Plymouth Congregational Church of Lansing
History
The origins of Plymouth Congregational Church are rightly traced to the first church organized in Lansing in 1847. In that year, a group of Congregationalists founded the first church in Lansing. Later the Congregationalists and Presbyterians worked together through a "Plan of Union" to found and maintain churches on the Western Frontier for mutual benefit. Eventually, that first church served as the seedbed of what was to become both the First Presbyterian Church and the Plymouth Congregational Church of Lansing.
In 1864, the Congregationalists decided to found their own church. March first of that year witnessed the birth of Plymouth Church when twenty-seven members subscribed to the Church's covenant. Worship was held in rented rooms until the first building was built in 1865 on a lot located on Capitol Avenue south of Washtenaw Street. The plain but sturdy Chapel witnessed continued growth in membership until it was apparent that a new church building would be needed.
In March, 1877, a substantial brick Gothic style church was completed on the corner of West Allegan and Townsend Streets facing the State Capitol, at a cost of $20,150 (a considerable amount of money in those days). The new building met the needs of both the congregation and community well over the years.
Plymouth Church gained a reputation for being a congregation which expected excellence in all aspects of its life. The reputation of the services, the sermons delivered, and the music programs grew over the years, as did the church membership, peaking in the late 1950's at over 1700. During the 1950's and early 1960's, however, denominational conflict over a proposed merger to create an entirely new denomination, the United Church of Christ, was a source of contention within the church. Plymouth members chose to continue in their Congregational heritage, becoming one of the founding member churches of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.
In 1971 the Gothic building located in downtown Lansing was destroyed by fire. The congregation met for worship in the Y.W.C.A. next door until moving to its present building in 1975. The contemporary lines of the new structure express the fact that Plymouth Church seeks to serve God in new ways in our present era.
Plymouth Congregational Church has been instrumental in founding the Pilgrim and Mayflower Congregational Churches of Lansing. The members of the congregation are proud of their rich past and eagerly seek to build on that past in new ways for the future.
Plymouth Church strives for excellence yet today, and invites you to join in the adventure of faith and covenanted living that is the ongoing story of this congregation of the Lord's Free People.
