Central Woodward Christian Church - History

History

The Disciples of Christ came to Detroit in 1846, as a church was founded by Reverend William Nay. By the 1890s, the congregation had grown enough to construct a large church in downtown Detroit. In 1926 two Detroit congregations, Central Christian Church and Woodward Christian Church merged under the leadership of Dr. Edgar Dewitt Jones. Jones had been called to serve as pastor of Central Christian Church in 1920, and became pastor of the merged congregation in 1926. In 1928 a new building was constructed at the site of the previous Woodward Avenue Church to house the growing and influential congregation. They hired architect George Mason to design the building, which was opened in 1928.

In the late 1970s, after the congregation moved from Detroit to the northern suburb of Troy, the church built another building at 3955 West Big Beaver Road in Troy, retaining the name Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The congregation has had several pastors since its move to Troy. In July 2008, Dr. Robert Cornwall became the ninth called pastor to serve the church.

In 1978, the building at 9000 Woodward was sold to the Little Rock Missionary Baptist church, a primarily African-American congregation founded in 1938. A State of Michigan historical marker commemorated this church.

Read more about this topic:  Central Woodward Christian Church

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
    —Albert Camus (1913–1960)

    “Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
    —Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)