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Triumph Church is a non-denominationalevangelicalmulti-sitemegachurch based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in the fall of 1920 by Claude Cummings as the Triumph Missionary Baptist Church. The Reverend Solomon Kinloch Jr. is currently the senior pastor. The church has six weekend and three midweek services, and its average attendance makes it one of the largest churches in Detroit and Michigan.
In the last few years,[when?] the church has been recognized for its rapid growth. According to Outreach Magazine, it was the third-fastest-growing church in the United States in 2008, with more than 2,000 new members formalizing their commitment to the church.[1] That growth continued through 2013, when the church topped the same list with 3,800 new members.[2]
Although Triumph Church traces its beginnings to a Missionary Baptists organization, as part of the "seeker sensitive" movement, it does not publicize its traditional Baptist ties, as research indicates new believers are less drawn to traditional forms of church activities and worship.[3]
Leadership
Solomon Kinloch Jr. is the senior pastor of Triumph Church. He has been a minister since the age of 14, starting at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. In 1998, Kinloch was hired as the pastor of Triumph Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Kinloch served on the board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the New Market Tax Credit Advisory Board.
History
In the fall of 1920, the Reverend Claude Cummings organized the Triumph Missionary Baptist Church. In 1924, while located underground in a wood-frame structure at 515 Holford Street in River Rouge, Michigan, the church was officially incorporated.
Cummings was succeeded by the Reverends L. A. Forte, Rosbrior, F. Freeman, Scott, and G. W. Sims, respectively. In 1941, Reverend A. D. Boone, a member for 20 years, became the church's pastor. It was under Boone's leadership that members built a new building in 1954, which is now one of its current locations, underground at 2550 South Liddesdale in Detroit. After Boone's death in 1969, Freeman reassumed pastoral duties until Reverend David DeYampert took over in 1970.
Under DeYampert, the church's membership grew from approximately 300 members to over 1,200. Construction of a new edifice on the same site began in March 1974. The following September, members began worshiping in the new sanctuary. In June 1988, members held a special service to celebrate full payment of the mortgage. From 1989 to 1997, the church faced difficult times as its membership dwindled from a high of over 1,200 to only 44. In addition to the struggles facing the church, DeYampert died on July 2, 1997. The next year, on March 22, 1998, Triumph Church appointed then-24-year-old Solomon Kinloch Jr. as its pastor. Under Kinloch membership has expanded from 44 members to over 40,000. To accommodate this growth, Triumph Church became a multi-site church by adding services on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday at various sites.
Since 2010
In 2012, the church reached an agreement to take ownership of the former ROC[clarification needed] ministry campus spanning more than 20 acres (8.1ha) in Northville Township, near the western suburbs of Plymouth, Livonia, Novi, and Canton. This became the church's new West Campus.
In October 2014, the church negotiated with the former St. Martha's Episcopal Church—built by automobile mogul Henry Ford and his wife Clara—to purchase the 22,000-square-foot (2,000m2) church on Detroit's westside to become Triumph Church's Central Campus. The site is also the gravesite of Ford and many of his family members.
In the summer of 2015, the church assumed ownership of the former Heart Academy charter school and St. Peter Catholic Church in Harper Woods, which became its new Eastland Campus. In the fall of 2015, Triumph Church partnered with North Star Ministries and its retiring pastor, Bishop James Flowers, to assume the ministry operations and financial obligations of the longtime Flint-area church. The new combined church became the Triumph Church's Flint Campus.
Recognition
In 2009, Outreach Magazine named Triumph Church the third-fastest-growing church in the United States, with over 2,000 new members in 2008.[1] In 2012, Outreach Magazine named Triumph Church one of the top 100 largest churches in the United States, with nearly 10,000 in attendance each week.[1]
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