Friendship Community Church opens in Sergeant Bluff

Friendship Community Church, affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church in America, dedicated its new chapel early last year, in the Bluffs Area Family Center, located at the intersection of Lewis Boulevard and Topaz Drive. A grand opening was held on Oct. 19, after two years of small group meetings and evening services.

A generous donor recently gave five acres of land for the eventual establishment of a parish building. The land is next to the Sergeant Bluff Family Medicine Center, parallel to Interstate 29, just south of MCI Mass Markets, said the Rev. Verlyn Schaap, pastor. In the fall of 2004, the group plans to begin construction on the building on Sergeant Square Drive.

Schaap said the parish strives to focus on the family, especially young people who may have fallen away from their faith. Young people constantly use the excuse that there is nothing to do in Siouxland, Schaap said.

"Sometimes they're right," he agreed. "There are a lot of young adults who are having trouble meeting others outside of the bar scene. We hope to fill that need."

Schaap and his wife Carol and their four children were transplanted to this area from a "comfort zone" in Northern California. Although he had served as a pastor at other places, this was the first time he would be a church planter, an individual who helps congregations get started.

"I enjoyed my mission church in a very rural, ranch community and was very content," Schaap said. "When I was asked to help plant a nontraditional church in the Midwest, I had to ask myself, 'What is the greater step of faith, to stay or go?' I decided to step out of my comfort zone and move."

After Schaap's arrival in Siouxland, there were a number of questions that had to be answered about the church. Where would it be located? When would it be ready for a congregation?

Both of those questions were divinely answered, Schaap believes.

"I was at a Kiwanis meeting and Jon Winkel talked about the Sergeant Bluff Recreation Center and how it was hoped that there would be a chapel there used by a congregation," he said. "I still view it as the answer to our prayers."

The church uses the slogan, "Where you have a friend in Jesus and a friend in us;" the "us" referring to the church family.

The logo for the church expands on the slogan. It portrays a leaning cross which Schaap said signifies Christ reaching down to man.

As with many faiths, Friendship Community Church hopes to be meaningful and relevant to its congregation.

"We want to focus on the contemporary aspects of our society," Schaap said. "We want to incorporate drama and video and the use of a worship team to help that happen."

Another reason for the establishment of the church was an interest from former parishioners at the Christian Reformed Church in Sioux City, which closed about three years ago.

"Those families have gone elsewhere since then, and we hope to reach out to them and encourage them to join our congregation," Schaap said.

Individuals interested in more information on Friendship Community Church may call the church offices in Sergeant Bluff at (712) 943-6363. The church also has a Web site at www.friendshipchurch.net.