History

The history of our congregational falls into chapters.  Our first chapter is from 1955 to 1970.  We began as a congregation of persons of the Christian Reformed denomination who came to Miami from the Midwest. We built a church building on Flagler Street and worshipped there.

During the 1970’s, the social dynamics of our congregation and of our church neighborhood changed.  Many of our members moved to reside closer to their places of employment.  Some joined other  congregations closer to their residences.  Our congregation life changed.

During the 1980’s, after selling our Flagler St. church property, we became a “nomadic” church,  meeting at a number of different locations.   At one point, our congregation numbered only 12 families.  But a new pastor, Rev. Looman, who came to us in 1984 kindled a vision for growth and outreach.

In 1988, Rev. Mike Van Hofwegen, a Spanish speaking pastor from  Costa Rica, accepted our call to lead us. He was our pastor until April 1999.  During this chapter, we  relocated to the Country Walk shopping center.  Because Pastor Mike helped us bridge cultural and language barriers, our congregation soon became a mix of persons from many countries of the world.  Our congregation grew and was able to purchase 3 acres at 16550 SW 147 Ave.  To reflect the community of love found in our church, we  changed our name to South Kendall Community Church, expressing our new identity and vision.  On Easter Sunday, 1994 we dedicated our new facility, the first of three buildings we hope to construct on our property.

Pastor Vern Vander Zee led our congregation from 2000 until his retirement in 2008.  Under his shepherding we continued to grow in size and in faith, and we continued to "build community with Christ, each other, and our neighbors".  Pastor Vern is currently Pastor Emeritus of South Kendall Community Church, and serves as Regional Pastor for Classis Southeast of the Christian Reformed Denomination.  He is also Pastor to the CRC Pastors of the South East United States.