History of the Council

HISTORY

On May 1, 1919 representatives of five Protestant communions gathered to create the Detroit Council of Churches of Christ. The first Executive Director began in January 1920 and utilized a budget of $10,000.

The Council's program has been full and varied over the years. Its offices have always been in the downtown area, within two blocks of Grand Circus Park. In 1962, the word Metropolitan was added to the name to indicate the Council's service to the tri-county region of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties.

To better define its nature and to indicate its local autonomy, the name of the Council was again changed in 1976 to Christian Communication Council of Metropolitan Detroit Churches. At that time services were expanded to reach 2000 congregations in eight counties: Essex (Ontario), Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Saint Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne. Several communions were added to the mailing list, including Church of God in Christ, Missouri Lutheran, 10 Orthodox Christian denominations, Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist, 10 Canadian denominations, and others.

The name was changed to Metropolitan Christian Council (Detroit - Windsor) in 2000 to more clearly indicate its international dimension.

The Council has a major event each spring, called the Herald Awards, where a variety of church leaders and Christian media talents and organizations are honored.

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