniversary. The next year we said "hello" to Rev. DePater. The eighties were not as happy-go-lucky as the seventies, and the CRC in North America started to break out in concerned splinter groups.

Not along after Pastor John Postuma came in the spring of 1989, York was faced with some of its members joining a newly formed independent church. The Lord didn't say "goodbye" to York, he kept on blessing us. We were 131 families strong by the time we had our 40th anniversary in October 1997.

Sometimes you can not always stay on top, and by the time we said "goodbye" to Pastor John Postuma in October 2001, we were having tough times. There is always one good thing about being on the bottom. "There is no where to go but up."

Yes, the Lord has truly blessed York these past 45 years, and congratulations to Classis Hamilton on your 50th anniversary.