Weekend celebration planned
By: Greg Forester
MONTGOMERY This weekend, one of Montgomery’s older churches will celebrate nearly two centuries of worship.
Blawenburg Reformed Church, on Route 518, will celebrate its 175th anniversary with a weekend of events and special guests, along with the release of a book about the church’s long history in Montgomery.
The weekend celebration will include tours of the cemetery at 1 p.m. Saturday and the Blawenburg Village Preschool at 2:30 p.m. Sunday’s festivities will include a worship service followed by a lunch and reception to commemorate the event.
Sunday’s anniversary service at 10 a.m., originally to be held within the church itself, has been moved to the adjacent Memorial Hall due to problems with the church ceiling.
Former pastor James Cook, who now works at the highly respected Western Theological Seminary in Michigan, will attend the festivities, along with former pastors Kenneth Bradsell and David Blauw.
The Rev. Bradsell has become chief of operations for the entire Reformed Church in America since working at Blawenburg Reformed Church in the 1970s.
The Rev. Blauw served the church in 1980s and now works as senior chaplain at Holland Hospital in Michigan.
Members of the church and the current pastor, the Rev. Richard van Doren, are really looking forward to seeing their old pastors, church officials said.
"Many of the members have very fond memories of these pastors," said Robert Bradsell, current church elder and brother of guest speaker the Rev. Bradsell. "Many of them joined the church during these pastors’ tenures." Along with the anniversary party, the church will also be celebrating the release of a book, "Blawenburg Reformed Church, 1832-2007, 175 Years of Faith and Hope", which details the history of the old church.
The book includes over 100 photographs.

