 OUR
HISTORY
Like the pilgrims of old, our founding families came to
Detroit one by one ... from Alabama ... from Georgia ... from Mississippi ...
they came. They sought a better life; a life free from oppression; a life free
from hunger; a life free from tyranny. The time was immediately following World
War I. They found five dollar a day jobs; they found better homes; they found a
better way of life - but could not find a Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, so
they joined other congregations.
Upon learning of the loss of good, faithful members,
the Southeast Missouri and Illinois Conference designated Rev. O.L. Mitchell to
rally former C.M.E.'s dispersed to other churches in the Detroit area. He
organized a mission in his own home on Charlevoix Street in 1917, and named it
St. John after the apostle.
Bishop R.A. Carter was presiding Bishop of the region
which included Michigan. He assisted the new congregations in purchasing a
church building on DuBois and Catherine Streets which had been occupied by a
German Lutheran congregation. The growth of St. John Church was phenomenal so
that within two years they needed a larger church building. In 1920 the
congregation moved to the former St. Mark English Evangelical Lutheran Church on
Dubois and Catherine Streets.
The church flourished and expanded both in numbers and
outreach to the community. Following World War II, the church auditorium was
becoming too small for comfort. Plans were laid for seeking another building and
in 1955, St. John purchased North Woodward Congregational Church on
Woodward Avenue at Blaine Street, becoming the first African American
congregation to have a church on "Piety Hill", the affluent section of
Woodward Avenue with many prestigious churches. North church was built in 1908
and continues to be home for St. John C.M.E. Church today, with seating for
2,500 persons. Membership in the late fifties grew from 600 to 1,500.
There has been a long line of well-known Pastors of St.
John, including the Rev. Tony Curtis Henderson who came to the church in 1991.
He has developed many outreach programs to minister to those in need in the
region. Concerned with the numerical and spiritual growth of the congregation,
Pastor Henderson is promoting and sharing a theology of ministry consisting of
five points: Teaching, Fellowship, Worship, Human Concerns, and Healing. These
form the basis for building upon the great heritage and legacy of those who have
built the congregation.
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ST.
JOHN
