A Brief History of the Oakland Church of Christ
The Oakland Church of Christ is a consolidation of two groups of Christians who came together on February 8, 1985: the Strathmoor and Southfield Churches of Christ. The Strathmoor church was established on March 31, 1935. During the 1940s it was one of the largest congregations of the churches of Christ in the Detroit area with an average attendance of over 300. Some of the ministers who served there included A.J. Bachman, J. Harvey Dykes, Norman Beaman, Will Ed Warren, R. V. Boyd. Minister Herd and T. McClain.
Leaders from the Strathmoor church and other congregations began the Southfield Church of Christ on October 7, 1956. This group reached an average Sunday morning attendance of about 150 in the late 1960s. Some of the ministers included Bill Burke, Larry Turner, David Graf, Larry Jurney, Gerald Montgomery, and Kennith Skeens.
The name “Oakland” was chosen to represent a new beginning for both groups. It not only is the name of the name of the county where the congregation worships, but it also described the beautiful wooded setting around the building located across form the Southfield post office at the time of the merger.
In 1997, a campaign was launched to build a new 25,000 feet worship facilities. An 8-acre tract of land was purchased at 23333 West 10 Mile- one mile south of the former location. The Oakland Church of Christ celebrated the first worship assembly at the new facility on August 25, 2002.
The Elders and Trustees during this time were, Clarence Locke, Bob Rucker, Bob Jackson, Charles Tucker, Arnold L Brown, William Brown, Duane Foster, Vernon Boyd, Wayne Johnson and George Wicker ~Treasurer. We celebrate these milestones and anticipate that God will continue to work though us in the coming years.
Special thanks goes to Elder Locke, Elder Rucker, Bro. George Wicker, Elder Arnold Brown (Program Manager), and Elder Tucker for their leadership, long term vision, detail planning and faithfulness in launching and completing the building program in a timely professional manner.
