History of Presbyterian Church of the Covenant

The roots of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant can be traced back to 1863, when the Union Mission Sunday School was started that year by Zebulon R. Brockway, the Detroit House of Corrections superintendent. John S. Newberry and Senator James McMillan. Brockway many years later created the Brockway Mission, the organization met at the Bishop Union School, a school that was a early staple of Detroit demolished in 1936. Eventuality the organization settled down in a small church at Napoleon and Russell in Eastern Market. The organization grew and by 1889 the organization established as the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, a bigger church structure was built, however as Eastern Market became more cemented in its Meat Packing industries the organization moved to the church that stands today at the corner of E Grand Blvd and Preston St. in 1907, the next year in 1908 the church was completed. In 1914 a rectory was built next door and in 1923 as the population of Detroit grew the church was expanded from a capacity of 400 to over 1,300. Around this same time a sunday school wing of the church was added to accommodate 550 kids. Between 1955 and 1958 the church opened a colony church location, hosting many of the church’s events out of the new space. In 1959, the Church of the Covenant was one of 12 churches selected to participate in a new program run by the Presbyterian Church. They realized that their urban congregations were struggling and aimed to address those issues. According to the Detroit Free Press, “The undertaking is aimed particularly at stimulating church work in dense areas of urban renewal housing projects.” As populations changed in Detroit the program aimed to fully integrate the churches in the program and offer financial backing to those who lose income because of it. most notably if white parishioners left because of non whites joining the congregation, they got supplemental funding. Alongside this Special Training occurred for pastors in different areas and population around the US. Another point of the program saw the training of field staff of roving experts that could travel across the country to implement good ideas at churches in cities that were struggling to stay open. The Church of the Covenant continued on for over 20 more years before merging with the Woodward Ave Presbyterian Church in 1981. A growing church named the Trinity Deliverance Church, founded in 1970, initially meeting in a small structure at Grand River and Euclid before moving into a building on Wyoming. By 1982, the congregation was utilizing the space at the corner of Grand Boulevard and Preston. This church used the space until around the time of the Pandemic in 2020, before abandoning the space.