Our Roots

The Bible records story after story of how God moved and acted for a particular people at a particular time. We are reminded that these stories are not just some history lessons to be learned, rather as we read we realize this is OUR story to be lived. The God of heaven and earth is OUR God. God is active and on mission to share His love with the world.

This is OUR story of how God moved and acted among a community of people called LifeQuest….to give us a start, to give us purpose, to give us a rich and satisfying life in Christ.

Through a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit at the start of the new century (2000), new ministries were birthed at Christ Memorial Church. Pastor Mary Ann Wierks was called to be the Pastor of Outreach for Christ Memorial Church. Pastor Mary Ann previously served as a church planter in Maryland and introduced the Alpha Course to Christ Memorial Church. The Alpha Course was an effective way to reach into the community and engage those disconnected from Jesus and the church. Through the success of Alpha at Christ Memorial, participants wanted to expand its influence and sought opportunities to host Alpha on the North Side of Holland.

By God’s wonderful design, He led the Alpha Course leadership team into conversations with Request Foods, Inc. Request Foods, Inc. graciously opened up a spare break room so that The Alpha Course could be held on the North Side of Holland. It was during this period that Pastor Mary Ann connected with a seminary student name Toby Gruppen. Toby was interested in being a part of a new church start. With many new people coming to know Jesus while attending the Alpha course, as well as the start of a monthly food distribution called Angel Food Ministries, the community of people began to grow. Out of this group, God birthed a new church start.

Toby was called as the church planter in October of 2007. The newly forming church, with the encouragement and support of Christ Memorial Church, continued to offer Alpha and Angel Food and gather in prayer to seek the next steps. In the winter of 2008 a name was chosen - LifeQuest - and the small community started to gather for worship each Sunday at Request Foods.

In July of 2008 LifeQuest celebrated its first baptisms on the shores of Lake Michigan. It was also at this time that Request Foods was expanding production and needed to reclaim the break room. So, LifeQuest went seeking its first worship space. The leadership of LifeQuest committed themselves to prayer and were led to a building on the corner of James and 136th (our current location). However, due to the need to make physical improvements in the building to meet building code, LifeQuest enjoyed worshipping each Sunday during the remaining summer months at Dunton Park. Even amidst the unsettledness of moving from space to space God continued to bless and grow the community.

LifeQuest finally received the go ahead to start worshipping in Building 600 the week before Thanksgiving 2008. Since people were in the midst of the holiday rush it was decided to postpone the public launch until mid January. So on January 17, 2009 LifeQuest celebrated its public launch.

LifeQuest continues to celebrate and grow into the vision that God has placed before us. Thanks for being a part of our story.

The Beliefs That Shape Us

We believe in the centrality of Jesus Christ, his grace to forgive and power to transform lives. Our beliefs stem from the Reformed perspective. Check out this link to learn more about the Reformed Theology and a more detailed description of our core beliefs.

• God’s Word is the truth that guides us.
• Jesus Christ walked on this earth, gave His life for us, and conquered sin and death to give us life.
• The Holy Spirit has the power to transform lives.
• God has forgiven us, given us new life, and called us to use our gifts in service of his establishing his kingdom here on earth.

Future Fruit

The vision that God has placed before LifeQuest includes our hope to:

• Be a people who introduce others to Jesus Christ.
• Be a people who celebrate God’s rich diversity.
• Be a people where all feel welcomed and a part of the family.
• Be a people where transformation occurs.
• Be a people be a people who multiply and are sent to be a blessing in our community.