Roseville Trinity United Methodist Church celebrates milestone

ROSEVILLE — When the congregation of Roseville Trinity United Methodist Church gathers Sept. 17 for service, it will also recognize the church’s 100-year anniversary.

David Bard, bishop at the Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church, will be the main speaker at the 11 a.m. service, and other festivities are planned.

“This is a special occasion,” said Norma Maxvill, the publicity chair for the 100-year anniversary, who added that Roseville’s Trinity merged with Warren Wesley UMC and St. Clair Shores Good Shepherd UMC to form its current worshiping community. Christopher Heldt has been the pastor since July, and currently there are about 100 active members.

“We’re all committed to the service of the Lord,” said Maxvill, of St. Clair Shores. “This is the way that we come to celebrate God every Sunday and whatever other ways we do within this community. If you’re not here, you’re missed.”

The original Roseville Trinity United Methodist Church was organized in 1923. During the early days, services were held in William Apps’ Hardware Store at 11 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue. A barrel was used for a pulpit.

In 1925, the first church building was built at 11 Mile Road and Fernwood Street in Roseville. It was used briefly before a fire destroyed it. Another church was eventually built in the same area.

“Devoted members started planning for another building and when the basement was completed met there for many years,” the church’s “Our Church Then and How” booklet states. “In 1949, the sanctuary was completed and consecrated on March 6 of that year.”

The church members, however, were forced to move because the state bought the property to make way for Interstate 696. That’s when the church moved to its current location at 18303 Common Road. Members brought the pews from the old church building, and the first service was held June 6, 1971.

“The Bible is preached and important in the message on Sunday morning,” said member Karen Arendall, of Fraser. “But then there’s the warmth of the congregation, too. People-to-people contact is very important.”

Ken Bowen, Rilett Burns and Steve Finley all began attending Roseville Trinity United Methodist Church 69 years ago with their parents.

“When the church was originally built, they had service in the basement,” said Burns, of Clinton Township. “My grandparents started coming in 1929. My mother was 10 years old. Everyone is welcome every Sunday. We greet everybody. People are always nice.”

“Everyone’s like a family to me. I grew up in the church and knew everybody here,” said Bowen, of Roseville. “I just felt very comfortable here.”

The church has provided outreach in the past. According to Finley, members have opened the church for the Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team. With MCREST, churches open up at night and bring in homeless individuals for a meal and a place to sleep. The individuals then leave in the morning and return in the evening. The program moves to different churches each week. Roseville Trinity participated for many years.

“We housed 29 men,” Finley said. “It took everyone working together in order to get it done. It was humbling.”

Finley remembers there was one church member who came to the church during the day to look for jobs and places to live.

“Then she would work with the individuals in the evening to let them know about this,” Finley said. “She did this whole thing. She got several people into jobs and apartments.”

The church has not been able to participate in MCREST in the last few years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It hasn’t been easy the last few years because of attrition. Not everybody kept going. When Steve and I grew up, there were a bunch of us that were all the same age,” Burns said. “Now there’s only two or three of us that still go to this church.”

“COVID, as it did with many churches, hit us hard. That’s when we started having Facebook services, and we have continued that,” Maxvill said. “We do have that presence every Sunday, and we have senior members who aren’t able to come to church, but they worship on Facebook. I have friends in North Carolina that watch every week. We also have somebody from Liberia that watches every week.”

Roseville Trinity United Methodist Church is located at 18303 Common Road, at the corner of Common Road and Quinkert Street. For more information, visit sites.google.com/site/rosevilletrinity or call (586) 776-8828.