Church of the Servant Position Description:
Church of the Servant seeks to add to its pastoral team. We are open to a variety of possible positions—part time or full time—to accomplish our ministry needs in an increasingly multicultural congregation, and expectant of the Spirit’s guidance in putting together a pastoral team that can lead COS into the future.
Essential qualities: strong preaching, pastoral care skills, eagerness to work as part of a team.
Desirable qualities: cross-cultural experience, some fluency in the Swahili language, commitment to intergenerational ministry and faith formation.
If you wish to express interest or apply for this position, please respond to search@coscrc.org with a brief statement of your interest along with a description of your experience and qualifications. Should you qualify, we will then schedule an initial personal meeting with you.
Profile of the Church of the Servant:
Mission Statement: Rooted in Christ and nurtured by the Spirit, we grow in God’s grace to share gifts of refuge, fellowship, and hope.
As a congregation gathered around the Tree of Life, we are called to:
- participate in worship that is Reformed and liturgical, historic and modern, local and global
- prepare people for fruitful service by nurturing their gifts and cultivating their discipleship
- create a community where the burdened and suffering will find shelter, where the alienated will be accepted, and where those seeking God will be shown the way
- share God’s lavish love in Jesus and promote justice and peace for our neighbors near and far and for the earth, our common home
Brief History: COS was founded in 1973 by a group of dissidents of the CRC, unsatisfied with the worship and the quality of community in many CRC churches in the Grand Rapids area. Many of these early leaders were from Calvin College or its orbit. This was also the late 60’s and early 70’s, with a lot of turmoil in the society and the church over war and racism, just to name a few of the issues. Beginning in homes and then other small venues as an “underground church,” the movement grew and was finally established as a congregation in the CRC.
The congregation grew steadily, eventually meeting for some time in the gym of a Christian School. Its first pastor, John Vriend was well-loved, but, in a traumatizing time for the congregation was discovered to be in an adulterous affair, and deposed. The next pastor, Jack Roeda, came a critical time, and led the congregation with excellent preaching and pastoral care for the next 33 years. This was a time of growth and eventually, it became clear that it needed its own building. The present structure was eventually expanded to its present size.
Jack Roeda retired in 2014, deeply appreciated by the congregation. Leonard Vander Zee, a retired pastor and church member stepped in as Interim Pastor. Andrew Mead was serving his second year as a Lilly Resident Pastor (a program COS participated in for a decade), and was asked to stay on full time when his residence ended. He worked largely to develop the All Nations community. After a search, Karen Campbell was called to serve a full time co-pastor with Andrew—a fruitful team until Karen was called to return to her native Northern Ireland in 2023 due to family needs.
Presently, COS is in a process of disaffiliation from the Christian Reformed Church, largely over LGBTQ issues. The CRC adopted a Report on Human Sexuality in 2022 which, among other things, affirmed that any same-sex activities, even within marriage, are sinful. This was made a Confessional issue, and all office-bearers were expected to agree under threat of church discipline. COS had already committed itself to full inclusion for LGBTQ people, so inevitably were forced into the process of disaffiliation, along with a significant number of congregations in our area. We will have our first vote on March 23. If, as expected, the congregation votes to disaffiiliate, we have not yet decided on a new affiliation, but since our pastors are all ordained in the Reformed Church in America, that might be a logical path.
Following Pastor Karen’s departure, the church formed a task force to study our present structures and ministries. The report, called Flourishing Forward, recommended that we call a part-time associate pastor as well as a part time pastor serving our All Nations worshipping community with some knowledge of Swahili. The church council and the search team have embraced a more open perspective; we are willing to consider a full-time or part-time pastor in order to meet our specific needs at this time.
Worship: From its founding, COS was committed to a more broadly catholic and Reformed form of worship. One of its founding members, Nick Wolterstorff, was a passionate promoter of a liturgical and sacramental worship that characterized the church from early times. The liturgies follow the liturgical year and the traditional four-fold order (Entrance, Word, Sacrament, Sending) and includes the Eucharist as the climax of each service. Liturgical and Sacramental worship is core to COS’s identity.
Resulting from its long-standing passion for ministry with refugees and other immigrants, an additional worship service, replacing our 8:30 worship service, was begun in the 2000s. At first called the Basic English Service, now the All Nations Service, this worship includes both new Americans but also other congregation members, and typically has 60-70 worshippers. While following the same structure as the main service, care is taken to simplify both the liturgy and preaching. The All Nations Service is considered an alternate worship service within the one-church community of COS. Read more here.
Other Ministries:
Refugee Settlement: A team of people have worked for many years in refugee work such as sponsoring refugees, providing housing and other help. In 2022, we dedicated our mission house, a next-door house purchased for temporary housing for refugee families. This mission is part of the COS DNA. Read more here.
ESL Classes: about 100 New Americans and refugees meet two days each week with volunteer tutors for ESL. This ministry grew out of our long-standing refugee work. Read more here.
Anti-Racism: The Anti-Racism team monitors the congregation’s efforts to fight racism in all its forms in the congregation and community. It sponsors educational events and encourages leaders to participate in an Antiracism workshop. Read more here.
Creation Care: A regularly functioning team focuses on climate care initiatives for our building and grounds, and education for the congregation. Read more here.
Missions: The congregation sponsors a number of international missionaries, from Egypt to Indonesia and Latin America. Read more here.
Faith Formation: Sunday morning children’s worship (preschool-2nd grade sensory worship experience during the worship service), Sunday school (children/youth), GPS (God’s People Seeking: a regular Sunday morning adult education ministry); Thursday morning Bible study, Wednesday Night Live (middle/high school), Sunday Night Youth Group (SNYG) Read more here.
Present Membership Statistics
Church of the Servant has 339 professing members as of October 2024.
Worship attendance
| Tree of Life service | All Nations service | Zoom Attendance | |
| 2022 Totals: | 7452 | 1734 | 1818 |
| Average: | 226 | 62 | 65 |
| 2023 Totals: | 13920 | 2654 | 2416 |
| Average: | 309 | 59 | 54 |
| 2024 Totals: | 15200 | 2694 | 2511 |
| Average: | 310 | 55 | 51 |
| 2025 YTD totals: | 1758 | 300 | 374 |
| Average: | 293 | 60 | 62 |
Present pastoral/administrative Staff
Andrew Mead, M.Div., Lead Pastor
Leonard Vander Zee, M.Div., Part time Interim
Ben Videtich, M.Div., Minister of Congregational Life
Maria Stapert Vanderberg, Minister of Worship
Annette Ediger, Minister of Faith Formation
Jolanda Howe, Children’s Ministry Coordinator
Monica Smith, Church Administrator