Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Kensington Church, a Troy-headquartered place of worship, fellowship and service for people “who don’t like church,” celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, looking very different than it did at its beginnings. Kensington held its first public service in 1990 at East Hills Middle School, on Kensington Road in Bloomfield Hills, where the core group of forty spiritual adventurers had rented the cafeteria. Attendance at the first service was 463. The church grew in rented space, including Troy High School, before constructing its first building at Square Lake and John R in Troy. Today, the church with the motto “Love, Lock (arms) and Live (open handedly)!” has campuses in Birmingham, Clarkston, Clinton Township, Orion, Shelby, Troy and Orlando, Florida and partnerships in Haiti, India, Israel and Palestine, Kenya, Latin America, and South Sudan. Dave Wilson, a Founding Pastor and the Team Chaplain for the Detroit Lions, states, “If something won’t help us love unconditionally, build community and model generosity, we don’t do it.”
The church does a lot. In addition to weekend and midweek worship, Kensington offers participants opportunities to take part in study groups, support groups, fellowship groups, and year-round activities to benefit the communities in which its churches are located and other communities in need throughout metro Detroit. Members in Troy can participate in thirty different ministries. Recently these have included sponsoring proms for people with physical and developmental challenges, partnered with Pontiac schools to bring music and art to Title I students, and sponsoring mission trips for adults, high school and middle school students.
Troy’s Lead Pastor Steve Norman welcomes all: “My hope is that this would be a great place for you to take the next step on your spiritual journey and that you feel the warm welcome and hospitality of a group of people that are excited you are here and interested in getting to know you. Kensington is a place where everyone can belong, contribute and make a difference.”
Photo:
Kensington Founders and Lead Pastors: Back Row – Clint Dupin, Dave Wilson, Chris Zarbaugh
Front Row – Steve Norman, Steve Andrews, Mark Nelson
Sources:
httpss://kensingtonchurch.org/
httpss://www.facebook.com/kensingtonchurch/
To commemorate the City of Troy’s 60th Anniversary in 2015, we will publish a different story each day that highlights a person, discovery, or event that occurred locally, regionally, nationally, or even globally between 1955 and 2015 and that helped shape our lives and our community. We will try to post stories on important anniversary dates, but we also realize that dates are less critical than content and context. We will include the facts related to controversial stories, allowing our readers to form their own opinions. We invite you to read and comment on the stories. Your suggestions for topics are also welcome and can be posted on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TroyHistoricVillage. You can also email stories or ideas to the 365 Story Editor at ed@thvmail.org.
