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“Praying for a Wicked City”: Congregation, Community, and the Suburbanization of Fundamentalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2018

Darren Dochuk
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Sunday, March 21, 1993, was a memorable day for the more than two thousand members of Highland Park Baptist Church (HPBC) in Southfield, Michigan, for it marked the end of the church's fiftieth annual missions conference. The event had gathered people from HPBC and other churches to discuss the many social, economic, and moral issues threatening the vitality of community life in metro-politan Detroit. Following several rousing hymns, including “Raise Up an Army, O God” and “The City Is Alive, O God,” HPBC senior pastor Leonard Crowley ended the historic proceedings by offering an impassioned sermon on the Judaic institution of “Jubilee,” an Old Testament mandate that called for restoration of land and property to original ownership. Crowley had much to say about this antiquated ideal and its personal application to HPBC members, but the most pointed and intriguing elements of his jeremiad concerned the con-gregational body as a whole.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religion and American Culture , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , Summer 2003 , pp. 167 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture 2003

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References

Notes

1. With “the city” as an organizing theme and as many as twenty-eight different churches represented, the 1993 conference began with a stirring message entitled, “How to Win the Race War,” delivered by Haman Cross, Jr., senior pastor of Rosedale Baptist Church, a black fundamentalist congregation loosely affiliated with HPBC. The subject and tenor of this message set the stage for what would become a week-long discussion between lay and clerical leaders on topics ranging from racism, economic disparity, and the challenges of crosscultural and “generational” issues to homelessness, substance abuse, Satan worship, teen gangs, and AIDS. 1993 Missions Conference program, Missions Conference Collection (MC), Highland Park Baptist Church Archives (HPBCA).

2. See Pastor Leonard Crowley, “Jubilee!” March 21, 1993, taped sermon, v374, HPBCA.

3. Some recent efforts have been made to correct this shortcoming in urban and religious historiography. Although interested in all religious types of “congregational” experience, the two volumes on American congregations edited by James Wind and James Lewis are the most historically informed and illuminating in their treatment of local Protestant institutions. See Wind, James and Lewis, James, eds., American Congregations, 2 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994)Google Scholar. Other notable works on Protestant churches in the urban context include: Bratt, James and Meehan, Christopher, Gathered at the River: Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Its People of Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993)Google Scholar; Gough, Deborah Mathias, Christ Church, Philadelphia: The Nation's Church in a Changing City (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995)Google Scholar; Lewis, James, The Protestant Experience in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1975: At Home in the City (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992)Google Scholar; Livezey, Lowell, ed., Public Religion and Urban Transformation: Faith in the City (New York: New York University Press, 2000)Google Scholar; Schultz, Rima Lunin, The Church and the City: A Social History of 150 Years at Saint James, Chicago (Chicago: Cathedral of St. James, 1986)Google Scholar; and Wellman, James, The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto: Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999)Google Scholar. Sociologists working in the tradition of early-twentieth-century sociologist H. Paul Douglass have paid greater scholarly attention to Protestant congregational life. Among the leaders in this regard has been Nancy Ammerman. See, for example, Ammerman, Nancy, Congregation and Community (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1997)Google Scholar. The body of scholarship on local Catholic and Jewish culture is more developed. Two of the most important works in this regard are those by Gerald Gamm and John McGreevy, both of which examine local religious institutions in the broader context of postwar urban change. See Gamm, Gerald H., Urban Exodus: Why the Jews Left Boston and the Catholics Stayed (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999)Google Scholar, and McGreevy, John, Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth Century (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)Google Scholar.

4. HPBC has an extensive archive with complete collections of weekly bulletins, sermons, board of trustees minutes, annual reports, and other miscellaneous material dating back to 1926. The archive continues to be maintained by a few incredibly dedicated lay men and women who display an insatiable desire to preserve HPBC's rieh heritage, a trait welcomed by historians but not often found in local congregations of this type.

5. Here I am using Nancy Ammerman's definition of “congregational culture” as the “physical artifacts, patterns of activity, and the language and story that embellish those objeets and activities with meaning.” I am including theology in this definition. See Ammerman, Congregation and Community, 47.

6. Holifield, E. Brooks, “Toward a History of American Congregations,” in American Congregations, ed. Wind, James P. and Lewis, James W. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 2:47 Google Scholar. See also Holifield, E. Brooks, “The Historian and the Congregation,” in Beyond Clericalism, ed. Hough, Joseph G. Jr., and Wheeler, Barbara (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988), 89–101 Google Scholar.

7. For a highly suggestive critique of how organized religion can and should be seen by urban historians as a powerful phenomenon (as opposed to epiphenomenon or “social variable”) in the wider process of city building, see “Forum: The Place of Religion in Urban and Community Studies,” Religion and American Culture 6, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 107-30.

8. HPBC's historical commitment to foreign missions is impressive. Since 1920, when the congregation commissioned its first foreign missionaries, HPBC has continued to commission many of its members—married couples, single men, and especially women—for the mission field. Moreover, throughout its entire history, HPBC has consistently set aside at least 30 percent of its annual budget for missions, an allocation that has rarely been superceded by any other expenditures (including building expansion) other than general operational costs. See Annual Reports Collection (AR), HPBCA.

9. Throughout its history HPBC has remained fiercely independent in terms of denominational affiliation. It has, however, consistently cooperated in missions and evangelistic services with other like-minded independent Baptist churches.

10. See Clerks Record, January 22, 1913, HPBCA. This claim stems from an assessment of the names of the thirty-seven charter members of HPBC as well as from interviews with current members.

11. It was not long before white southern migrants comprised roughly half of the congregation's membership. Church bulletins between the 1920s and 1950s were full of references to the South. Some, for example, conveyed the latest “news from Kentucky” or simply listed the names of those who were moving back to the South. See, for example, April 29, 1928, bulletin on “news from Kentucky,” Bound Bulletin Collection (BC), HPBCA.

12. July 22,1928, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

13. Among the missions and churches the League of Nations ministered to in 1928 were the Mexican Mission and the Second Negro Baptist Church in Detroit. November 18, 1928, and November 25, 1928, bulletins, BC, HPBCA.

14. For a discussion of “whiteness” and its relation to labor and nationalism, see Roediger, David, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class, rev. ed. (London: Verso, 1999)Google Scholar. Also helpful are Ignatiev, Noel, How the Irish Became White (New York: Routledge, 1995)Google Scholar, and Jacobson, Matthew, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998)Google Scholar.

15. Bob Her, interview with author, HPBC, January 17, 2000.

16. HPBC boasted two Ford vice presidents in its history: Jack McDougal and Harold MacDonald.

17. Carpenter, Joel, Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 9 Google Scholar. This finding corresponds with the conclusions drawn by Walter Ellis in his study of the social and religious roots of conflict in Baptist congregations. See Walter Ellis, “Social and Religious Factors in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Schisms among Baptists in North America, 1895-1934” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1974). Not all fundamentalist churches in Detroit were of the same economic standing as HPBC. Many churches, such as J. Frank Norris's Temple Baptist Church, were solidly lower class and displayed social and cultural traits that were not of the same “aspiring middle-class” prescription espoused by HPBC. A number of outside observers confirmed these differences when interviewed. See the Reverend John Safran, formerly of Central Methodist Church, Detroit, interview with author, December 11, 1999; Dr. Bartlett Hess, Ward Presbyterian Church, Livonia, Michigan, interview with author, December 11, 1999; and Pastor Richard Pingelley, Temple Baptist Church, interview with author, December 10, 1999.

18. There is no published history of Highland Park. The closest to a comprehensive history of the city is Kathleen L. Hill's unpublished manuscript, “History of Highland Park, Michigan,” held in McGregor Public Library (MPL), Highland Park, Michigan.

19. The word “inburb” has been used to describe communities like Highland Park that were incorporated cities located within the boundaries of a larger metropolitan jurisdiction. The problems of defining cities like Highland Park either as “suburb” or “urban” is addressed by Jackson, Kenneth, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 5 Google Scholar. Highland Park fits into a category defined by Paul Douglass as a “mixed suburb” with its own heritage. See Douglass, Paul, The Suburban Trend (New York: Century Company, 1925)Google Scholar.

20. Highland Park boasted that its twelve thousand trees made it one of the “best shaded cities in the United States.” Estimated at a value of well over one million dollars in 1947, these trees were carefully maintained by city services and, when necessary, replaced at cost with trees from a nearby nursery. See Highland Park Handbook: A Work Copy of Data and Other Information about the Highland Park Community, Vertical File (VF), Highland Park Planning, 1937-1959, MPL.

21. Highland Park Civic Association pamphlet, Highland Park Civic Association Collection (HPCA), Michigan Historical Collections (MHC), Bentley Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

22. The population of Highland Park reached its peak in 1930 when the city's population was recorded at 52,959. See Federal Census Reports for 1910, 1920, and 1930.

23. For an incisive account of the violent activities of this group, see Hill, “History of Highland Park.”

24. Membership of St. Benedict's reached its peak of 3,500 in 1950. Highland Park's ethnic and religious composition stood in stark contrast to the adjacent city of Hamtramck, where the majority of inhabitants were eastern European and Catholic in heritage.

25. Hill, “History of Highland Park,” 40. Among the ministers speaking out against the Muslims were the Reverend Ralph Crissman, pastor of the Highland Park Presbyterian Church, and the Reverend M. J. Sweet of Highland Park Congregational Church.

26. Constitution of HPBC published in 1942. HPBC's constitution still contains these articles.

27. “The Fundamentalist Movement” was an official expenditure on the 1938-1939 church budget. See 1938-1939 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA. HPBC bulletins in the 1930s also contain several announcements regarding “fundamentalist pastors monthly meetings” and other activities. See, for example, March 22, 1931, bulletin and June 7, 1931, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

28. Marsden, George, Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980)Google Scholar.

29. HPBC's Keswick orientations came in both theological and institutional form. The primary themes associated with this teaching included experiential religion, separation from “that which defiles and corrupts,” victory over sin, and, most important, service for Christ. All of these formed the essence of HPBC senior pastor William Coltman's theology and, by extension, directly informed HPBC preaching and teaching for the first forty years of the church's existence. Keswick influences on HPBC were also extended to the institutional level through Coltman's regular speaking engagements at the annual Canadian Keswick conference and the church's willingness to host various Keswick events. For further analysis of Keswick theology, see Carpenter, Revive Us Again, 81.

30. Also included in this network were Wheaton College, China Inland Mission, and Hebrew Christian Mission. See 1939-40 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA; and Thirty-year Anniversary Pamphlet, Anniversary Pamphlet Collection (AP), HPBCA. HPBC took particular pride in its connection with Moody and proudly displayed the names of local students (a majority of whom were women) attending this school. At one point, HPBC claimed that it had the most students from any church outside of Chicago attending Moody. Moody Bible Institute was placed as a permanent, annual expendi-ture on HPBC's budget in 1925. Such loyalties were seemingly rewarded in the late 1980s when HPBC pastor Joseph Stowell III was chosen as president of the institution.

31. Twenty-fifth Anniversary Pamphlet, AP, HPBCA.

32. See 1938-39 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA. The list of accomplishments also included 304 pulpit supply services, 530 Sunday school services, 140 rescue mission services, 78 prayer meetings, 80 open-air services, and 450 gospels distributed.

33. See quote on cover of March 13,1927, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

34. HPBC's bulletins of the 1920s and 1930s are punctuated by explicit calls for prayer for mass revival. For an important discussion of revivalism as a quest for cultural power, see Carpenter, Revive Us Again, 117-19.

35. See, for example, the program for the “Highland Park Community Service” under the auspices of the Associated Churches of Highland Park on Good Friday, 1935, BC, HPBCA.

36. See November 21, 1926, and June 2, 1929, bulletins, BC, HPBCA.

37. Membership levels fluctuated between 1945 and 1975. The highest level reached was 1,778 in 1975, the lowest 1,365 in 1971, shortly after the move to Southfield. Most years the membership level remained around 1,650. See Membership Statistic Log, HPBCA.

38. Limited sources exist for measuring the location of HPBC membership during this time. In the church bulletin for May 4, 1930, a map of “church ministry districts” in Highland Park and the surrounding area suggests that, while there was some scattering of activities throughout the northwest section of Detroit, most were centered in Highland Park. In addition, an October 12, 1930, directory of people involved in church ministry reveals that approximately 50 percent lived in Highland Park with another 25 percent living within two miles of the city. See BC, HPBCA.

39. In the fall of 1945, Coltman proclaimed, “The change from war to peace will not affect the mission of Church, rather it will demand a more intensive and aggressive prosecution of that mission.” He added to this the prediction that the major “problem in the post-war world willbe post-war individuals” and that the prescription for this remained the regeneration of the individual rather than the reconstruction of society. See “Our Post-War World,” September 9, 1945, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

40. A defining feature of HPBC was its emphasis on classical, orchestrated music. According to a number of observers, this feature distinguished HPBC from other “southern-style” fundamentalist churches in the city that enjoyed folk music over classical.

41. Regarding the new city restrictions on Palmer Park, see August 5, 1928, bulletin, BC, HPBCA. The heyday of HPBC radio ministry was between 1943 and 1951, when it broadcast its weekly Sunday evening services on CKLW. See “Historical Sketch,” January 27, 1952, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

42. Throughout the late 1940s, HPBC participated in the annual Greater Detroit Sunday School Association Attendance Increase Campaign, a contest between area churches to see whose Sunday school could grow the most in a two-month span. Between February and April of 1949, HPBC boasted an unmatched total attendance of 9,391. See “Bible School News,” Final Report of Campaign, April 10, 1949, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

43. Also unprecedented at this time was HPBC's willingness to allow its building expansion costs to exceed its financial output for missions. See 1950-1951 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA.

44. Joel Carpenter notes that fundamentalism experienced a “turning inward toward the company of the faithful” during the 1920s and 1930s. Carpenter, Revive Us Again, 58. For HPBC, such a “turning inward” seemed to take place in the late 1940s. Extensive programming accompanied by intensive and ongoing campaigns for higher attendance numbers and building funds were just two indications of this shifting focus. Throughout the late 1940s, attendance records for each of the thirty-nine Bible classes (covering every age group) were put on display in the weekly bulletins so that the entire congregation could carefully monitor the progress of its Sunday school department. While this fascination with attendance numbers was by no means unusual for the time, HPBC's fixation with numbers and its constant attempts to master “the technique for increasing attendance” nevertheless betrayed a growing sense that the church needed to expand its scope if it was to hold onto its new, younger generation. See “The Technique for Increasing Attendance,” in “Bible School News,” August 27, 1950, BC, HPBCA.

45. The only district to experience a more dramatic drop in population during this time was the adjoining city of Hamtramck, where population figures plummeted 21.3 percent. See Federal Census data for 1950 and 1960.

46. Whereas, in 1950, the percentage of nonwhites living in Highland Park was close to 9, by 1960, it was 21.4, and by 1970, 56.9.

47. Regarding city referendum and tax increase, see the Highland Parker, November 25 and December 9, 1954.

48. See “Social Survey of the Highland Park, Michigan, Renewal Area,” conducted by Small Cities Service Center, Washington, D.C., December 31, 1969. Survey held in Detroit Public Library (DPL), Main Branch.

49. See “Highland Park Makes Its Pitch,” Detroit News, November 11, 1949, 4A. This crime rate was bolstered by certain transgressions at the highest level of local government. See “Not Even Money Is Saving Highland Park,” Detroit News, September 20, 1976.

50. Highland Parker, January 5, 1950.

51. These three categories appear in Ammerman, Congregation and Community, 43-45.

52. Ibid., 4.

53. See July 26, 1953, bulletin, BC, HPBCA, and report from the Promotional Committee, 1957-1958 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA.

54. Between 1958 and 1960, each weekly church bulletin contained a full, front-page description of each of the classes, committees, and ministries offered by the church. During this time, HPBC also began to make more effort to provide activities for youth and families, and also to support outside institutions and organizations that did the same. The increasing importance of youth and family activities is evident in the increased allotment of funds to such infernal and external programs. See church budget, 1959-1960 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA. See also, “In Eternity What Will You Wish You Had Done Today?” May 11, 1958, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

55. Even a cursory read of HPBC annual reports and board of trustees minutes between the early 1960s and early 1970s reveals the growing importance of this committee, especially in relation to the Evangelization Committee. The increasing importance of the Promotional Committee continued into the 1960s as HPBC entered and completed its expansion phase in Southfield. See Board of Trustees Collection (BT), HPBCA.

56. May 25, 1952, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

57. Ibid.

58. April 27, 1952, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

59. HPBC business meeting, April 18, 1956, BT, HPBCA.

60. See, for example, “The Value of Church Attendance,” April 26, 1953, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

61. William Coltman, “The Christian and the Future,” Pastor's Sermons and Publications Collection (PS), HPBCA.

62. Like so many white Detroit citizens of the time, HPBC members were convinced that the decaying neighborhoods of Detroit and Highland Park were evidence that “blacks were feckless and irresponsible” and inherently prone to crime. For discussion, see Sugrue, Thomas, Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 36 Google Scholar.

63. See correspondence between HPBC and Harmony Baptist Church, March-April, 1951, BT, HPBCA.

64. William Pannell, taped interview, April 21, 1998, CN# 498, Billy Graham Center Archives (BGCA), Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. See also Conn, Harvie, The American City and the Evangelical Church: A Historical Overview (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 112 Google Scholar.

65. See “Population of Metropolitan Detroit, 1950,” box 44, folder A8-16, Detroit Urban League Collection (DUL), MHC.

66. The local civic association held its meetings in the McGregor Public Library, just a block away from the church.

67. See, for example, discussion of stolen money, December 9, 1957, BT, HPBCA.

68. March 9, 1961, BT, HPBCA.

69. Temple Baptist Church, one of the largest fundamentalist churches in the city and country, hosted at least three association meetings of this type, each of which drew around one thousand people. See “Report on Second Meeting Held Thursday, October 25, 1956, Temple Baptist Church” and “Organizational Meeting of States-Lawn Civic Association, Temple Baptist Church, February 14, 1957,” box 43, folder A7-13, DUL, MHC.

Meetings were also held in schools, public libraries, and veterans halls. Many civil rights activists considered the use of schools and churches by these associations a major problem. According to the Detroit Urban League, “There was general agreement that the use of schools and churches by these groups gives them undeserved status in the Community.” See “Resume of Improvement Association Committee Meeting, Held at the Detroit Urban League, November 12, 1956,” 3, box 43, folder A7-13, DUL, MHC. See also, “School Buildings as Public Forums: A Survey of Discrimination against Unpopular Minorities in the Use of Public School Buildings,” box 87, Civil Rights Congress of Michigan Collection (CRC), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs (ALUA), Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.

70. The names of eighty-eight different improvement associations appear on a list from the Zoning Board of Appeals, July 12, 1955, box 43, folder A7-13, DUL, MHC. There were probably many more associations in existence unaccounted for on this list. Robert Wilson and James Davis rightfully warn against assuming that all of these associations were solely concerned with residential segregation (The Church in the Racially Changing Community [New York: Abingdon, 1966]). Assorted documentation, however, suggests that most of them were. See “Resume of Improvement Association Committee Meeting, Held at the Detroit Urban League, November 12, 1956” for a discussion of the different activities and emphases of various associations. The Detroit Urban League Papers contain several reports of meetings held by these associations in which the “problem” of blacks moving into white neighborhoods was cen-tral. See, for example, reports on associations, box 43, folder A7-13, DUL, MHC.

71. November 5, 1959, BT, HPBCA; November 22, 1959, BT, HPBCA; October 6,1960, BT, HPBCA; August 5, 1957, BT, HPBCA. The special note regarding the proportion of blacks in this group appeared in the minutes. This group's request was denied because the HPBC person-in-charge “could not getboard action in time.”

72. See, for example, “Metropolitan Conference on Open Occupancy: A Challenge to Conscience,” January 2-3, 1963, part 1, box 8, folder “Metropolitan Conference on Occupancy, 1962-63,” Metropolitan Detroit Council of Churches Collection (MDCC), ALUA.

73. See, for example, the responses of evangelical subscribers to Christianity Today to the published article (1957) on segregation by E. Earle Ellis. “Replies to E. Earle Ellis article ‘Segregation and the Kingdom of God,' Christianity Today, March 18, 1957,” folder 1-37, CN 8, Christianity Today Collection (CT), BGCA. For a sense of the white evangelical perspective in 1950s and 1960s Detroit, see Jim Wallis, “By Accident of Birth: Growing Up White in Detroit,” Sojourners, June-July 1983, 12-16.

74. Hill, “History of Highland Park,” 124.

75. Among those appearing on the Highland Park Civic Association's membership list as “street captains” were HPBC's president of the Companion Bible Class (adult Sunday school) and a leader of the church's Bible school. Findings stem from cross-referencing HPBC's 1956-1957 directory of church officers with membership list for Highland Park Civic Association, HPCA.

76. A comparison of the Highland Park Civic Association membership list with the 1950s and 1960s membership lists from four of the city's largest churches shows that Protestants were much more involved in this organization than Catholics. See 1956 Directory of Church Officers, HPBCA; List of Patrons of St. Benedict's Parish, VF, MPL; Highland Park Congregational Church Directory, VF, MPL; St. Alban's Episcopal Church Directory, 1949-1950, St. Alban's Episcopal Church Collection (SA), MHC.

77. Sugrue, Origins ofthe Urban Crisis, 11.

78. HPBC business meeting, June 21, 1956, BT, HPBCA.

79. Although complete membership records are inconclusive, a 1956-1957 directory of church officers which lists more than four hundred names and addresses reveals that approximately 30 percent of HPBC “officers” (committee members, Bible school teachers, elected officials, and others involved in church programming) lived in Highland Park while another 15 percent lived within two miles of the city. See 1956-1957 HPBC Directory of Church Officers, HPBCA.

80. “Involvement,” May 23, 1965, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

81. Strauss taught Old Testament history for eight years at Philadelphia Bible Institute before serving as pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Bristol, Pennsylvania, from 1939 to 1957. Strauss was chosen to replace Coltman after a yearlong search that included a full review of possible candidates studying or teaching at “fundamental schools.” See 1956-1957 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA.

82. Carpenter, Revive Us Again, 244-45.

83. One of the highlights of 1961, for example, was the highly anticipated “Prophetic Conference” held at HPBC in October, at which John Walvoord, president of Dallas Theological Seminary, was the keynote speaker. See “Prophetic Conference, October 22-29,” October 15, 1961, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

84. See May 26, 1957, and May 17, 1959, bulletins, BC, HPBCA.

85. See “Roman Catholic Violence in Michigan Treated with Silence by Local Press,” May 3, 1959, bulletin, BC, HPBCA. During this time there was extensive coverage and commentary provided in the weekly bulletins on the election of John F. Kennedy.

86. See “Science Replaces Religion,” August 3, 1961 bulletin, and “Computer Versus God,” Jury 7, 1963, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

87. One recurring anecdote was a comparison of modern American society to the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” as articulated in the eighteenth century by Edward Gibbon. See “Echoes of History,” October 1, 1961, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

88. See “Our Only Hope,” February 5, 1961, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

89. See “The Church's Task,” May 30, 1961, bulletin, BC, HPBCA. For his part, Strauss did not let such an indictment of the Christian church escape notice by his own congregation. In the foreword to the 1961-1962 Annual Report, a space usually allocated for praise and commendation of church activities, Strauss chastised his congregation for an “obvious lack of spiritual power” that was most clearly evidenced in a decrease in church attendance and “saved souls.” AR, HPBCA.

90. See “Praying for a Wicked City,” February 7, 1960, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

91. Board of Trustees and Joint Board of Deacons Meeting, February 1, 1965, BT, HPBCA.

92. See “Evangelism and the Community,” March 28, 1965, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

93. While McMillan's frustration with HPBC's pending move to Southfield reflected genuine concern for the spiritual livelihood of the church, it also stemmed from his personal battles with church deacons over the lines of authority between the pastor of HPBC and the pastor of Southfield Chapel. McMillan became pastor of HPBC in July 1964 under the assumption that he would exercise full authority (as had his predecessor) over HPBC and its daughter church, Southfield Chapel. Shortly thereafter, however, Southfield Chapel hired Badon Brown as its full-time pastor. McMillan quickly realized that the arrangement he had envisioned between the two churches did not exist. Recognizing the growing tension between McMillan and Brown, HPBC's Board of Trustees and Joint Board of Deacons convened in February 1965 and promptly conceded that the conflict was due to an “inadequate definition to both new pastors when they were called to the pastorate as to the responsibilities each had for his assembly and how they interacted with the other group.” While such an admission eased the consciences of the two boards, it did little to ameliorate the tensions between Brown and McMillan. Sensing that HPBC and Southfield Chapel were headed toward a merger and that such a development would mean a subordinate role under the authority of Brown, McMillan tendered his resignation and, by the early summer of 1965, accepted a pastorate in Florida. See Board of Trustees and Joint Board of Deacons Meeting, February 1, 1965, BT, HPBCA.

94. “Involvement,” May 23, 1965, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

95. September 7, 1965, BT, HPBCA.

96. Despite significant impediments hindering New Grace's purchasing capabilities, HPBC realized that opportunities for the sale of its property in such a “critical mortgage market” would be limited and, on September 16, agreed to sell its property for what it considered a generous price of $350,000. See “Advisory Board Study Committee Report to H.R Trustee Board,” June 6, 1966, BT, HPBCA.

97. See “Exhibit D,” BT, HPBCA, June 13, 1966. In early June 1966, it was reported to the Board of Trustees that approximately 346 people, including 100 members, 20 nonmembers, and 151 area boys and girls who participated in HPBC activities, had stated they would not be following HPBC to the suburbs. As the report made clear, this total did “not in any way include the members who have felt that they did not want to stand in the way of the move.”

98. Trinity Methodist Church was most supportive of the continuation of a Highland Park Baptist ministry and hoped that the ministry would grow and eventually secure a building of its own. See letter from George Loveless, Chairman of the Board of Deacons, Coltman Memorial Church, to Board of Trustees, Highland Park Baptist Church, October 6, 1966, BT, HPBCA.

99. HPBC also provided regular bus service to anyone in Highland Park who wanted to worship at the new church in Southfield. This service was disbanded within a year of the move to Southfield.

100. September 18 and 25, 1966, bulletins, BC, HPBCA.

101. October 2, 1966, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

102. Criticism of suburban religion and culture has come from several different angles. For a cross section of this literature, see: Winter, Gibson, The Suburban Captivity ofthe Churches (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961), 103-4Google Scholar; Baumgartner, Mary Pat, The Moral Order of a Suburb (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988)Google Scholar; Gans, Herbert, The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community (New York: Random House, 1967)Google Scholar; and Shippey, Frederick, Protestantism in Suburban Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1964)Google Scholar. For a more tempered assessment, see Newman, William, “Religion in Suburban America,” in The Changing Face ofthe Suburbs, ed. Schwartz, Barry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975)Google Scholar. By far the best overview and analysis of some of the leading critics of the suburban middle class—including Riesman, David, Whyte, William Jr., and C. Wright Mills—is James Hudnut-Beumler, Looking for God in the Suburbs (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1994)Google Scholar.

103. Gaylord Noyce provides an important rejoinder to the industry of cultural criticism that evolved in response to suburbanization in The Responsible Suburban Church (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1970).

104. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 48, notes the cultural implications of suburbanization.

105. For further insight into the deeply rooted, historical relationship between suburbia and evangelical Protestantism, see Fishman, Robert, Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia (New York: Basic Books, 1987)Google Scholar.

106. At a cost of nearly one million dollars, this project exceeded any other undertaken by HPBC. See “Foreword,” 1966-1967 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA.

107. The architect's report and the church's brief assessment of the building style appears in the June 10, 1962, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

108. See announcements, August 23, 1970, bulletin, January 2, 1972, bulletin, and November 4, 1975, bulletin, BC, HPBCA. Christian movies produced by Billy Graham became more heavily advertised and supported by HPBC in the early 1970s.

109. September 9,1973, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

110. “Operation: Reach,” March 19, 1967, bulletin, BC, HPBCA. This project utilized the latest and most sophisticated mapping and demographic techniques available at the time.

111. 1968-1969 Annual Report, AR, HPBCA.

112. For a brief but useful introduction to the church growth movement based at Fuller Theological Seminary, see Hoge, Dean and Roozen, David, eds., Understanding Church Growth and Decline, 1950-1978 (New York: Pilgrim, 1979)Google Scholar, especially “Church Growth Research: The Paradigm and Its Applications,” by C. Peter Wagner, 270-87.

113. See “Two Ingredients for a Healthy Church,” August 26, 1973, bulletin, BC, HPBCA. The church growth movement claimed Christianity “spread best when people are converted with a minimum of social dislocation.” Christian churches were therefore encouraged to grow along “people lines”—that is, “develop and bring together those of one homogenous unit at a time.” See Wagner, “Church Growth Research,” 273-74. This method was impressive in terms of growth among conservative Protestant churches but raised the ire of several Protestant leaders, particularly those who were most affected by the decline of membership in their own churches. See Kelley, Dean, Why Conservative Churches are Growing, 2d ed. (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1977)Google Scholar.

114. See daily editions of the Southfield News from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Southfield Library (SL), Southfield, Michigan.

115. For a sampling of the ongoing debate within HPBC over the merits of a Christian school, see “A Christian School Rationale,” January 10, 1971, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

116. See April 7, 1973, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

117. This observation stems from conversation with several longtime HPBC members who feared the effects of the riots on former neighbors and church members.

118. These comments appeared on the front cover of the church bulletin. See “Are We Missing Something?” September 24, 1967, bulletin, BC, HPBCA. The same sentiments were voiced after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. See “Musings after a Murder,” April 14, 1968, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

119. November 8, 1971, BT, HPBCA.

120. See, for example, September 10, 1972, bulletin; July 29, 1973, bulletin; August 26, 1973, bulletin; and “Watch Out for Lotus Land,” September 26, 1976, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

121. Winter, The Suburban Captivity ofthe Churches, 103-4.

122. Institutional loyalties of this sort were particularly evident among southern white migrants who relied on their local churches for social as well as spiritual needs. But loyalties of this sort were also evident on a broader, congregational level in HPBC. At the time of its move to Southfield, more than 40 percent of HPBC's members were still living in Highland Park and Detroit. By the early 1970s, this number had dropped precipitously as members followed their church to the suburbs. These estimates come from the complete membership directory published in October 1966, HPBCA.

123. The work of Gregory Singleton is the only real deliberate attempt to consider fundamentalism in its urban environment. See Singleton, Gregory, Religion in the City of Angels: American Protestant Culture and Urbanization, Los Angeles, 1850-1930 (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1979)Google Scholar. A few sociological works examine fundamentalism in the local context. See Ammerman, Nancy, Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1987)Google Scholar; FitzGerald, Frances, Cities on a Hill: A Journey through Contemporary American Cultures (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986)Google Scholar; Peshkin, Alan, God's Choice: The Total World of a Fundamentalist Christian School (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986)Google Scholar; and Warner, R. Stephen, New Wine in Old Wineskins: Evangelicals and Liberals in a Small Town (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988)Google Scholar. Historical works that look at fundamentalism on a “community” level by focusing on “local institutions” and their leaders include: Brereton, Virginia Lieson, The Formation of the Bible Schools, 1880-1940 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990)Google Scholar; Hankins, Barry, God's Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1996)Google Scholar; and Trollinger, William Vance, God's Empire: William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990)Google Scholar.

124. The most notable works in the history of fundamentalism examine the movement's theological, intellectual, and cultural underpinnings. See, for example, Bendroth, Margaret Lamberts, Fundamentalism and Gender, 1875 to the Present (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993)Google Scholar; Marsden, George, Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987)Google Scholar and Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980); and Sandeen, Ernest, The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism, 1800-1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970)Google Scholar. The most important study of fundamentalism between 1930 and 1950 is Joel Carpenter's masterful, sweeping account of the institutional side of this “popular” movement.

125. Carpenter himself sees this as a significant gap in the historiography of fundamentalism (Revive Us Again, 58).

126. On any given Sunday, one can still sing the same hymns, enjoy the same orchestrated music, listen to the same style of preaching, adhere to the same doctrine, and observe the same type of “missionary commissioning” ceremonies that framed Sunday services in the 1930s.

127. As paraphrased by Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 57.

128. During Stowell's eight-year pastorate of HPBC, church bulletins and activities as well as sermons demonstrated a new (albeit traditionally evangelistic) concern with the social and spiritual needs of local Jews and Muslims as well as of inner city blacks. See, for example, October 11, 1981, bulletin and October 18,1981, bulletin, BC, HPBCA.

129. Baldassare, Mark, Trouble in Paradise: The Suburban Transformation in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986)Google Scholar.

130. Many fundamentalist churches in Detroit have now made a third move to the outer limits of the metropolitan area. Some, like Temple Baptist Church, have become large “mega-churches” positioned among the upper-middle-class neighborhoods of metropolitan Detroit.

131. See “Community File,” HPBCA.

132. In partnership with Rosedale Park Baptist Church, HPBC, in 1993, established the Highland Park Community Outreach with the expressed purpose of “bringing renewal to urban families.” Under the leadership of John Weidman and a number of HPBC families (some of which moved to Highland Park), this outreach ministry articulated several lofty goals for the impoverished city of Highland Park, including the founding of a church, daycare, and Christian school, the rehabilitation of houses within a nine-block area, the creation of a family ministry center, and the provision of educational and employment counseling services. See “Community of the Forgiven—Community Outreach” file, HPBCA.

133. Those attending are predominantly black with a core of white leadership.

134. According to the Federal Census figures of 1990, Highland Park is now 93 percent black.

135. Sugrue, Origins of the Urban Crisis, 3.