Spring Lake Presbyterian Church, Spring Lake, Michigan

25 Monday Jun 2012

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celtic cross, gothic, Grand Haven MI, mid-century modern, Presbyterian churches, Spring Lake, Spring Lake Presbyterian Church

I saw this really cool church as we were driving through Spring Lake, on our way into Grand Haven, Michigan.

I was surprised to see that my hunch was correct and that this was something of a mid-century modern twist on Gothic. It turns out it was built in 1957. I’d love to see the interior.

Spirit of Hope Church, Detroit, Michigan

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by Sean in Uncategorized

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Anglican, Anglican Communion, Detroit Churches, Detroit MI, Detroit Michigan, Episcopal, Faith Memorial Lutheran church, gargoyles, gothic, Grand River Avenue, historic churches, inclusive churches, liberal churches, Lutheran, Protestant, Protestant churches, Spirit of Hope Church Detroit, Trinity Episcopal Church, Trumbull Street

My business Friday necessitated that I make a stop along Trumbull Avenue before returning to my cozy office in the suburbs. I figured I would explore Trumbull a bit by driving north. The plan was to hit Grand River and take that to I-96 and back home. I knew I’d see beautiful buildings and dilapidated buildings that were once proud, graceful, like the city. Fortunately I ran across Spirit of Hope Church, at the corner of Trumbull Street and Grand River Avenue, on a nice, sunny autumn day.

The church’s gothic architecture grabbed me. I first saw the tower at the rear of the church and it reminded me of an old castle. After taking a closer look, I was enthralled to find gargoyles and carved men watching over God’s house.

By history, this church is a combination of Faith Memorial Lutheran and Trinity Episcopal Churches. Like many urban churches of this kind, it has a history of feeding and meeting the needs of the hungry and disadvantaged.

In the late 1990s the congregations of Faith Memorial Lutheran and Trinity Episcopal Churches, located just blocks from one another, began exploring what it would mean to do ministry together and share a pastor. Times had changed since the congregations’ founding.

Faith Memorial Lutheran Church, founded at the corner of Trumbull Avenue and Alexandrine Street in 1956, was established by the Lutheran Church to serve residents of the Jeffries Housing Projects. The church became well known as a place of refuge for the hungry, homeless or those who were in anyway feeling rejected because of their income, race or class. When most of the Jeffries was imploded in 2001, a very large percentage of the church’s constituency left or was forced to leave the neighborhood.

Trinity Episcopal Church, founded at the corner of Trumbull Avenue and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. (formerly Myrtle Avenue) in the 1880s, Trinity was established as a neighborhood congregation that reached out first to the local Irish contingency, and then to others as the neighborhood changed over the decades. Trinity became known as the local home of the Police Athletic League, Sunshine Community Preschool and numerous food programs. The declining population of the neighborhood led to the declining population of the congregation.

After years of deliberation and prayer, Trinity and most active members of Faith Memorial took a leap of faith in April of 2006 and began worshipping together as one congregation, since known as Spirit of Hope. Today we worship God in everything that we are, blessed followers of Jesus Christ.

Reflecting a more liberal theology or approach to Christianity, Spirit of Hope seeks “empower all races, genders and gender expressions, sexual orientations, physical abilities, denominational or religious backgrounds, to serve one another as God has gifted us to do.”

Grace to Grace Christian Fellowship, Detroit, Michigan

14 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by Sean in Uncategorized

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churches in Detroit, Corktown, Corktown Detroit, Detroit Churches, Detroit MI, Detroit Michigan, gothic, Grace to Grace Christian Fellowship, Grace to Grace Detroit, Lutheran churches, Michigan Avenue, Michigan Central Station, non-denominational churches, southwest Detroit, stained glass, steeple

Grace to Grace Christian Fellowship church stands at the corner of 17th and Rose streets in Detroit, in the shadows of the old Michigan Central Station. Looking at the steeple, one would assume the place is dilapidated and abandoned but, actually, the building is somewhat well-kept (at least functionally) and seems to house an existing congregation.

I have only found one website with information about this church. The information seems unsubstantiated but, of course, that does not make it untrue. This site also give the date on the cornerstone as 1870. On my photo, it looks like 18_2. Judge for yourselves.

http://detroit1701.org/Grace%20to%20Grace.html

Grace to Grace Christian Fellowship, Detroit, Michigan, 17th and Rose Streets

Grace to Grace front door

Grace to Grace steeple

Grace to Grace cornerstone, 18_2 (?)

Grace to Grace stained glass

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Detroit, Michigan

01 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by Sean in Uncategorized

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Anglican church, Anglicans, Church of England, Comerica Park, Detroit Churches, Detroit episcopal churches, downtown Detroit, Episcopal church, Episcopalians, gargolyes, gothic, I-75, St. John's Episcopal Church, St. John's Episcopal Church Detroit, victorian, victorian gothic, Woodward Avenue

Despite knowing next to nothing about the church (until today), St. John’s Episcopal Church, at Woodward Avenue and I-75, has always been one of my favorite churches in the area (from an aesthetic point of view.) I used to attend grad school where Comerica Park currently stands, just south of this beautiful church. I loved looking at it when I passed by on the way home from school. I imagined it to be as awe-inspiring inside as it is on the outside. Sadly, I’ve not had a chance to worship in this fabulous place. Hopefully, this church is as dynamic spiritually as it is physically.

If you want to know more about the church, check out its website — http://www.stjohnsdetroit.org/

The Patriarch of Piety Hill
A Brief History of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Detroit, Michigan

Orchards, farms, and a few suburban homes surrounded St. John’s Episcopal Church when it was built on what was to become known as Piety Hill, on the northern outskirts of Detroit in 1860. The parish had been organized on St. John the Evangelist Day, 27 December, 1858. Henry Porter Baldwin, a successful merchant and later governor of Michigan and United States senator, conceived the idea of establishing Detroit’s sixth Episcopal parish in this outlying area, and became its principal lay leader and benefactor. He purchased and donated property (125 feet on Woodward Avenue and 175 feet on High Street – where the Fisher Freeway now runs), and underwrote the entire cost of building a chapel to seat 150 persons and a rectory.

At the dedication of the chapel in 1859, it was realized that the building was inadequate. Its pews were already over-subscribed. Jordan and Anderson, architects who had designed the chapel, were commissioned to draw plans for a church building. Just a year and a half later, on 10 December 1861, the new church was completed and consecrated.

The design of St. John’s is Victorian Gothic. The exterior is rubble limestone quarried in the downriver area and brought upstream by barge. The trim is Kelly Island sandstone. The north and south side walls and roof are supported by buttresses and hammer beam trusses. The tower and belfry rise 105 feet and the building, including the chapel, is 170 feet long and 65 feet wide. A large number of gargoyles may be seen in the roof lines and in the base of the hood moldings of the windows and doors. Gargoyles are common to early European church structures where they serve as downspouts. St. John’s gargoyles are solely decorative; some are severe, some are impish, but all are a source of interest and conjecture.

For more on the history, check out the church’s history page at its website — http://www.stjohnsdetroit.org/history/ You can explore the church’s interior in some of the photographs in the “Gallery” tab on the home page.