The Allen Park Church of Christ is a congregation of loving people who focus their lives on following Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament.
We are simply Christians seeking to be what God wants His children to be. We love all people, we strive to serve God with our greatest ability, and we serve the world around us.
Dec. 3rd, 1950, James D. Groves minister of Vinewood congregation preached the first sermon, while Floyd Wiley minister of South Dearborn congregation led the singing that day. Ten persons placed membership that day. A building program soon got underway in 1953 and a contractor was hired to construct the shell of the building. Members of the church did the remainder of the work. The Allen Park Church of Christ officially stopped renting in 1955 as services were held in the basement of the new building. Work continued on the upstairs and was completed in 1957. The members had done just about all of the work — sometimes to the chagrin of the city’s building inspectors — including plumbing, heating and digging a hole for the installation of a fuel oil tank.
There were some discouraging times during the building — the ceiling in the auditorium collapsed the night after it had been installed. From this members learned better building techniques and increased tolerance. The new auditorium seated 160 persons. Folding chairs were used at first but were later replaced with church pews. The Bible school classes met downstairs.
Although an educational wing, consisting of twenty classrooms and two offices, was built, additional seating for worship services and parking facilities were badly needed. Further expansion on Southfield Road was impossible. The Elders, after investigating several possible locations in Allen Park, finally decided to purchase seventeen acres of property on Outer Drive between the Ford expressway and Southfield Road. This was the Burger Family farm, one of the pioneer farms in the area. Eleven of the seventeen acres purchased were rezoned and sold to a land developer for the construction of an apartment complex, the Willow Cove Apartments.
Under the direction of the building committee, construction of the present building began in September of 1962. Work progressed fairly smoothly, and the congregation met for its first worship service in its new building the first Sunday in May 1963. The building consisted of an auditorium with a seating capacity of 800, twenty-six classrooms, three offices, two storage rooms two nurseries and a basement fellowship area 40 Ft by 90 Ft , along with a fully equipped kitchen.
A five-bedroom brick veneer home was built on the church property for the minister and completed in January 1968. During this time, plans were made for the establishment of a facility to provide foster care for children construction and furnishing a five bedroom, brick veneer home, which would house five or six children began and operation of the Allen Park Church of Christ childcare Center began in 1971. Because of restrictions, regulations and demands of the state, the Elders decided to disband the childcare Center.
In the fall of 1968, the Elders investigated the possibilities of a busing ministry program being started, and with one bus, the first routes were begun in April 1969. The average number of children riding it was 15. By fall of 1972, attendance in Bible classes had increased and busing routes were extended until one bus was incapable of handling the number of riders. As attendance continued to increase, additional buses were purchased until there were a fleet of eight large buses and one mini bus. For the first six months of 1975 the number of riders averaged 202. Approximately 75 people in the congregation were directly involved in the bus ministry, as drivers canvassers, managers, record keepers, jumpers, and mechanics. In some instances entire families were involved. As a direct result, the baptism of several children and adults took place and these people too were an active part of the busing program.
During the years 1973 – 1978 Allen Park had several great highs. Many members involved in several areas of work in our busing. In the fall of 1974, 314 rode our buses as a high, In this same 1974 another goal was set of 501 In Bible classes and 656 in worship. Because of the increase of attendance, two Bible study times on Sunday mornings had to begin and continued for several months.
The congregation has been very involved in a great benevolence program. Several hundreds of families have received food, clothing, furniture and appliances. The church has a building that was built in the very early 70’s where most of the time there is food, clothes, bedding, furniture, and appliances to help the needy. Members have spent many hours each week servicing this area of work. The benevolence center has served the city of Allen Park with a once a month food distribution of Surplus Commodities, and many members are involved in this effort each month. There have been several high points as we look back through these years. One truth is, God gives the increase. We continue striving to please God and pray He will continue to bless the work here at the Allen Park Church of Christ.
Allen Park Church of Christ 