Emmanuel-Bethel United Church of Christ (Royal Oak, Mich.)

Formed in 1974 as a result of a merger between the Emmanuel United Church of Christ (Royal Oak, Mich.), founded in 1874, and Bethel United Church of Christ (Detroit, Mich.), founded in 1912. Both churches initially served an immigrant German population. Reinhold Niebuhr was pastor of the Bethel church from 1915 to 1928.

The Emmanuel-Bethel Church of Christ was formed in 1974 as a result of a merger between the Bethel Evangelical and Reformed Church (Detroit, Mich.) and the Emmanuel United Church of Christ (Royal Oak, Mich.). Since 1974, Emmanuel-Bethel has continued to meet in the Emmanuel church building at 4000 Normandy Road in Royal Oak. Histories of the two separate churches follow.

The Emmanuel United Church of Christ (Royal Oak, Mich.)

The Emmanuel United Church of Christ had two possible origins in 1873. First, the Congregational Church in Royal Oak recognized the need for services for new immigrants and began to hold bi-monthly services in German. At the same time, the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Detroit, under the leadership of Rev. George Speckhard, established an orphanage on Main and Third Street in Royal Oak. Speckhard also began holding services for German-speaking people. In 1874, church services at the orphanage began to meet regularly, and the church became known as the German Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1879, St. Paul's Evangelical Church of Warren accepted the Royal Oak church as a daughter church, and Rev. J. Andres of Warren became the new minister in 1880, serving both the Warren and Royal Oak churches. Some members remained affiliated with the Lutheran Church and formed St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Royal Oak. Rev. O. Keller became the first full-time resident minister for the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1908. During his pastorate, the Women's Guild was formed.

Rev. Theodore G. Papsdorf succeeded Keller in 1912, when it became necessary to hold services in English as well as German. At this time, the church had approximately twenty-five families, and was reorganized and incorporated as Emmanuel Evangelical Church. The church subsequently established a Sunday school and a Youth League. In 1913-1914, Emmanuel built a new building and parsonage on the corner of Sixth and Lafayette. German services continued well into the 1920s.

In 1934, the Evangelical Synod of North America merged with the Reformed Church of the United States, and Emmanuel was correspondingly renamed the Emmanuel Evangelical and Reformed Church. By 1935, the church had 250 members. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the Congregational Christian Churches, and Emmanuel was again renamed the Emmanuel United Church of Christ.

As membership and services expanded over time, Emmanuel began to look for additional facilities. A major fundraising campaign was launched in 1956, and plans and work for new church buildings began in 1958. In 1964, the first service was held in the new church on 4000 Normandy Road in Royal Oak. Emmanuel's membership and income remained steady into the early 1970s, during which time the church raised money to purchase a pipe organ.

The Bethel Evangelical and Reformed Church (Detroit, Mich.)

In 1912, thirteen people organized an Evangelical Church in Northwest Detroit at the German Protestant Home for Orphans. Later that year, the church was incorporated as the Evangelical Bethel Congregation. The mission board sent Rev. Paul Zwilling to be the first pastor, and services were held at a rented hall on Grand River Avenue. In 1913-1914, the thirty-two member congregation built a new church at the corner of Lothrop and Linwood Avenues in Detroit. The Ladies' Aid Society, later called the Bethel Women's Association or the Women's Guild, was also founded in 1913 to provide spiritual and financial support for the church.

In 1915, Reinhold Niebuhr, then a new graduate from Yale Divinity School, became pastor of the church. During his tenure, membership grew from two hundred-sixty members to over seven hundred, and the church became self-supporting. He inspired the development of the Bethel Brotherhood, the Boy Scouts, a Men's Bible Class, a Women's Bible Class, and a Young People's League. Furthermore, a new church and parsonage were built on West Grand Boulevard in 1921-1922. As pastor, Niebuhr focused on the injustices of the automotive industry and became very active in the labor movement. His experiences in Detroit shaped his thought on sin and grace, love and justice, idealism and realism, and goodness and corruption in human society. In 1928, he accepted a position at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Several short-term pastorates followed Niebuhr, until Rev. Robert C. Stanger became minister in 1933. During his fifteen-year stay, the church organized a board of religious education, began publishing The Bethel Bulletin, and formed the "Double Club" to attract young married couples. In 1934, the name was changed to Bethel Evangelical and Reformed church as a result of the merger between the Evangelical Synod of North America and the Reformed Church of the United States. In the 1930s, Bethel experienced its first problem with declining membership as many members moved to newer parts of the Detroit. The church began to hold Sunday worship and Sunday school at the same time in order to revitalize membership. Stanger also assisted in the establishment of a new mission called Redeemer Church in 1942 and a Home for the Children and Aged on West Outer Drive in 1945. Rev. Robert T. Fauth, later president of Eden Seminary, succeeded Stanger in 1948.

From the 1960s to the merger in 1974, Bethel's membership seriously declined. Many members had moved to the suburbs, and new, younger members did not replace the declining elderly population. The church building on West Grand Boulevard was sold in 1972, and the congregation continued to meet in the Home for the Children and Aged on West Outer Drive. Bethel eventually decided to join with a church of similar ethnic background and denomination. In 1974, Bethel formally merged with the Emmanuel United Church of Christ of Royal Oak, and transferred its remaining one hundred-sixty members to Emmanuel's membership of five hundred.