Two Sunday Services on Old Guide Road
Mt. View Christian Reformed Church sits on Old Guide Road in rural Whatcom County, about fifteen minutes south of Lynden and roughly the same distance from Ferndale and Bellingham. It is a small congregation of around a hundred people, mostly blue-collar with backgrounds in farming, whose members describe themselves as down-to-earth. On Sundays the church gathers twice: at 10:30 in the morning and again at 6:00 in the evening, and both services are livestreamed. The congregation was organized on July 18, 1971, after five Christian Reformed churches in the Lynden area formed a Long Range Planning Committee to plant a sixth church out in the country. More than fifty years later, the basic rhythm of two Sunday services, a strong emphasis on expository preaching, and a fellowship that calls itself "sinners saved by grace" remains.
Worship with a Casual-Traditional Feel
Worship at Mt. View is "casual yet with a traditional feel and a strong emphasis on Biblical preaching." The congregation joins together in preaching, a time of repentance, music, giving, prayer, and fellowship, and seeks to glorify God and see His people transformed and renewed. Members and visitors are welcome to come dressed in whatever way honors God; the only dress code the church has, whether formal or casual, is one of humility, drawn from 1 Peter 5:5. Psalms are sung alongside newer worship songs drawn from sources like Sovereign Grace Music, the Trinity Psalter Hymnal, the Sing Hymnal, and the blue Psalter Hymnal. A Worship Committee introduces a new Song of the Month each month that is sung during the morning service, helping the church take to heart older hymns while learning newer ones.
Preparing for the Service
The Scripture readings and songs are listed in advance so that worshipers can prepare by praying for the pastor and the congregation throughout the week. A typical Sunday morning might include readings from a Psalm and a New Testament epistle, a sermon through a consecutive book of the Bible, and a sequence of songs such as "Turn Your Eyes," "The Lord is My Salvation," "Teach Me, O Lord Your Way of Truth," "I Will Wait for You," "Yet Not I, but Through Christ in Me," and "Victory in Jesus." The Sunday evening service takes a similar shape, often with a different passage and a more confessionally oriented song selection that has included "Come, People of the Risen King," "Behold, Our God," "God Be Merciful to Me," "Whiter than Snow," "Revive Thy Work, O Lord," and the Gloria Patri. Two offerings are taken each Sunday, with the first going to Denominational Ministry Shares for the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the second rotating to mission partners such as Eden House and New Way Ministries.
What to Expect When Visiting
The building sits back from Old Guide Road in the country between Lynden and Bellingham. As visitors enter, the nursery for children from birth through age three is to the left down the hallway, available during both worship services. Children ages three through first grade are dismissed during the morning service for Children's Church, which uses the DWELL curriculum from Faith Alive Christian Resources and engages the children with an interactive story time, snacks, crafts, coloring, and prayer. Visitors who stay for the morning service are invited to refreshments and fellowship afterward in the church fellowship space. The Sunday evening service has its own nursery and an alternating Sunday evening option for high schoolers after the service. The office is open Thursday from 9:30 to 1:00, and the pastor is reachable through the church office at 360-398-9292.
Children and Youth
From September through the school year, Sunday School classes meet before the morning service. Students gather at 9:15 a.m. working through the New City Catechism, while adults meet at 9:30 a.m. The children's Sunday School covers ages three through eighth grade, and a high school class meets on alternating Sunday evenings after the evening service. This year the high school group has been working through the book of Ephesians with the goal of learning how to read and understand the Bible and how to live out their salvation at a pivotal stage of life; the first half of the evening is Bible study and the second half is games and fellowship.
Two long-standing midweek programs round out the children's ministries. GEMS, or Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior, is a club for girls in first through eighth grade that meets to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ, with the vision of seeing girls around the world actively and enthusiastically expressing love for God and others. Mt. View Cadets is the corresponding program for boys in first through eighth grade, incorporating Bible study and memorization, badgework and hands-on projects, and physical activity and outdoor adventure. Both programs are supported by Mt. View in prayer and finance.
Adults Growing Together
For adults, several small groups meet at various days and times throughout the week. A Tuesday evening group works through R. C. Sproul's video series "The Holiness of God." Thursday evenings feature a Bible study on Exodus and Numbers by John MacArthur for the post-high group, alongside a video study of Sproul's "Choosing My Religion" for adults of all ages. A Friday morning group gathers for a light lunch and discussion of a devotion from Charles Spurgeon followed by prayer, and a Friday evening group works through MacArthur's Genesis study for young couples. Regular small group meetings pause for the summer and pick back up in the fall. Women's Bible Study meets Thursday mornings from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., gathering women of all ages for fellowship, prayer, and study. The Adult Sunday School class meets at 9:30 a.m. before the morning service throughout the school year.
Confessing the Faith
Mt. View is rooted in the Reformed tradition, with the Bible as the ultimate and final authority. The Three Forms of Unity shape its teaching: the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort. The congregation also affirms the ecumenical creeds, the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, and holds to the Five Solas of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Christo, and Sola Deo Gloria. A sermon series on the Canons of Dort walks through their popular acronym TULIP, summarizing that human beings are Totally Depraved, that God elects Unconditionally, that Christ's atonement is Limited in scope to the elect, that God's grace is Irresistible, and that the Perseverance of the Saints is secure in Christ. The Heidelberg Catechism is taught regularly, and the Canons of Dort are read aloud during some evening services, as in the recent series through Acts 21 where Articles 1 through 3 of the Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine were opened together.
A Half-Century in the Country
The church's history begins with a Long Range Planning Committee formed in late 1970 by delegates from five Christian Reformed Churches in the Lynden and Bellingham area: First CRC, Second CRC, Third CRC, Bethel CRC, and Bellingham CRC. On July 1, 1971, about thirty-five families met and signed their names expressing interest in a new CRC congregation in the Meridian School District. The first worship service was held on July 18, 1971 at the Ten Mile Grange on Hannegan Road, and Pastor Mel Flikkema and his wife began serving the new congregation that September.
The first consistory included elders Jack Appel, Si Kingma, Henry Mans, and Joe DeWaard, and deacons George Visser, Peter Speelman, and Arlyn Plagerman. A ground breaking ceremony took place on July 17, 1972, and a parsonage was built the same year. The new building was dedicated April 8 to 11, 1973. The four Lynden Christian Reformed Churches together gave a gift of $28,000 to help the new church get started. The original charter membership list, preserved in the church's records, names nearly forty families who committed themselves to the work, including the Appels, the Bodes, the Cobbs, the DeWaards, the Honcoops, the Kingmas, the Kleinhuizens, the Manses, the Mellemas, the Plagermans, the Smits, the Speelmans, the TeVeldes, the Timmers, the Tjoelkers, and the Vissers, among others. The church marked its fiftieth anniversary on June 5, 2022 with a morning service titled "The Mountain View" from Deuteronomy 34.
The dedication program articulated the convictions still held by the congregation: that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, that the Bible is an open book for all to read and understand, and that the cornerstone of living faith is "By grace are you saved through faith" (Ephesians 2:5). The site was set apart for the worship of God in prayer and praise, for the preaching of Christ's gospel, for the celebration of the Lord's Supper and Holy Baptism, for the comfort of all who mourn, for the strengthening of family life, and for the conversion of sinners and the extension of the kingdom of God.
The Pastor's Voice
The current pastor, Bryan Lanting, is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary who serves the church alongside his wife Sydney. The pastor's blog, hosted on the church's site, features extended written reflections on topics including the necessity of Christian education, the nature of objective truth, lament as a pathway of worship, the difference between inward and outward unity, and what it means to meet God in the wilderness. In those posts he has argued that the church should be a place where Scripture is taught robustly and where young believers learn to defend the hope that is within them, that public worship must never be reduced to a consumer experience measured by an hour of engaging music and comfortable seating, and that believers should be marked by mercy, compassion, love, kindness, and sacrifice in the face of a watching world.
Preaching Through Books of the Bible
The church's sermon archive goes back to 2018, and the regular pattern is consecutive exposition of books of the Bible with a separate evening sermon from a different text. Recent series have included extended walks through the Gospel of Mark, the Epistle to the Philippians, the Pastoral Epistles, the book of Acts, the book of Genesis, the Epistle to the Colossians, the letter of 1 Peter, the letter of 2 Peter, the Psalms, the Prophet Jonah, the Gospel of John, and the book of Job. In 2026 the morning series moved through the Epistle to the Colossians while the evening series walked through the later chapters of Acts. Several guest preachers, including Pastor Gerald Rutgers, Pastor Will Southard, Pastor Zacchary Harrison, Rev. Aaron De Boer, Rev. Mark Vander Pol, and Dr. Robert Godfrey of Ligonier Ministries, have filled the pulpit over the years. Memorial services for members are also livestreamed and archived on the church's Memorials page.
Strong in the Lord: A Conference on the Reformed Faith
In April 2025 Mt. View joined with a neighboring United Reformed Church to host "Strong in the Lord: The Legacy of J. Gresham Machen for Us Today," a three-session conference led by Dr. Robert Godfrey, a Teaching Fellow with Ligonier Ministries. The sessions - "Strong in Fundamentals: Faith on trial in the heart," "Strong in the struggle: Faith on trial in the courts," and "Strong in the church: Faith on trial in the Church" - drew on Ephesians 6:10 and reflected the church's interest in rooting its ministry in the historic Christian faith and the Reformed confession. Dr. Godfrey also preached the Sunday evening service during the conference weekend, working through Psalm 103.
Supported Ministries Near and Far
Beyond its own ministries, Mt. View supports an extensive network of mission partners in Whatcom County, Washington State, the United States and Canada, and around the world.
In Whatcom County the church partners with Lynden Human Life, which educates the public about the protection of the unborn and elderly; Young Life in the local schools; New Way Ministries, a transitional living facility in Lynden that houses up to twenty-five families of homeless women and children affected by addiction, domestic violence, human trafficking, or crisis pregnancy; Lighthouse Mission; and Envision Mission, which runs a downtown Jesus Study, Street Night evangelism in Bellingham, BTC Salt campus fellowship at Bellingham Technical College, and Summit Houses, a transitional discipleship program.
In Washington State and the broader region the church supports Bethany Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Maple Falls, which began as a Bible study during the COVID-19 pandemic and later received the historic Bethany Chapel and cemetery; Engedi Refuge; Project Hope; Youth Dynamics, served by Tim Nieuwsma and his family, members of Mt. View; Graduate Christian Fellowship at the University of Washington, where Geoff and Ashley Van Dragt serve as chaplains; Church on the Ave; and NW Hispanic Ministries.
Across the United States and Canada the church supports Crossroads Prison Ministries, served by Steve and Sandy Frieswick; Seafarers Ministry with Gary Roosma, who meets crews at the Port of Vancouver; Trail's End Ranch, a Christian youth camp in the Custer National Forest where Wade and Kerri Howard, former members, now serve; the Gideons; and the Luke Society.
Around the world the church supports World Renew; Starfish Ministries, which runs schools in thirty-one Haitian villages with feeding programs, an orphanage, and a medical clinic under construction; Eden House, a home for at-risk girls in Thailand; Eagles Nest; and Cary Christian Center. The church also contributes to GEMS, Mt. View Cadets, and the Christian Reformed Church's denominational Ministry Shares that fund church planting, leadership training, chaplaincy, and media outreach across North America and the world.
Listening and Singing Throughout the Week
Worshipers who want to dig deeper can listen to past services in several ways. The church's YouTube channel hosts a complete archive of livestreamed services going back several years, and additional playlists are kept on Spotify. Audio recordings of sermons are also available through Sermon Audio and as part of the church's archived sermon series. The Daily Devotions page links to Truth for Life with Charles Spurgeon, the One-Year Bible Reading Plan, Alistair Begg's sermon archive, and a daily verse at Biblia. The church also points members and visitors to local Christian radio station Praise 106.5, RefNet (Reformation Network), Ligonier's twenty-four-hour internet radio, daily Bible reading plans from She Reads Truth, and the church's Facebook page.
Planning a Visit
Sunday mornings at 10:30 and Sunday evenings at 6:00 are the two gathering times. Both services are livestreamed. The church building sits at 6678 Old Guide Road, Lynden, WA 98264, and can be reached by calling the office at 360-398-9292 or by emailing through the contact form on the site. Sunday School, nursery, and Children's Church are available for the morning service, with nursery also available during the evening service. There is no dress code beyond humility, and visitors are welcomed as part of the family.