In the Fall of 1977, a church-planting team from Ames, Iowa moved to Lansing to start a college church on the campus of Michigan State University. That church became Riverview.

The leadership of the church had two key desires when they launched: to train pastors and to send those pastors to start other churches. The mission of Riv hasn’t changed, and we now have pastors serving in cities across the midwest, and countries including Canada, Venezuela, Honduras, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and China.

A church plant on campus

In the Fall of 1977, a church-planting team from Ames, Iowa moved to Lansing to start a college church on the campus of Michigan State University. That church became Riverview, or more affectionately, “Riv,” but before that it was just a small house church, a dozen people (none older than 25) that came together to reach students with the Gospel. They played acoustic worship songs in living rooms, opened their Bibles, and pointed each other to Jesus. It wasn’t flashy, but it was real, and people kept coming.

From the start, Riv was committed to church planting. In 1983 (just six years in) we sent a team to plant a new church in Washington, D.C. In the next five years, nine more church plants followed in cities like Kalamazoo, Richmond, and State College. While we were rooted in campus ministry, we were already growing into a multiplying church.

By 1988, Riv had outgrown the living room and started meeting at the Kellogg Center on MSU’s campus. Every Sunday morning, we’d haul sound gear out of a clunky brown van and pop up a full church service in the auditorium. We averaged up to 200 people each weekend when we were booming; mostly college students and young adults, still captivated by the Gospel.

A permanent home

As Riv grew through the 90s, something unexpected happened: our church got older. The students we had reached were getting married and starting families. So we adapted, adding a kids’ ministry, starting new small groups, and figuring out how to be a church that reached both students and young families. We began to look ahead and ask: how do we build a church that lasts?

In 2001, after years of saving and praying, Riv opened its first permanent building in Holt, five miles south of MSU. We were hoping to grow to 500 people in four years. We hit 800 in one. By 2006, we had expanded to five weekend services, added two classrooms, and doubled our parking lot. We had become a multi- and next- generational church, still focused on reaching young people, but with a heart for all generations.

To continue reaching more people, we launched a building expansion, culminating in a 1,200-seat auditorium at the Holt Venue. It wasn’t about getting bigger for the sake of it, it was about making space for more people to hear the Gospel.

Multi-venue church

As Riv kept growing, we kept asking: how can we make it easier for people to connect with Jesus where they are?

In 2008, we went back to campus, launching the MSU Venue. Students could now worship just steps away from their dorms (and yes, some rolled out of bed two minutes before the service started). This venue took a hiatus after Covid and relaunched in the Fall of 2025.

In 2014, we opened our REO Town Venue just south of Lansing’s downtown district, and in 2015 we launched the Westside Venue in a historic building where the Gospel had been preached for over 150 years. Each venue became a full expression of the local church, unified under one mission: to proclaim the good news of Jesus to Greater Lansing and beyond.
Today, Riv is one church in multiple venues (urban, suburban, and campus) all unified in our love for Jesus and our desire to love our neighbors.

A multiplying church

Church planting has always been in Riv’s DNA and in the 2000s, we doubled down. After a long planting pause, we developed a Church Planting Residency Program, bringing on two future planters each year to train, equip, and send out. We also partnered with Acts 29, a global church planting network, and became the hub for Michigan churches. Pastor Noel now serves as the Midwest Regional Director for Acts 29, and our church has played a key role in training planters and funding new churches across the world. To date, we have more than 60 churches in our direct downline and have helped fund dozens more around the globe.
Between 2013 and 2025, we have given nearly two million dollars to church planting efforts worldwide and today, we continue to give 10% of our general budget to church planting.

We often say we want our people to love Jesus so much that they’re willing to go away—to plant churches, join new works, and help new venues get off the ground.

From a dozen young adults in a living room to a church family across multiple venues and cities, the story of Riverview Church is just a small part of God’s bigger story—one He’s been writing for over 2,000 years. We’re just grateful to be a small part of it.

This isn’t about Riv. It’s about Jesus.

It always has been.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:37–39