Our Story

OUR HISTORY

The Dearborn Free Methodist Church

 The Dearborn Free Methodist Church began in 1938 when three different groups of people who had a heart and vision for God and His church.  They desired a church that would both lead people to Christ and lead them to a deeper spiritual life experience impacting their lives, their families, and the entire community for God.  Mrs. Ethel Allen moved to Dearborn in 1929, and began to pray for that kind of church.  In 1936, a Christian layperson that had started a mission on Michigan Avenue invited Reverend L. Kelly, then the pastor of the Wayne Free Methodist Church, to assume responsibilities for the mission.  Soon Reverend Kelly was holding services in Dearborn.  Mrs. Allen saw this mission to be the answers to her prayers.  The third significant group coming together with them was a neighborhood children’s Bible study offered every Sunday by Mr. And Mrs. O.E. Killgrove.  When this group connected with the mission on Michigan Avenue, the nucleus of the church was well under way.  In 1938, the Michigan Conference of the Free Methodist Church decided to invest in a church-planting project in Dearborn.  From its earliest beginnings DFMC has been focused on “Loving God and Loving Others”.

 The church has had over 60 years of history, with various pastors and lay persons.  The church has produced many leaders, pastors, and missionaries over the years.

 Our current pastor, Dr. Michael Ewert and his family joined us in June of 2009 as Senior Pastor of the church.

Dearborn Free Methodist Church (DFMC) is a vibrant, Christ-centered community of faith with ministry opportunities for people of all ages and season of life.  Situated in Dearborn Michigan (a community of around 100,000 people) DFMC’s noted signature strengths are being a multigenerational congregation, participatory Missional involvement, community service involvement for all ages and exciting teen and youth ministries.

 DFMC’s average Sunday worship is around 177 (year-ending 2009).

 DFMC’s constituency and ministry contacts include nursery through Senior High teens (20%); ages 19-45 (40%) and those ages 46 and above (40%).

 Primary areas of ministry involvement include Sunday A.M. Worship/Celebration (traditional and contemporary); Small Groups (both home groups and on-site Christian education opportunities for all ages); and Missions/Community Service opportunities.

 Basic beliefs of DFMC include the following;

*  That the most important decisions one makes over the course of their lifetime is one’s personal faith relationship with Jesus Christ.

*   That the most important privilege of being a Christ-follower is to worship God in spirit and in truth.

 *  That the Bible serves as civilization’s only infallible moral compass; God’s inspired and authoritative foundation for Christian doctrine; benefitting humankind with correct beliefs, healthy behaviors and instruction for right relationships.

*  That God does more than merely forgive sins; He empowers redeemed people to live, holy, godly lives.

 *  That God’s redemptive rescue operation on planet earth is directly impacted by missional involvement of God’s people through healthy churches.

 Organization of DFMC is in keeping with the connectional structure of the Free Methodist Church of North America.  This connectional system means that we are governed under the authority of a common constitution and that we operate in keeping with the Book of Discipline under the leadership of duly appointed leaders.  Thus we share diverse, yet commonly-inspired forms of worship, fellowship and mission.  Our main mission as Free Methodist churches is to create the local churches which call all people everywhere to wholeness through forgiveness and holiness in Jesus Christ, and to invite in membership and equip for ministry all who respond in faith. 

DFMC Purpose Statement 

The Dearborn Free Methodist Church exists to:

 Bring people to Christ;

 Bring people up in Christ;

 And send people out for Christ

 So that together we will exalt God.