Michigan history

Michigan

Detroit had no assembly testimony until around 1880. Thomas Donald William "T.D.W." Muir lived in Hamilton, Ontario and spent his time preaching the Gospel in Ontario and in towns in the central part of Michigan. In 1881, he came to Detroit with his wife and they held street meetings in Cadillac Square, the downtown area of Detroit at that time. They met some Christian people and saw others led to the Lord.

These then formed a small assembly, the first in Michigan and later to be known as Central Gospel Hall. The first meeting room was located in a rented store at 5th Avenue and Michigan in the Corktown district of Detroit. The group was small, and the people were in poor circumstances, so it was a constant struggle to meet expenses. They met in a variety of places over the next 20 years, even building and occupying a hall at the corner of Seventh and Perry Streets.

Each summer a tent was pitched, and the Gospel was preached nightly. As the assembly grew larger, the Christians began to hold annual conferences. It was on the occasion of one of these conferences, perhaps in about 1889, that a small ‘exclusive’ assembly some 10 miles outside of Detroit came to seek fellowship with the Detroit assembly. Its people were French and had for some time conducted their meetings in their native tongue before switching to English. When they heard of the assembly in Detroit founded by Mr. Muir, they became associated with it.

By 1900, the assembly had moved to an auditorium over Dickinson’s Hardware Store at 416 Grand River Avenue and continued there for several years. The group was calling their meeting place Central Gospel Hall by then. As the assembly grew it became necessary to seek more space. A hall was built at the corner of Grand River and Harrison Avenues and occupied in about 1906. It was a large hall with a balcony and a seating capacity of about 300, with a large Sunday School room downstairs.

It was at about this time that H.A. Cameron, a young medical doctor, came from Scotland and joined the fellowship. He was soon Mr. Muir’s right hand man; Muir and Cameron were the two pillars of the work for many years. Muir’s excellence as a preacher and knowledge of the Word attracted capacity crowds to the auditorium; on occasion the stairs up to the speaker’s platform were used as seating when Mr. Muir spoke. Mr. Cameron was the exacting teacher and was the person who encouraged Will Pell to begin publishing the Assembly Annals magazine and the Sunday School curriculum.

Detroit was growing rapidly in the early 1900s because of the automobile factories and the migration of many people from the British Isles and parts of Europe. Tracts were given out in various sections of the city and this resulted in a summer of tent meetings on the east side of Detroit in 1914. In 1917, Mr. Cyril Popplestone had a Sunday School in that area with 60 to 80 children in a tent. In November 1918, a new Gospel Hall was opened in the east side of Detroit. The outreach of the assembly included foreign missionary work; the first missionary commended was Miss Mary Ridley, who went to China and labored there many years.

One of the members of the assembly became interested in deaf people. For many years he conducted a Bible Class for deaf mutes in the balcony of Central Hall. A number of years later, a small assembly was formed for these Christians and met Sunday afternoons in the old Bethany Chapel (now Bethany-Pembroke Chapel in Detroit).

Tent meetings in the summer continued in various parts of the city. Special Gospel meetings were held during the year. A tract band was formed by the assembly, which reached out into the city and produced much fruit. The annual Conference of Christians was a high point in each year. Most of the local assemblies joined with Central Gospel Hall. For many years the conference was held in the Sank Temple on Grand River Avenue and as many as a thousand people attended. Some of the preachers over the years were Charles Ross, W. J. McClure, Mr. McCrory of Hamilton, Ontario, Leonard Sheldrake, William Robertson of Philadelphia, Andrew Stenhouse of Chile, John Ferguson, J. Alexander Clark, and many full-time preachers from Michigan, Ohio, and the Chicago area. These were times of blessings to the hearts of the Lord’s people.

As the Christians moved away from the center of the city, other assemblies were started. In Ferndale, a northern suburb of Detroit, tent meetings were held in the summer of 1925; the Ferndale Gospel Hall started in November of 1926 and continues today. (See below for the Berean Tabernacle in Ferndale.)

Also, in 1926, Sunday School and Sunday evening Gospel meetings were held in a store on the west side of Detroit called Springwells. At least a dozen young people were saved as a result of that work. It continued as an outreach of Central Gospel Hall but never became an independent assembly.

A fruitful series of Gospel meetings was held at Central in the spring of 1927. William Gillaspie and Fred Nugent, both from Ontario, were the evangelists. At least 30 young people came to the Lord and were added to the assembly.

A group of the Christians had settled in a neighborhood near West Chicago Boulevard and Livernois Avenue and became interested in their neighbors. In the summers of 1926 and 1927 they had tent meetings on West Chicago Boulevard, and many were saved. An assembly was formed, and a building was erected by the men of the assembly and called West Chicago Gospel Hall. They later moved to Livonia, a suburb of Detroit, to a larger building now called Stark Road Gospel Hall.

There was a large population of Italian people in the east side of Detroit. Young people from Central Gospel Hall became interested in helping there during summer tent meetings. Two Italian evangelists from the eastern United States, Mr. Rosanio and Mr. Patrizio, conducted meetings in Italian and English. A group of Christians was formed and became an assembly in October of 1931. As the young people grew, up the meetings were held mostly in English, but the outreach was mostly among Italians. (See Ethnic section)

That same year, Mr. R. Hopwood of Central Hall who was fluent in Spanish began meetings in homes among the Mexican people in Detroit. A small assembly was started in 1926 and continued for a few years.

The town of Windsor, across the river from Detroit, in Canada, was growing and Christian people from overseas had come there to live. For a number of years, they came over on Lord’s Days for the meetings at Central Gospel Hall.

A real missionary spirit continued in Central over many years. Missionaries were commended and sent to various parts of the world. James and Olive Scollon were commended in 1938 to the work of the Lord in Honduras, South America. They continued working there for over 50 years, planting assemblies and carrying on an effective work in printing scriptural materials in the Spanish language.

During this period, the assembly held monthly ‘Fellowship Meetings,’ emphasizing missions and attracting well known speakers. Several young people at Central were exercised at that time about serving the Lord on the foreign mission fields. In 1946, Donald Cole was commended to go to Angola, along with his wife Naomi, who was commended from Central Hall in Toronto. They served there many years until civil war in Angola became too dangerous and the missionaries were evacuated. Others were commended to Sakeji School in Northern Rhodesia, Angola, Brazil, and Italy.

World War II was a time of serious prayer for the safety of the many young men from all Detroit assemblies who were serving their country. The young women at Central Hall made up a monthly newsletter to send to the servicemen, which included news of the boys who were overseas, as well as pictures and encouraging words.

After World War II, the Christians began to move to the outlying parts of the city. The brethren began to consider moving to a new location and an old church building was found at the corner of Curtis and Lenore Avenues. The assembly purchased it, tore it down, and erected the Curtis Gospel Chapel in northwest Detroit, which was dedicated in October 1957. Special Gospel meetings and summer Daily Vacation Bible Schools have continued, with many children coming from the neighborhood.

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In 1989, Faith Bible Chapel in Farmington Hills near Detroit was formed by some former members of Curtis Gospel Chapel. Mark and Carol Kieft commended from Bethany Bible Chapel in Carmel, IN helped start Faith Bible Chapel, where they have served the Lord full time.

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Farmington Road Gospel Chapel in the Detroit area was built in the 1950s. The assembly continued into the 1970s.

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Jim Wallis and Don Fraser desired to start a new assembly in the Redford area of Detroit. Enlisting the help of four more couples, they began the work in a public school, with 50 people at the first service, at which time some were saved. Children’s classes were also held on that day in 1951. Gifts and loans enabled them to build Dunning Park Chapel at 24800 West Chicago Boulevard; the assembly still meets at that location.

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The Midland Avenue Brethren in Detroit, meeting for many years at 10025 Midland Avenue, built a new chapel in 1953 on Burt Road and Pembroke Avenue, with a seating capacity of 320 in the main auditorium. The name chosen was Pembroke Chapel, now Bethany-Pembroke Chapel.

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The assembly meeting in the Dearborn Chapel in southwest Detroit at Nona and Hamilton Streets, constructed a large new building in the 1950s. The assembly continues at this time.

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The Martin Road Christian Assembly in St. Clair Shores, in the northeast Detroit metropolitan area, has its roots in a Sunday School work begun in 1916 or 1917. Cyril Popplestone started the Sunday School in his home on Bewick Street. A room in an empty store was later rented at the corner of Warren and Pennsylvania Streets for the growing Sunday school work.

Around 1919, John Ferguson, Sr., pitched a tent nearby at Warren and Cadillac Avenue for a month of Gospel meetings. The need for having a place for special meetings induced Mr. Hitt of Central Gospel Hall in Detroit to purchase a frame building, which was transported in sections to Forest and Pennsylvania Streets. The work of erecting the building was done with the help of numerous Christians, many of them from Central Gospel Hall. The building was used initially for the Sunday School work.

The building was very modest in appearance, being of collapsible construction and set on wooden pillars driven into the ground. The Christians were constantly concerned that these pillars might collapse and the building fall, especially when large crowds were present at special meetings.

About this time Don Charles had special meetings there. A number of people from the neighborhood came and several were converted. John Pinches also had a six-week series of meetings on the chart ‘Two Roads and Two Destinies.’ It was after those meetings that the assembly was formed in January 1924, and the building designated East Side Gospel Hall in Detroit. John Pinches from Central Gospel Hall came at that time into fellowship at East Side Gospel Hall. H.A. Cameron, Thomas Donald William "T.D.W." Muir, and John Ferguson were among those who gave help at the new assembly.

Some of the early workers were the families of Cyril and Harry Popplestone, David McKay, Walter Lyons, John Pinches, William Upleger and Mabel Gibson Upleger, William Ingram, Cluot, Nell and Tress Bonser, James Brown, Gunda Anderson Ghiata, Elsie Benning Weinert, Mabel Thompson Ross, Beatrice Mellick, Margaret Ingram Murdock, and William Smith. About 60 or 70 Christians were in fellowship in 1926.

During these years the assembly had tent meetings on Holcomb and Forest, a few blocks away. The tent was an attraction to the people who wouldn’t come into a building. George Pinches, brother of John Pinches, had several weeks of Gospel meetings in the tent. Many were saved during a Gospel campaign held by Fred Nugent, which was held nightly for six weeks.

The district was changing rapidly and those who could afford it began moving to the suburbs. The Sunday School was dwindling. In about 1950, the Christians bought property on Harper Avenue at Woodhall in Detroit, erected a building, and called it Harwood Chapel. Italian brethren acquired the East Side Gospel Hall at that time. A very fruitful seven-week campaign was held in Harwood Chapel in 1952 by Pat Magee.

Harwood Chapel was a one story brick building without a basement. Soon it was too small for Sunday School work, and when the Ford Expressway was designed to come near, the assembly decided to move. They had spent about seven years at Harwood.

Property in Detroit was too expensive then, so the present site on Martin Road outside the city at St. Clair Shores was purchased and the Martin Road Gospel Chapel was built in 1958. A Sunday School bus was purchased to bring children to the Sunday School. Mr. Hewson from Salem Hall in Detroit (which assembly built Plymouth Road Chapel within a year or two), gave help in Gospel ministry. John and James Barclay were the first Gospel preachers at the Martin Road Christan Assembly.

Allan Bennett, Barry Mahloy, Eleanor Wylie, Robert Simpson, Lawrence Vroom, James Barclay, and John Smedes are among the many who have worked with the young people. John Smedes and Barry Mahloy with others did house-to-house visitation work in the neighborhood. Lou and Doreen Jerome, Jack Wylie, and Eleanor Wylie accompanied the spoken word with their singing on the Lapeer Radio. John Smedes and Lambert Wilson assisted in the work of the downtown Mission. Daniel Nichols served with the Spain Team of Literature Crusades.

A group left to start a new assembly in a Sterling Heights in 1976. Martin Road Christian Assembly is much smaller today; nevertheless, it is active. Christians from India have joined the assembly. Each week during fall, winter and spring, the Christians conduct a Girls Club and a Boys Club, and a Daily Vacation Bible School in the summer. The ladies continue to have a weekly Bible Study and a Monthly Missionary Work Meeting.

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Lakeside Bible Chapel in Sterling Heights on the north side of Detroit began in 1976 as a hive-off from Martin Road Gospel Chapel. Six families from that assembly were instrumental in its formation. Meeting first at the Graebner Elementary School, land for a chapel was purchased in 1978, and the building was finished in 1980. An expansion of the building was completed in 1990, and more land was purchased in 1997. Robert Johnston is the full-time worker at Lakeside. Average attendance at the Family Bible Hour was about 275 in 1997. The assembly has commended workers to the Lord’s service in the U.S., Spain, India, and Colombia.

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C.V. Baby, with John M. Chacko and a few other believers, started meeting for Bible studies in 1978 in Warren, MI. This led to the formation of the India Believers Gathering. The assembly is now known as India Brethren Assembly. (See Ethnic section)

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The Middle Eastern Bible Fellowship in Detroit began in March 1991, when a group of men and women of Arabic descent, including Ata and Salwa Mikhael, Raphael and Renee Haddad, and Philipe Yacoub, gathered to Remember the Lord. (See Ethnic section)

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Black assemblies have historically been strong in the Detroit area, thanks in large part to B.M. Nottage. In 1956 these were Bethany Tabernacle, the home assembly of B.M. Nottage and established in 1932; Grace Tabernacle; Berean Tabernacle in the Ferndale area; River Rouge Bible Assembly in the River Rouge area; Community Tabernacle; Gospel Chapel of Detroit; and Oakdale Tabernacle.

The River Rouge Bible Assembly in Detroit had its start in 1933 when William McHenry began a Bible class in his home on Polk Street. Initially the group met from house to house, later renting a room in the McFall Funeral Home on Palmerston. Among those involved in the very beginning were Sisters Smoot, Folks, Douglas, and Larkins.

In 1934, a store front was rented from Mrs. Collier on Polk and Hall. Then the group moved to the home of Stanley Lamar. During this time, various men came to help minister the Word, including Brothers T. Williams, John Glover, Nottage, and McDonald.

A chapel at 332 Polk Street was completed in 1947, and the assembly met there for many years. A building fund was started in 1959 for purchase of property on Beechwood. River Rouge Bible Assembly was formally incorporated that year. Plans were laid in 1962 to build, and the new chapel at 329 Beechwood was dedicated in 1967.

The assembly has been led by several pastors, beginning with John Glover in 1937, followed by Stanley Lamar in 1938, John Moore in 1959, Timothy Love in 1962, and Pellam Love in 1982.

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A Baptist pastor in Detroit, Theodore Williams, Sr. became exercised about his denominational position, and in 1936 resigned his pastorate. Soon thereafter he came in contact with B. M. Nottage, through whom he learned of assemblies meeting in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That same year, he and a small company of believers began Breaking Bread together in a canvas tent in the Ferndale area of Detroit. Called the Berean Tabernacle, the assembly was begun by Mr. Williams and another brother, with assistance from two brothers from Bethany Gospel Hall in Detroit. Soon they had erected their own building on Reimanville Avenue.

The Flint Bible Hall was started at about the same time. Between 1936 and 1945, Mr. Williams had weekly radio programs on various Detroit, Flint, and Pontiac stations.

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In April 1939, a group of Christians established the Pilgrim Assembly in Detroit and moved into their first church home. In 1946, they incorporated as the Gospel Chapel of Detroit. Increasing numbers impelled them to move into larger quarters on Gratiot Avenue in 1951. In 1977, they moved to a building on East Grand Boulevard, and moved again into their present facility at 16241 Harper Avenue. Leading brothers have included Regan Wright, Julius Rivera, Arkles C. Brooks, Sr., and later his son Arkles C. Brooks, Jr. each of whom have served as assembly pastors. The assembly consists of about 100 adults and youngsters.

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The congregation now meeting at the Metropolitan Community Tabernacle in Detroit came into existence on Armistice Day, 1923. It functioned as an independent community church for many years. In about 1940, under the leadership of John E. Glover and B.M. Nottage, it came into fellowship with assemblies of brethren. Known for many years as Community Tabernacle, at Cameron and Wellington Streets, the assembly moved in 1985 to a building at 9835 Hayes and remodeled it, calling it Metropolitan Community Tabernacle. William James Coleman was the full-time worker at Metropolitan for many years and known for his Bible teaching ministry. He was jointly commended in 1966 by the six black assemblies then existing in Detroit. Metropolitan Community Tabernacle has recognized elders.

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Grace Chapel in Detroit, formerly Grace Tabernacle, is another fruit of the labors of B.M. Nottage in the 1930s. When Ken Hampton left the Detroit police force to become the full-time worker for the assembly in 1980, it had about 50 people regularly attending. In 1987, the assembly purchased a church building with a 600-seat auditorium; within a year, up to 500 people were attending Grace Chapel, which had three Sunday morning services and a Sunday evening Lord’s Supper. The active church sponsors a radio program, is involved in food and clothing distribution, and has several youth programs and an active music program.

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Smith’s Creek Bible Camp, initiated by Grant Love and supported by the Detroit black assemblies, provides summer campgrounds for youngsters. Another such group is at Muskegon and is known as the West Side Grace Mission.

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The assembly now known as Dexter Street Gospel Chapel in Flint began in about 1910 when James Turfus moved from Sterling, MI to Flint. Meetings were held in the home of Freddie Coombs. Robert Kersey was also involved in the earliest days. Tent meetings along the Flint River are remembered from those days. After the home meetings, the group moved to space over a drug store at 912 Richfield Road (now Lewis Street). The group seems to have taken the name Gospel Hall Mission at that time. In 1921, the meeting place was moved to downtown Flint, over a dime store, and became known then as Central Gospel Hall.

Early leaders were George McBain, Archie Smith, Meldrum Allen, George Garret, and George Youmans. Brothers who have helped in the assembly include Ross Rainey, Robert Johnston, George Pirie, and Donald Wellborn. Preachers in the early days of the assembly included Thomas Dobbin, Thomas Donald William "T.D.W." Muir, and Dan McGeachy.

In 1932, the assembly moved to Davison Road Gospel Hall in Flint, at 3229 Davison Road. In 1955, the assembly built Dexter Street Gospel Chapel on the corner of Dexter Street and Dale Avenue. William Pell and Walter Jensen spoke at the dedication in March 1956. Elders serving then and since include Samuel Lynch, Claud DeWitt, William Stewart, Joseph Porter, James Turfus, Stuart Turfus, and Larry Lambert. About 40 adults are in fellowship in 1998.

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The assembly now meeting at Civic Heights Bible Chapel in Flint started in about 1913 in a home. The principals in starting and maintaining it from then until the 1930s were Thomas Lloyd, Thomas Gordon, Robert Irvine, Charles Smith, Thomas Lennox, David Kirkcaldy, Edward Vall, Jim Jackson, Robert Black, William Mackie, John Jackson, Roy Nelson, Thomas Kane, and Andrew Richardson, and their families. Subsequent leaders include Andrew Mackie, Archie Anderson, Joseph Black, Jack Wilson, Ed Bills, Fred Brown, Arthur Randall, Earle McGarvah, and Gerald Sanders.

When the Christians outgrew the home, they rented a building until 1926 when they built and occupied a new building at 601 E. Pasadena Avenue, taking the name Hebron Hall. In the 1930s they renamed it Pasadena Avenue Gospel Hall, and then Pasadena Avenue Gospel Chapel. In 1964 the assembly moved for one year to Flint Christian School while their new Civic Heights Bible Chapel, at 3610 Wisner Street in Flint was being constructed.

By 1984, neighborhood violence induced the Christians to sell the building. They met for a year at the Genesee Valley Mall auditorium, then decided to disperse to two other assemblies ““Dexter Street Gospel Chapel in Flint and Countryside Bible Chapel in Owosso, near Flint, rather than re-form their own. The funds from the sale of the building were used to establish the Civic Heights Bible Chapel Foundation, which contributed to many Christian ministries for a number of years. The assembly commended several to the Lord’s work at home and abroad.

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Countryside Bible Chapel in Owosso began in 1958, an outgrowth of a children’s work, and deriving from Pasadena Avenue Gospel Chapel in Flint. Roy Nelson, William LeCureux, and Sam Lynch were among those starting the assembly and have been involved in leadership along with Robert Tissot and others. The assembly has commended workers to serve at Bair Lake Bible Camp.

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Thomas Donald William "T.D.W." Muir, with William Garnham, pitched his tent at Saginaw, north of Flint, in 1886. A few souls were saved at that time and the Saginaw assembly was likely planted in about 1887. In 1888, James Kay was encouraged to move to Saginaw by Mr. Muir, and remained there doing extensive evangelistic work in the area until his home call in 1901.

The Christians comprising the assembly first met in a rented building on the corner of Ames and Harrison Streets, the first Saginaw Gospel Hall. Later they moved to a building on Hamilton Street, then to a building on the corner of Madison and Fayette Streets, then in about 1938, to a building on the corner of Throop and Porter Streets. In 1945, the assembly built a new hall, known as the Madison Street Gospel Hall on the corner of Madison and Porter Streets in Saginaw, and has been at that location since.

Leaders in the assembly over the years include Joseph Pocket, John William, Edward S. Williams, and Mathew McDonald. The assembly has commended John Govan to the work of the Lord.

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The Sturgis Bible Chapel began sometime prior to World War II and still continues. It expanded twice in the 1940s and 50s to accommodate the growing attendance at both Sunday school and adult meetings.

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Coldwater Bible Chapel, about 15 miles north of the Indiana state line, was established in 1955 by the families of Robert Branch, Elmer Anderson, and Dak Warner. It was a hive-off of the Sturgis Bible Chapel some 25 miles away. First meeting at a location on U.S. Highway 12 between Coldwater and Quincy, it now meets at 120 South Jefferson in Coldwater. Those active in leadership have been, in addition to the above, Ted and Nancy Hadfield, Terry and Connie Vercruysse, Tom and Phyllis Duke, and Phil and Dixie Hoard. About 20 adults and children attend the assembly.

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In 1932, James Noall from Detroit held a series of meetings in an old schoolhouse four miles north of Sheridan, a small town northeast of Grand Rapids. Cecil Starks walked to those meetings from his home in Sheridan; there he heard the gospel and received Christ. Shortly after, in early 1933, an assembly was started in the home of the Starks. Charles Frisbey and the Pell family from Grand Rapids also helped in establishing the Sheridan assembly. The principal leaders over the years have included Clayton Baldwin, Bert Starks, Cecil Starks, and Wayne Beard.

In 1934, an old house in Sheridan was purchased for the meetings and called the Sheridan Gospel Hall. In 1940, a chapel was built at 124 N. Main Street, and since then the assembly has been called Sheridan Bible Chapel.

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The city of Muskegon lies on the shores of Lake Michigan. The Muskegon Gospel Chapel at Allen and Oak Grove was constructed in about 1953 in a new residential neighborhood in a well-equipped and attractive building. This assembly disbanded in 1990.

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In the early 1900s, an assembly of Christians existed in Montague, north of Muskegon. The assemblies at that time tended to follow the railroad line: Montague, Muskegon, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids. A Mr. Meinert, for whom a county park and street are named, was one of the leading brethren in the assembly at Montague. Probably known as the Montague Gospel Hall, long since disbanded, the old building still stands.

In about 1970, a group of Christians with charismatic leanings began meeting in Whitehall, near Montague. After a time, some of them expressed an interest in joining with the brethren movement, and invited Ed and Peg Burdick, commended from Dunning Park Chapel in Detroit, to help them. The Burdicks came in the 1980s, knowing the situation, but after a few years, they realized they were not helping assembly to grow. The assembly was called White Lake Fellowship during that period.

The Burdicks, with Gary and Jan Seaver, Mel and Lois Rykse, Jay and Eva Lou Larman, and Jay and Becky Vander Laan, left that church in 1991 to form Friendship Bible Chapel in Montague. White Lake Fellowship disbanded soon after that. The assembly at Muskegon Gospel Chapel had also disbanded at about that time, and some of the Christians from there joined with Friendship Bible Chapel. The assembly first met in the Seaver’s home, and now meets in the Montague City Building.

The assembly has commended Mel and Lois Rykse to Operation Mobilization. Ed Burdick is a full-time worker at Friendship Bible Chapel, and Peg Burdick is president of Winning Women for Christ. About 30 to 40 adults and youngsters attend Friendship Bible Chapel on Sundays.

Bair Lake Bible Camp and Upper Peninsula Bible Camp are the two brethren-sponsored Bible Camps in Michigan. Jack and Carol Long of Friendship Bible Chapel have been commended to work with those camps.

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At Holland, southwest of Grand Rapids, the origins of the Holland Gospel Chapel are now lost from memory. Some have called it the Wielenga Assembly because of the prominence of the Wielenga family. The assembly met on East 14th Street prior to 1954. In that year, the Christians moved to their current location at 106 W. 26th Street. Other leaders over the years include Henry Ebelink, Simon Dogger, and James Derks. The assembly meeting at Holland Gospel Chapel has commended workers to Japan, Ireland, Turkey, and Mexico. About 100 are in the assembly.

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In 1998, a hive-off of the Holland Gospel Chapel formed an assembly in Burnips, a rural town east of Holland. Dave and Arleen Nyhof, and Bernie and Lil Nyhof have leadership roles there. The Burnips Assembly is characterized by the presence of several home schooling families. The home school network is active among the believers in western Michigan.

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From 1911 through 1914, evangelists T. Dobbin, R. McCrory, T. Touzeau, and Thomas Donald William "T.D.W." Muir held tent and cottage meetings in Jackson, in the mid-southern part of the state. In 1914, as a result of these efforts, the Jackson assembly began in the home of Charles Atkinson. Among the early members of the assembly were Mr. and Mrs. Robert Atkinson, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Schilling, Archie Martin, and Elma Smith. The Christians later moved to a small rented building at 1325 East North Street. In 1946, they purchased a building at 910 Bennett Street, the present location of the assembly, and held the first meeting there in 1949. The meeting places have collectively been called the Jackson Gospel Hall.

Charles Atkinson, Archie Martin, Nick Sarlo, and Douglas Losey are among the leaders over the years. Lorne McBain and Norman Crawford are itinerant workers who have lived in Jackson and been active in the assembly. Other preachers working in the area have included William Ferguson, William Warke, A. Klabunda, Archie Stewart, Oliver MacLeod. The Jackson Assembly has commended a worker to Puerto Cabelo, Venezuela. About 38 were in fellowship in the Jackson Gospel Hall in 1946, and about 75 in 1989.

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The North Adams Gospel Hall was started at nearby North Adams in 1932 by the efforts of brethren Stewart, McBain, and Klabunda. About 20 believers gathered to Remember the Lord at their first meeting. About 100 came to a special meeting later in that year. Memory has lost further details of this assembly, which disbanded long ago.

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Other Michigan assemblies which have been started through those associated with the Jackson testimony are Battle Creek Gospel Hall (1918), Sterling Gospel Hall (1919), Midland Gospel Hall (1919), Deckerville Gospel Hall (1920), Boyne City Gospel Hall (1922), Ubly Gospel Hall (1928), Franklyn Mines (Laurium) Gospel Hall (1935), Alpena Gospel Hall (1938), Sherman Gospel Hall (1954), and Ceresco Gospel Hall (1968).

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The present Sherman Gospel Hall was planted by Fred Mehl in 1954. Originally in the village of Mesick, and known as the Mesick Gospel Hall, it moved to its present location in Sherman in the northwest portion of the Lower Peninsula in 1959. Some Christians from the disbanded assembly at Cadillac joined with the Sherman Gospel Hall. Others involved in the start-up were Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Spencer, Olive Spencer, Crystal Armstrong, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Marvin, Anthony Clouse, and Mrs. P. Oswald. Those active in leadership have been Lloyd Spencer, Chancy Spencer, David Spencer, Thomas Spencer; Robert Nielson, Arthur Phillips, William Armstrong, and Stuart Thompson. About 35 adults and youngsters are in the assembly today.

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The assembly known now as Rock Bible Chapel got its start in 1951 as a Sunday School work conducted by John Small at the town hall in the small town of Rock on the Upper Peninsula. In 1952, the Smalls built their home in Rock and held assembly meetings there for three years. Then in 1956, the Smalls built a chapel on the lot next to their home, and the work has been called Rock Bible Chapel since then. Benjamin Yeadon took principal responsibility for the work from 1968 until his death in 1998. William Ducote and Mike Lepisco have also shared leadership. About 125 adults and youngsters are in the assembly today.

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The Pelkie Gospel Hall in the Upper Peninsula began in 1981. Many of the Christians who formed the assembly had been saved through the Gospel outreach of the Christians at Lake Linden Avenue Gospel Hall in Laurium, about 25 miles north. The leaders have been Eugene Maki, Hugo Kemppainen, Kenneth Sohlden, and Samuel McClung, who were also involved in the start-up of the assembly. Joe Balsan, an itinerant preacher from Des Moines, was also one of those starting the assembly. Mark Martinmaki also preached in the Pelkie area. About 30 adults and children are in the assembly.

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Asamblea Evangelica in Grand Rapids began in 1995 in the home of Ricardo and Diana Tavarez home. The Christians moved after that to 635 South Division, where they currently meet. The Spanish-speaking assembly consists of Christians from Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, as well as the U.S. (See Ethnic section)

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The roots of the assembly presently at Forest Hills Bible Chapel in Grand Rapids go back to 1899. Messrs. Tazelaar, Krone, and Vander Muelen had visited Fred Wunsch in Lowell, a town east of Grand Rapids. Fred was the father of Gerald Wunsch and was in fellowship in an assembly that these men had heard about. They asked him for help in starting an assembly in Grand Rapids. Shortly, a group began meeting to Remember the Lord in one of their homes. At the end of 1900, the growing group purchased a small building at 272 N. College Avenue, and this became the College Avenue Gospel Hall.

John Van Kammen, the father of Mrs. Betty Wunsch, emigrated from the Netherlands to Grand Rapids as a young man in 1902, and was saved while attending meetings at College Avenue Gospel Hall.

By 1925, the College Avenue Gospel Hall was too small, and the assembly purchased and moved into another building at the corner of Eastern and Baldwin in Grand Rapids and named it the Eastern Avenue Gospel Hall and later the Eastern Avenue Gospel Chapel. However, it was usually called either the ‘Eastern and Baldwin Assembly,’ and sometimes the ‘Van Ryn Assembly’ because it was the home assembly of the Van Ryns who had moved to Grand Rapids from the Netherlands. August Van Ryn itinerated among area assemblies in the years he lived in Grand Rapids.

Cornelia DeJonge, commended by the Eastern and Baldwin assembly in 1925, was the first missionary to go out from West Michigan; she served in Africa. In 1951, Gerald and Betty Wunsch were commended by the assembly to the Lord’s work in New Guinea. They served the Lord for 41 years as missionaries in that country.

Harry Ironside had an evangelistic campaign at the Gospel Hall in 1926, well remembered because of the number, young and old, who were saved. He, C.J. Scofield, and many other well-known speakers visited the assembly regularly. The Eastern and Baldwin assembly and its forerunner was a ‘Grant exclusive’ assembly until the 1930s. Peter Pell Sr., father of ten children including Peter Pell Jr. and Will Pell (who began Gospel Folio Press around the year 1925), attended the assembly for a time. Harry Ironside baptized Peter and Will by immersion there. He asked Will, “Are you dead?” Will knew enough to answer in the affirmative, and then Ironside said, “Good, because I only bury dead people.” Later young Peter would travel and preach with Ironside.

After breaking with the Grants, the assembly joined in fellowship with the ‘open’ meetings in Grand Rapids. During the course of years, it has taken a more progressive stance. Russell Van Ryn was a conscientious shepherd through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1975, the assembly moved to the suburbs and changed its name to Forest Hills Bible Chapel.

Kevin Dyer and Don Cole visited there periodically. Many missionaries have gone out from Forest Hills. Gerald and Betty Wuensch were honored by the government of Papua New Guinea for their work. Forest Hills has been active with Upper Peninsula Bible Camp where Russ and Ruth VanRyn worked as directors many summers.

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During the thirties, there was a great reaping in Grand Rapids. Peter and Will Pell largely held the same doctrines as H.A. Ironside; they worked with M.R. DeHaan in his early days; they also were great friends with Mel Trotter of Rescue Mission fame. These men, with David Otis Fuller were greatly used to shake Grand Rapids and to make it a kind of hub of evangelical and fundamentalist work. Peter and Will were active open-air preachers in those days.

A brother named Kramer had moved to Grand Rapids from Kansas. He was a strict ‘exclusive’ and a very careful Bible student. Peter and Will Pell both attended Kramer’s Bible readings, and Peter was especially influenced. However, Mr. Kramer’s assembly never received Peter or Will Pell into their fellowship.

Will Pell went to Bay City to a Bible Conference he had heard about and there met ‘open’ brethren preachers such as John Ferguson and Leonard Sheldrake. He found the believers in Bay City to be sound in faith and practice. The Pells after that identified with the ‘open’ assemblies. About that time an assembly began in Mr. Sharphorn’s woodworking shop behind his house in Grand Rapids. Later Will bought a building, which was called the Evangel Hall, for the assembly. In about 1958, the assembly moved to the present Northwest Gospel Hall at the corner of Garfield and Myrtle on the northwest side of Grand Rapids.

From Northwest Gospel Hall several missionaries have gone out or have been jointly commended to Mexico, Japan, India, Columbia, and Paraguay

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A hive-off from Northwest Gospel Hall occurred in 1985 when Mr. and Mrs. John Sawyer and Mr. and Mrs. Karl Rewa joined with George and Nancy Sturm in order to establish an assembly in Allendale, west of Grand Rapids, called Fellowship Bible Chapel. The Rewas and Sturms were both trained through the Discipleship Intern Training Program at Fairhaven in California, and therefore followed much of the emphasis of Jean Gibson and Bill MacDonald at the first. This work, though small, goes on. At the start it was enlarged through outreach to Grand Valley State University in Allendale. Bob and Lois Sawyer came in about 1987 and during that time the assembly saw its greatest gains. Bob Sawyer was a roommate of Jim Elliott in his Wheaton College days; he and his wife Lois were of great help to the many young converts. In 1988 they responded to an invitation to help a missionary family in Spain and labored there for seven years. The Sturms went to Albania in 1992.

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The Burke Street Assembly in Grand Rapids began in 1991, springing up from among the many home schooling families in Grand Rapids. Most of the initial families did not have an assembly background, coming rather from Baptist, Reformed, charismatic, and independent church backgrounds. There are about 10 households in the Burke Street Assembly, which presently rents space in a Christian School. John Bjorlie, Sid Patten, and Larry Baker are the elders.

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Bailey is north of Grand Rapids and Newaygo is nine miles north of Bailey. The assembly meeting for many years at Newaygo Gospel Chapel moved to Bailey in the early 1980s. After a division, some of the believers joined with the Bailey Gospel Chapel and others formed the Newaygo Believer’s Bible Chapel.

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James Kay had close links to the beginnings of the assemblies at Deckerville, Bay City, Midland, and Standish. A Mr. Morris was influential in starting the Cass City Assembly. Alex McDonald and Dan McGeachy are linked with testimonies at Bad Axe, Ubly, and Deckerville. An assembly at East Lansing goes back to the early pioneers; it has relocated to Williamston. An assembly in Kalamazoo, going back to earlier days, built a new hall in about 1949, but has since discontinued. The Schoolcraft Assembly in Detroit was originally a French meeting.

Sources

• Questionnaire Responses
• A History of Central Gospel Hall and other Assemblies in Detroit, Michigan, by Mildred Simms Livingston, 1996
• Reminiscences, A volume designed to commemorate the life and labors of Thomas Donald William "T.D.W." Muir, by H.A. Cameron, Gospel Folio Press, Grand Rapids, 1939
• The History of how Assembly Gospel Work came to Michigan, by Norman A. Crawford, 1989
• Historical Notes on 75th Anniversary of Jackson Gospel Hall, 1989
• Random & Reminiscence, by Theodore Williams, Sr., undated
• Letters of Interest, June 1945, p. 13; March 1949, p. 21; November 1953, p. 3; January 1956, p. 19; June 1959, p. 11; January 1986, p. 18; July/August 1972, p. 4; September 1988, p. 20; January 1990, p. 6