Location: Southfield, Michigan

Presbytery: Great Lakes-Gulf

Organization: 1834

Membership: 44 communicant; 18 baptized

Pastor: Adam Kuehner

Website: www.reformed.com

The Southfield Reformed Presbyterian Church (SRPC) is one of the oldest congregations in the RPCNA. Established in 1834 by Scots-Irish settlers from New York, it is three years older than the state of Michigan and shares its birth year with Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892). Quite remarkably, this tiny band of church-planting pioneers helped to clear the dense Michigan forest, developing what would later become the city of Southfield (pop. 72,000) in metropolitan Detroit. Under the leadership of Rev. J.S.T. Milligan (1826–1912), the congregation sheltered runaway slaves via the Underground Railroad.

Notwithstanding its long history, SRPC is also one of the youngest congregations in the RPCNA. The median age among its 44 communicant members is just 29, including 20 communicants in their twenties. With so many young couples, the congregation is hopeful that the Lord will continue to increase its total of 18 baptized members.

Every January, SRPC communicants unite around the Lord’s table to publicly renew their covenants of communicant membership and baptism before the Lord. This is preceded by a fast-day and has seen many answers to prayer over the years!

In recent years, SRPC members have regularly joined other local saints for evangelism near sports arenas, bus stops, and abortion clinics. Prior to the pandemic, the church hosted an annual evangelistic pancake dinner and an evangelistic service (plus brunch) every fifth Sabbath. Since 2017, Pastor Kuehner has also enjoyed leading biweekly chapel services at a rehab center in Detroit. Such efforts have served to unify local believers, introducing many to The Book of Psalms for Worship, which is often sung outside the abortion clinics. “Those who now sow in tears shall reap at harvest time, and shout for joy” (Psalm 126B, BOPFW).

SRPC members have increasingly practiced hospitality as a means of sharing Christ’s love with others. Those driving from a distance are hosted between morning and evening worship. One beneficiary of this ministry recently moved closer to the church, so that he can begin hosting others in similar fashion!

By God’s grace, the Southfield congregation was able to maintain in-person public worship throughout 2020, in full conformity with the laws of the state of Michigan and with zero infections, many visitors, and a Facebook livestream for homebound worshipers.

On Mar. 30, 2020, elder emeritus Dr. Bruce Adams, son of Cache Creek missionary pastor Richard Cameron Adams, passed into glory at the age of 93 following a (non-virus-related) heart attack. He will be remembered for his gentle spirit, his indefatigable gratitude, and his great love for psalm singing.

On Apr. 12, 2020, SRPC witnessed its first household baptism in recent memory, as a family of ex-Mormons professed their faith. To date, the Lord has granted five adult baptisms in just over four years. Since 2014, the congregation has seen a considerable spike in communicant membership (26 to 44), baptized membership (8 to 18), and overall membership (34 to 62). “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).

The saints in Southfield are grateful to the Lord for His unfathomable goodness over the past 187 years and remain eager to experience even more. “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13).