Gathering Community on Cypress Drive
On a quiet residential street in Jenison, Michigan, just down the hill from Maplewood Park, Cottonwood Christian Reformed Church opens its doors twice on a Sunday morning. The congregation describes itself with a simple line that appears across everything it publishes: Gathering Community, Growing in Christ. Members come for two morning worship services and stay for a deep calendar of children's programs, youth groups, adult Bible studies, and a faith-based learning center that serves the surrounding neighborhood year-round.
Cottonwood sits at 1101 Cypress Drive in a part of Jenison that mixes single-family homes with green space. The church building houses the sanctuary, a Fireside Room used for adult Bible studies, classrooms for Sunday School, and the Cottonwood Christian Learning Center, an on-site early childhood program that has been part of the church's ministry for many years. The whole operation is run by a small pastoral team supported by a roster of ministry directors and volunteers.
What to Expect on Sunday Morning
Sunday worship at Cottonwood happens twice, at 8:50 am and 10:50 am. The second service is also the live-streamed service, with the broadcast beginning shortly before 10:00 am on the church's YouTube channel. Visitors are greeted with the same invitation the church gives online: come as you are, and feel free to dress casually.
Worship at Cottonwood blends a variety of music with congregational participation and a practical, Bible-based message meant to apply to everyday life. The music team, coordinated each week by Worship Director Eric Gladding, draws on contemporary worship songs alongside more traditional hymns. Gladding and his wife Lauren both help lead singing, and a rotation of musicians, vocalists, sound, and video technicians work behind the scenes to put the service together. A glimpse of the current song list and recordings of past services are kept online so people who cannot attend in person can still follow along.
Nursery care is available for children two and under during the morning services, and Walk With Me, the church's program for three- to five-year-olds, runs at the same time in a space set up just for them. Parents are reassured that the nurseries are clean and safe, and that the Walk With Me teachers walk through a Bible story each week with songs, crafts, and quiet play.
Rooted in the Reformed Tradition
Cottonwood identifies itself as a Christian Reformed congregation, a denomination that traces its roots to the sixteenth-century Reformation and to the Dutch Reformed churches that settled across the Great Lakes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The church's own statement of belief says that the Bible is the Word of God, that it leads to salvation and shows how God calls people to live. It confesses a Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: God the Father as creator, Jesus Christ as the eternal Son who died on the cross and rose from the grave, and the Holy Spirit as the one who leads the church into truth, enables belief, and empowers service. Salvation, in Cottonwood's words, is by grace through faith.
Being Reformed, for Cottonwood, also means holding to the historic Christian creeds, particularly the Apostles' Creed, and to the Reformed confessions, particularly the Heidelberg Catechism. It means believing that the whole world belongs to God and that all of life is to be lived for his honor and glory. And it means that the church is to be ever-reforming, listening and submitting to the Spirit. In the church's own summary, it is a community of believers who want to grow in God's grace together and who feel called to share that grace with their neighbors through what they say and through what they do.
Walking With Kids From Nursery Through Fifth Grade
Children's ministry at Cottonwood reaches from the cradle through the elementary years. Sunday School meets most Sundays during the school calendar for children from age four through eighth grade, with classes organized by age so that younger children hear the stories of the Bible and older children dig into what those stories mean for their own lives.
Two midweek programs round out the week for elementary-age kids. GEMS, for girls in second through fifth grade, meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month from 6:30 to 8:30 pm during the school year. The program combines worship, devotions, small-group Bible study, badge work, crafts, games, service projects, and special events such as Theme Night, GEMS and Gents Night, Late Nighter, and Spring Celebration. Cadets, for boys in second through fifth grade, also meets on Mondays from 6:30 to 8:30 pm beginning in September. Modeled on a Christian scouting format, each gathering includes a Bible lesson, time to work on projects like model rockets, knot tying, and woodworking, gym time, and annual outings such as canoeing, a Snow Derby, and a Winter Campout.
For the youngest families, Cottonwood Christian Learning Center provides full-day child care on the church's campus. Director Kim Mulder, who holds a degree in child development and is certified in infant and toddler care, has been working in daycare settings since she was sixteen and oversees a program dedicated to treating each child as a precious treasure created by God. The Learning Center is open to families in the wider community, not only to church members.
Middle School, High School, and a Place to Belong
Two student ministries take over when kids graduate from Children's Sunday School. Impact, the middle school youth group, gathers students who are beginning to walk with Christ in their daily lives. The group's leaders, including Youth Pastor Wes Milleson and Youth Ministries Assistant Hailey VanLaar, walk alongside students through Bible teaching, small groups, fundraisers, and service projects that reach beyond the church walls. Milleson joined the Cottonwood team in 2018 and is described as having a vision for teaming up with families and other leaders to encourage students to take ownership of their faith.
Aftershock is the high school ministry, aimed at students forming a long-lasting relationship with Christ and recognizing him throughout their daily lives. Like Impact, Aftershock runs fundraisers and service projects throughout the year and integrates students into the life of the wider church body. Meal and snack sign-ups, weekly update forms, and event calendars for both groups are kept current online so families can plug in easily.
Bible Studies and Small Groups for Adults
Adults at Cottonwood have several weekly Bible studies to choose from. Two men's studies run side by side. One meets on Monday nights from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at the church; the other gathers on the first and third Wednesday mornings of the month during the school year, starting at 6:30 am at Russ' Restaurant in nearby Grandville.
Women have three options, all anchored in the Fireside Room at the church. The first meets on Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm. A second meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 1:00 pm. The third meets on Thursday mornings at 9:30 am. In addition to these scheduled studies, small groups are offered for anyone who wants to grow in their walk with Christ, find a place to belong, and make new friends. Ministries Coordinator Kathy Feenstra oversees the small group ministry and helps new members get assimilated into the congregation.
We Serve, We Care, and Kids Hope
Cottonwood organizes its outreach and pastoral care under two named ministries. We Serve aims to be the hands and feet of Christ by meeting the tangible needs of the church and community, from home repair and hospitality to labor, relational support, and prayer. The ministry is open to anyone willing to lend a hand and to anyone in need. Volunteers and those needing help can reach the We Serve line through the church office.
We Care walks alongside members and others associated with Cottonwood during difficult seasons. When possible, the ministry extends into the wider community, helping people navigate a crisis. A prayer line is staffed through the church office for anyone in need of confidential prayer.
Beyond its own walls, Cottonwood has partnered with Kids Hope USA, a national mentoring program that places vetted adult mentors in local elementary schools. Mentors must be at least eighteen years old and meet one-on-one with a student for one hour each week during school hours. Each mentor-student pair is supported by a prayer partner who receives updates and prays consistently for both. The congregation is also invited to support the partnership financially.
Pastors and Staff Who Know the Congregation
Pastor Matt Palsrok and his wife Connie came to Cottonwood in 2000, and Pastor Matt serves as the primary preacher and is involved in leadership, pastoral care, outreach, and many of the day-to-day activities of church life. Associate Pastor Matthew Wright joined the staff in 2025, bringing experience in pastoral care and theological education. Originally ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Wright moved to the Christian Reformed Church in 2020 and has served congregations in Michigan and California.
Ben Tol serves as Cottonwood's Calling Pastor, drawing on a career that began with his ordination in 1976 and included five congregations in four states before his retirement in 2016. Worship Director Eric Gladding coordinates the music ministry each week, with support from a team of musicians and technicians. Office Assistant Alecia Vandenberg, who joined the team in 2024, keeps both the physical and digital sides of the church running, and Hailey VanLaar serves as Youth Ministries Assistant in addition to her work in special education at a local middle school.
Together, this staff and a wider circle of volunteers hold together a congregation that meets twice on Sunday, runs weekday Bible studies for men and women, walks alongside students from middle school through high school, cares for the youngest children through the Cottonwood Christian Learning Center, and reaches into Jenison and beyond through Kids Hope and We Serve.