History
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The Christian Witness on Woodward Avenue
Metropolitan United Methodist Church has stood at the corner of Chandler and Woodward for nearly eighty years, and the congregation traces its beginnings back more than a century. The present building cost $1.6 million to erect. The building is of English Gothic style, the exterior being made of granite. Early ministers who served the Church briefly were C. L. Adams, D. Stanley Shaw, and William B. Collins. In August, 1903, Dr. Charles Bronson Allen was appointed pastor. It was largely due to Dr. Allen’s efforts that Metropolitan’s church house was built. The sanctuary was opened on January 15 and was dedicated on January 22, 1926. Other Metropolitan pastors have included Merton S. Rice, Chester McPheeters, Robert Bruce Pierce, Robert Harvey Bodine, William Kellon Quick, Julius E. Del Pino, and Rev. William Verhelst. Tonya M. Arnesen is our current Senior Pastor, appointed in 2006.
Metropolitan United Methodist Church has always been a testament to the faith and love of its membership. The congregation of the 1920’s gave the future a past by providing an outstanding church home for future generations. The current congregation continues to enhance that church home providing the past a future.
.1885 - Woodward Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church
A mission of Central Church and an outpost Sunday School which met on-and-off from 1877, the Woodward Avenue Church came into being on June 7, 1885 when sixty men, women and children banded together to move Methodism north of the city. Although sparsely populated property was purchased for $8,000 at the corner of Woodward and Harper and a Chapel erected, J. M. Johnson and his brother, A. C. Johnson, led the movement to the new church. The families included Adams, Cook, Harris, Johnsons, Price, Reynolds, Stafford and Winter. The first pastor appointed was F. A. Smart and the Chapel costing $4,000 was dedicated on October 23, 1886. The Russell Street mission was organized under the care of Woodward showing an early concern for Methodist church extension. A total of 235 members from this church were transferred to the North Woodward Church.
.1886 – Oakland Avenue Church
Woodward Avenue also sponsored this church, first known as Kenwood. A. F. Knoblock, a local worker in the Sunday School and also in charge of mission work in the city, told in a message in 1911 of the families who gathered in the Kenwood depot, namely the Philip Johnsons and the Hones, Fosters, Pickards, Wainwrights, Moynes, Greens and Prices, to found the church. Begun in 1894, it moved in 1895 north of the Boulevard. Reverend D. Stanley Shaw said, "From September to February standing room was a premium. A new and commodious building was the only solution to the growth problem. The corner of King and John R was chosen as a suitable and available location. At this juncture other things began to happen." His last comment is an apparent reference to the Presiding Elder who wanted to merge the Oakland and Woodward Avenue Churches. Sixty members of Oakland came to the new church.
.1901 – North Woodward Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church
In April 1901, with a merger of the Woodward and Oakland congregations, the North Woodward Church was born. Land was purchased north of Melbourne and the first public service was in Milburn Hall. Dr. J. H. Potts was the preacher and his text was Luke 16:16. Services continued to be held in the old churches and just one year and ten days after the organization, the North Woodward Chapel was dedicated on April 27, 1902. The following year Dr. C. B. Allen was appointed pastor, and when he was made Presiding Elder in 1909, the church had a sanctuary seating 1,400 and over
1,000 members. In 1913, Dr. Merton S. Rice came from Duluth, lured by Allen’s promise to help him build Methodism’s greatest church. In October 1916, land was purchased at Woodward and Chandler for $175,000 in cash, paid by Sebastian S. Kresge, an active member. On Christmas Eve 1916 the sanctuary burned. This disaster spurred the congregation to a stronger effort toward the erection of the new church.
.1917 – The Tabernacle
Building regulations during the raging World War I limited the use of precious labor and materials for other than a commercial building. The Tabernacle was designed to be used temporarily as a church sanctuary. Worship in the Regent Theater and Sunday School in the Chapel (which escaped the fire) continued. The church continued to grow as Dr. Rice’s preaching drew large crowds to the Tabernacle. The congregation began sacrificing to build the present church building in the community which was one of the fastest growing in America. (This building still stands at Woodward and Melbourne.)
.1924 – Metropolitan Methodist Church
On June 4, 1922, the cornerstone was laid and the name changed to Metropolitan since the city had extended many miles north and North Woodward was no longer a proper name. Instead of north Detroit, the church was in the center of a growing metropolis. On September 7, 1924, the congregation marched down Woodward Avenue from the Tabernacle to the new church. Since the sanctuary was not completed, it was decided to use the Sunday School (now Kresge Hall) as a place of worship until the sanctuary was completed. On January 17, 1926, the sanctuary opened and on January 24, 1926, the new church was debt free. Built by 13,000 people who gave $1.6 million, 9,000 persons attended the dedication services. By the mid-1930’s it was the largest local church in World Methodism. Membership peaked in 1943 with 7,300 members. First Church, Houston, surpassed it in 1949.
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