At 372 Jackson Street in southwest Grandville, in the area long known as the Village of Hanley, Hanley Church is an Orthodox Presbyterian Church plant. Hanley Christian Reformed Church has closed, and Hanley Church has taken over at the same address. Sunday worship is at 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The church's present shape is simple and clear, while its roots reach deep into the former village of Hanley, once surrounded by farmland and later absorbed into a suburban residential community. Hanley is known for Bible-centered worship that pairs contemporary songs with classic hymns, prayer, and preaching, and for a close identity with its neighbors.
From the Village of Hanley to an OPC Church Plant
The institutional change is a central part of Hanley's story. The former Christian Reformed congregation, which officially organized in 1961, is no longer operating as a CRC. In its place is Hanley Church, described as an Orthodox Presbyterian Church plant with a continuing Sunday witness at the Jackson Street address. That distinction matters because Hanley's worship vocabulary, educational programs, outreach relationships, and long local memory were shaped within the Christian Reformed Church. The continuing church at Jackson Street is explicitly Orthodox Presbyterian.
The area's story begins in the 1860s, when it was known as the Village of Hanley. It was named for Civil War hero Charles Jacob Hanley, whose family lived there. The small village consisted of a school, general store, cemetery, and post office, all surrounded by farmland. A Methodist congregation met in the school until 1888, when it purchased the property and built the first church building. Circuit-riding preachers conducted services there for 37 years. Dwindling numbers led the Methodist church to close in 1925.
That same year, Charles VanderLaan, a Sunday school teacher at First Jenison Christian Reformed Church, proposed to the church council that a Sunday school begin in the unused Hanley building. The class grew into a chapel with a whole-family Sunday school and two Sunday services. As membership increased, the developing congregation added Ladies Aid, a youth group, Mr. and Mrs. Society, Couples Club, Boys Club, choir, and vacation Bible school. Annual church picnics became another part of community life. On October 23, 1961, Hanley officially became a Christian Reformed Church with 133 professing members and 137 baptized children.
Growth changed the buildings. In the early 1970s, Hanley outgrew its white chapel, which had been rebuilt after a fire and had been expanded and remodeled several times. More families were moving into the area as surrounding farmland was sold, and the congregation built a larger facility. That building was expanded again in 2008. The practical result is a church shaped around two levels, with spaces for worship, teaching, fellowship, and service.
The CRC pastoral line was long: Evangelist Henry Hoekstra, 1961-1962; Rev. Harvey Bultje, 1963-1969; Rev. Allen Bultman, 1970-1977; Rev. Wesley Timmer, 1979-1988; Rev. Carl Bergman, 1989-1995; Rev. Craig Cunningham, 1998-2000; Rev. David Jolman, 2001-2007; Rev. Douglas Fauble, 2010-2016; and Rev. Joseph VandenAkker, 2018-2025. Their names mark decades in which Hanley continued to preach the truth of God's Word and seek to be a witness in its community.
Hanley Church now stands in that story with a new denominational identity. The Sunday services at 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. are its clearest present expression. Its location, however, remains the same: Hanley Church at 372 Jackson Street in Grandville.
Two Sunday Gatherings, One Biblical Dialogue
The Sunday gathering at 10:00 a.m. is built around the dialogue between God and his people. The established Hanley service has lasted about an hour and includes contemporary songs and classic hymns, prayer, and a biblical message intended to have relevance for life. The 4:30 p.m. service gives the congregation a second weekly gathering. Hanley also provides a YouTube livestream of Sunday worship.
The order of worship gives shape to that dialogue. The pastor begins as God's messenger with a call to worship, often using a Bible verse that points to God's power and love in creation and redemption. The congregation responds with wholehearted praise. The service then moves through repentance, assurance of pardon, and renewed commitment to a Spirit-led life marked by obedience, fruitful service, and love.
Prayer follows in humble reliance on God's providence. The congregation brings thanks and praise before God, along with the needs of church members, the broader community, the nation, the world, and the church throughout the world. The congregation then gives financially to God's works of redemption, renewal, healing, and mercy through local, regional, and worldwide ministries. Guests are not expected to give, but they may participate.
A brief age-appropriate children's message precedes the pastor's longer message to the congregation. The biblical message explains a passage and applies it to life, followed by a song that echoes the message and expresses commitment to live in the week ahead. The service closes with the pastor's blessing and the congregation's song glorifying God's name. After worship, coffee, cookies, and conversation create an unhurried moment of fellowship.
Hanley's worship tradition also includes the sacrament of Communion, typically celebrated on the third Sunday of August, November, February, and May, as well as on Good Friday. Guests who are communicant members of the church to which they belong are invited to participate.
A Reformed Confession in Plain Language
Hanley's theological statement is explicitly Christian, Reformed, and centered on the Bible. It begins with a holy Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is described as the gracious heavenly Father, creator of the universe, and sovereign ruler over it. Because humanity rebelled against God's rule, the good world became broken, both in nature and in human life. God's answer flows from his great love.
- God sent his Son to redeem. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who became human through the Virgin Mary. He lived in perfect obedience, died on a cross to pay the penalty for sin, rose from the grave, and ascended into heaven. There he is enthroned as Lord and King at God's right hand. Through faith in Jesus, people are united to Christ and receive the benefits of his saving acts by God's grace alone, responding with obedience and service.
- The Holy Spirit makes faith living. The Spirit enables people to believe and empowers a new life in which his influence, rather than sinful desires, increasingly shapes their actions.
- The Bible is the trustworthy standard. Hanley affirms the Bible as the inspired and fully reliable Word of God and seeks to shape both belief and life by it. The historic creeds and Reformed confessions are named as faithful expressions of God's Word.
The named Christian creeds are the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed. The Reformed confessions are the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort. The description of church follows from these convictions: it is a community called by God out of a broken and hurting world, redeemed by the blood of Christ's Son, and renewed by the Spirit. Its purposes are to worship and glorify God, strengthen one another in faith, and partner with God in redeeming and renewing life.
This language is plain, Christ-centered, and closely tied to historic Christian confession. It also explains why worship at Hanley is not simply a gathering for music or a single lecture. Singing, confession, assurance, prayer, teaching, response, and blessing form one movement of dialogue, repentance, grace, and renewed life.
Children Learning Their Place in God's Story
Children and youth have long been central to Hanley's ministry. The goal is for young people to learn to love and serve Jesus as soon as they can understand, through classes that teach the Bible and church, build relationships among the children, and put faith into service of the community. Faith formation is intended to begin in infancy and continue through youth into adulthood.
A nursery is provided for infants and toddlers during the morning worship service. It is on the main level at the east end of the foyer. The infant-baptism teaching places emphasis on God's covenant promises: God initiates the relationship, and people respond with faith, love, and obedience. Hanley describes children as God's children who can trust him completely and respond with grateful love, while the church seeks to nurture that simple faith toward maturity and deeper knowledge of God's Word.
Every Sunday morning during the school year, children gather with teachers on the lower level at 11:15 a.m. They begin with a time of worship and songs such as 10,000 Reasons and The Butterfly Song, then move into individual classes. The DWELL curriculum uses interactive play, dramatic storytelling, and wondering to help children understand their place in God's story. Families are encouraged to reinforce class lessons with God's Big Story cards during family devotions. All children from preschool through fifth grade are invited, while middle school and high school students meet for catechism classes after the morning service.
Other supports for young people include Christian boys and girls clubs, a middle school youth group, and a high school youth group. Hanley also treats a young person's public profession of faith in Christ as an important milestone. These ministries place children's learning beside worship, community relationships, and service rather than treating Bible knowledge as separate from life in the church.
Bible Study, Breakfast, and Family Fellowship
Adult education follows a steady monthly rhythm. Women's Bible Study is for women of all ages, married or single, and meets from 6:45 to 8:00 p.m. on the first and third Mondays. Men's Bible Study meets from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, and men of all ages are welcome. These groups make room for regular study of Scripture beyond the Sunday message.
Senior members meet for breakfast on the third Wednesday of each month at Byron Family Restaurant. The wider church family also gathers for a September picnic that launches the education year, with food and family activities such as a climbing wall, carnival games, a bouncy obstacle course, horseshoes, and beanbag toss. Potluck meals and Christian fellowship follow the morning service two or three times a year, and guests are welcome to join those gatherings.
Serving Grandville and Joining a Wider Mission
Local service has long been part of Hanley's identity. The former CRC congregation participated in Jehovah Jireh Ministries, a ministry that uses God's provision to meet physical and spiritual needs and helps others reach people in need. Jehovah Jireh provides free food and clothing along with Christian love and encouragement to about 200 families each week. Hanley supported that work by donating food and money and volunteering as needed.
Hanley members also volunteered with and donated money and products to Love Your Neighbor, a family support center serving under-resourced families in Hudsonville, Jenison, and Grandville. The center offers a practical path of hope, while the partnership connects local church families with a broader network of practical care.
The church's mission outlook extended well beyond Grandville. Through Guiding Light Mission, individuals are partnered with resources for rescue, recovery, and re-engagement in the community. The CRC ministry tradition also supported Jenny LeMahieu Gela in Papua New Guinea, where she helps local-language Scripture translators through workshops and activities. Her work includes storytelling, Sunday school workshops, Culture Meets Scripture workshops, Scripture engagement, and songwriting, all adapted to the needs of particular language communities.
Hanley also supported Friends of Kibbuse, which manages financial aid for the Kibbuse foundation. That foundation supports the Good Samaritan Clinic and the Kibbuse Vocational Training Centre in western Uganda. The clinic provides primary health care to a remote area where seven villages, along with roughly 20,000 to 30,000 people, have no medical service within walking distance. The vocational school serves a severely impoverished rural area and helps young people become job-makers rather than job-seekers.
During its CRC years, Hanley joined other churches in supporting church planting and growth in the United States, Canada, and around the world through Resonate Global Mission. Its shared ministry also included disaster response and poverty and world-hunger relief through World Renew, plus the training and placement of chaplains in military, campus, and hospital settings through Chaplaincy and Care Ministries.
That distinction is important. Local involvement, supported missions, educational rhythms, and Reformed heritage shaped the congregation now meeting at 372 Jackson Street, while its denominational label and Sunday schedule are explicitly Orthodox Presbyterian.
A Two-Level Building with Barrier-Free Access
The expanded church building serves the practical needs of worship and teaching. Restrooms are available on both the main level and lower level, and the main-level restrooms are barrier free. An elevator gives guests access to both levels, opening near the sanctuary on the main level and near the exit on the lower level. The sanctuary, classrooms, nursery, and lower-level gathering spaces are connected by that vertical access.
Visitors are also told what happens after the service: coffee, cookies, and conversation. That simple rhythm reflects Hanley's wider emphasis on common, down-to-earth people worshiping together, encouraging and praying for one another as Christian friends, and showing the love of Christ to neighbors. The building and its access features support the same down-to-earth welcome.
Worshiping, Growing, and Serving at Jackson Street
Hanley Church's story in Grandville is one of deep local roots and a clear denominational transition. A village Sunday school became a chapel, then a Christian Reformed Church with generations of teachers, pastors, children, and families. The worship tradition that grew there joins praise, confession, assurance, prayer, biblical teaching, and blessing. Its educational life has reached from nursery and Sunday school through youth, women's and men's Bible studies, and senior fellowship. Its service has extended from Grandville to Uganda and Papua New Guinea. Now, as an Orthodox Presbyterian Church plant, Hanley Church continues its Sunday witness at 372 Jackson Street, with worship at 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and a livestream available through YouTube. At its center remains the simple identity shared by the church: worship, grow, and serve.