No lack of churches in downtown Flint
UM-Flint campus hosts many religous organizations and many places of worship are within walking distance
Jenny Serwach
Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: Local News
The city of Flint is full of churches, with at least six of them less than a mile away from the University.
On campus there are many religious organizations such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Campus Crusade for Christ, Monday Manna, the Muslim Student Association, the Jewish Student Union, Newman Catholic Student Fellowship and The Tree. The Tree provides its own church service in the KIVA every Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We have at least four or five religious organizations on campus that are pretty active and flourishing and they advocate a lot for their specific religions and provide a lot of educational programming,” said Student Activities Coordinator, Brian Proffer. “I’d like to see more of a secular presence on campus.” said Phillip Ferrier, who was in the process of starting a Pastafarian club. Pastafarianism is based on the flying spaghetti monster theory. “We’ve tried to get a club off the ground but plans are currently falling through at the moment.”
Near campus, there are several religious options. There’s First Trinity Missionary Baptist at 1226 Beach Street and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 711 S. Saginaw St., which hosts performances by the UM-Flint chorale during the holiday season. Court Street Methodist Church is located at 225 W. Court St.”It’s the oldest established church in the city. We were established in 1836 and we have a great youth group and a good amount of youth attendance at services,” said Nanette Noyce, business manager at the Court Street Methodist Church. St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church is located at 706 Beach Street. St. Matthew’s was established in 1911 and the church was built in 1919. There’s been a lot of renovations and painting to restore the church. “We have mass on weekends and confessions every Saturday at 3:15 p.m.,” said Sharon Vance, secretary at St. Matthews Church. The First Presbyterian Church is located at 746 S. Saginaw Street, “We’re located right downtown because we don’t believe in isolation, we believe in reaching out to the community,” said Steve Baillie, pastor at First Presbyterian Church. “We have a weekly neighborhood breakfast every Sunday and do a lot to help people who come off the street. We have a social worker and we help people to get identification such as state IDs and social security cards because most other organizations such as the Salvation Army require identification in order to get help. We work with other agencies to help others and provide funds to organizations such as the Genesee County medical clinic.”
The Church of Scientology Mission of Genesee County is located in the Crim Builing on 452 S. Saginaw St. and is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6:15-8:45 p.m. and Sundays from 9:15-11:45 a.m.
“I was actually getting my MBA at UM-Flint when I first started reading Dianetics.” said executive director of the Church of Scientology, Rob Bannon. “Scientology helped me get through a tough time in my life and as I took more courses I began to feel better.”
Jenny can be reached at jeserwac@umflint.edu.
On campus there are many religious organizations such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Campus Crusade for Christ, Monday Manna, the Muslim Student Association, the Jewish Student Union, Newman Catholic Student Fellowship and The Tree. The Tree provides its own church service in the KIVA every Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We have at least four or five religious organizations on campus that are pretty active and flourishing and they advocate a lot for their specific religions and provide a lot of educational programming,” said Student Activities Coordinator, Brian Proffer. “I’d like to see more of a secular presence on campus.” said Phillip Ferrier, who was in the process of starting a Pastafarian club. Pastafarianism is based on the flying spaghetti monster theory. “We’ve tried to get a club off the ground but plans are currently falling through at the moment.”
Near campus, there are several religious options. There’s First Trinity Missionary Baptist at 1226 Beach Street and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 711 S. Saginaw St., which hosts performances by the UM-Flint chorale during the holiday season. Court Street Methodist Church is located at 225 W. Court St.”It’s the oldest established church in the city. We were established in 1836 and we have a great youth group and a good amount of youth attendance at services,” said Nanette Noyce, business manager at the Court Street Methodist Church. St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church is located at 706 Beach Street. St. Matthew’s was established in 1911 and the church was built in 1919. There’s been a lot of renovations and painting to restore the church. “We have mass on weekends and confessions every Saturday at 3:15 p.m.,” said Sharon Vance, secretary at St. Matthews Church. The First Presbyterian Church is located at 746 S. Saginaw Street, “We’re located right downtown because we don’t believe in isolation, we believe in reaching out to the community,” said Steve Baillie, pastor at First Presbyterian Church. “We have a weekly neighborhood breakfast every Sunday and do a lot to help people who come off the street. We have a social worker and we help people to get identification such as state IDs and social security cards because most other organizations such as the Salvation Army require identification in order to get help. We work with other agencies to help others and provide funds to organizations such as the Genesee County medical clinic.”
The Church of Scientology Mission of Genesee County is located in the Crim Builing on 452 S. Saginaw St. and is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6:15-8:45 p.m. and Sundays from 9:15-11:45 a.m.
“I was actually getting my MBA at UM-Flint when I first started reading Dianetics.” said executive director of the Church of Scientology, Rob Bannon. “Scientology helped me get through a tough time in my life and as I took more courses I began to feel better.”
Jenny can be reached at jeserwac@umflint.edu.
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