History of Greenfield’s Leadership
Rev. Charles Bates. (1949 to 1961)
Rev. Robert Sawyer (1970 to 1973).
Rev. Margaret Scabich (1974 to 1979).
Rev. Robert Barnes (1981 to 1988).
Rev. Peter Moore (1991-2021)
Rev. Anders Edstrom (2021- )
EARLY HISTORY OF GREENFIELD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Where It All Began
In the 1940s, Susan Gavin owned a knit shop on 12 Mile Road in Berkley and was teaching vacation bible school, at the same time, the Detroit Presbytery recognized Berkley as a promising mission field.
These are the seeds that eventually grew into our own Greenfield Presbyterian Church.
The Presbytery invited people to Sunday services at Angell School. Charles Leber, a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, staffed the mission. Then Rev. Charles Bates was called. An ordained minister, he first served two Missions, in Royal Oak and Berkley. But after Rev. Bates called on people door to door, Berkley’s mission grew, so he focused his energy there.
On Feb. 13, 1949, Greenfield Presbyterian became an organized church with 79 charter members. In May 1949 they moved into a little white church at Catalpa and Greenfield Road, purchased with a $15,000 loan from the Presbytery.
By 1954 the congregation grew to over 300 members with life events being held at the church along with special groups like Women’s Association, Men’s Club and Kuples Klub, which gave members a place to belong.
On Oct. 1, 1954, the cornerstone of the present structure was laid and the little white church became the Parish Hall and Sunday school. Worship services were held in the basement until May 4, 1958, when the present sanctuary was ready.
After Rev. Bates retired in 1961, Rev. Donald Flowers was pastor until August 1969. During Rev. Flowers’ tenure, the church reached 340 members and over 300 in Sunday school. Additional Sunday school rooms were built, plus a new office in a new area of the basement. There were also plans for a new sanctuary above the new Sunday School.
The Reverend Robert Sawyers served from 1970-1973 as the third pastor. In October, 1970, the church members financed an expansion of Sunday school rooms and a new office.
Reverend Margaret Scabich was pastor from 1974 and served until 1979. She joined GPC at the same time as the completion of the Sanctuary. She also had the honor of being the moderator of the Presbytery of Detroit.
Our fifth pastor, Reverend Robert Barns, served from 1981 until 1988. During this decade, the beautiful sanctuary’s memorial stained-glass window was commissioned and installed. Other activities, such as Sunday school, vacation bible school, potluck’s and men’s club continued with energy and faithfulness. But as the baby boom declines, so does the active membership of the church. The congregation ends the decade with concern of membership and finding a new leader.
As the demographics change, and church membership and giving decline, the church was poised to embrace necessary changes to ensure growth. The new vision was a more community-connected Greenfield which required funding to hire a minister to engage with the community. So the decision was made to sell some of its land and use those proceeds to supplement its pledged income.
In 1991, the congregation called its sixth pastor, Rev. Peter Moore.
Innovative programming for children and youth began attracting new families. With more program staff to support these initiatives a contemporary service, Praise Makers, was added. The congregation became involved in hands-on mission projects in the community including two shelters for the homeless. In recent years the congregation has also placed more emphasis on adult education and spiritual growth.
Membership and the church’s financial situation started to grow. It was Greenfield’s calling to open their hearts to include ALL in worship and church life. Supporting diversity in all ways took the shape of adding an elevator to increase access to the building. Their was also congregational support to update the Book of Order, to take out discriminating language.
This movement propelled GPC to lead the Detroit Presbytery in proposing an overture to the 2004 General Assembly in Richmond, VA to change it to welcome all those who are called to serve Christ as clergy. Although our overture lost by four votes, a similar overture won in 2016.
This was also the decade that the capital fund drives began that would finance updates to church facilities for aesthetics and functionality.
Capital Campaigns
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This first campaign helped the church become more accessible. The plans included adding on to the second level to move the offices and add an elevator. A new multi-purpose room and an accessible restroom were also added on the second floor.
Greenfield expanded it’s outreach to several community agencies such as S.O.S., Welcome Inn, Forgotten Harvest and Crossroads. We started a special Christmas offering “Whose Birthday is it, anyway?” where the Christmas offering is given to a special charity or project.
Greenfield starts preparing for a pastoral transition in 2015 anticipating Reverend Moore’s retirement in few years. We held a visioning day to gather information and published a self-study book to help attract candidates.
In the 30 years Rev. Moore was the pastor, Greenfield has grown into a loving, vibrant and faithful church.
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This was a debt reduction campaign. When this campaign was completed, there was a small surplus that allowed the church to celebrate the success with the congregation.
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Multiple projects were taken on in this campaign. Video screens were added to the sanctuary to complement the worship service. The main entrance was overhauled to make the building more welcoming. The roof and one of the parking lots were replaced. A more visible, modern electronic sign was installed. A unique aspect to this campaign was renting an apartment for a refugee family.
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This time the focus was on the lower level of the church. The restrooms and nursery were moved and updated to be more welcoming. The main area of fellowship hall was completely renovated with new lighting, flooring and ceiling. The kitchen was updated to be more functional and able to be rented out. Plumbing issues were fixed and updated. This campaign also included funds for the pastoral transition process.
Capital Campaigns
Transitions started this decade. The search for a new pastor during the 2020 Covid pandemic made things a little challenging. But with the use of technology we were able to use Zoom meetings to find our new pastor.
We celebrated Reverend Peter Moore’s retirement and then welcomed our new pastor in 2021.
January of 2021 we accepted Reverend Anders Edstrom and his wife Heather and son Aksel with Nora coming along the next year. They bring a new energy and love to the church and worship services.
We also expanded outreach to include a few new committees, a Social Justice group and Climate Action Now committee.
The church grew technologically and adapted to the changing times due to the pandemic. It pushed us to live-stream the worship services, making them available to more participants. Website and social media has also helped advance Greenfield’s visibility.
This decade has already been one of ACTION and we are looking forward to it continuing.
Founding Members