Over the past few days, we have been in Bloomfield Hills filming at the beautiful gothic style church, Kirk in the Hills.
On Sunday, we filmed Rev. Dr. Andrew McDonald giving his traditional Sunday service with the procession of the choir and acolytes. Rev. Dr. McDonald then performed five baptisms for his congregation members: Stahl, Perusse, Perlberg, Haan, and Burskey.
On Monday, we came back to film our sit-down interviews with some of the clergy including Rev. Edwin Estevez, Rev. Kelsey Sorge, Rev. Dr. Andrew McDonald, and historian, Bob Beck. Before we got into these in-depth interviews, we had the opportunity to film with lead bagpipe master, Terry Bradley, who serenaded us with traditional Scottish music as the sun rose over the church early that morning. This will be featured as part of the Kirkin O’ the Tartan ceremony we will be filming in November.
We sat with Rev. Edwin Estevez who helped us understand the church's principles when it comes to outreach and mission, especially in regards to the youth.
As generations change, the congregation has to come up with new ideas and ways to connect with the youth. This is the leadership role of Rev. Kelsey Sorge, associate youth pastor, who has noticed these changes in the youth of today and navigates the best possible methods of teaching and keeping the students engaged long-term. Sorge explained how she’s noticed that the youth has increasingly shown an interest in nature and rituals and how she translates this into her teaching.
To learn about the history of the church and how it started, we sat with church historian Bob Beck. We learned that Kirk in the Hills was a gift from Detroit business man, Colonel Edwin S. George, who saw the need for a church and decided to gift his estate (Cedarholm) to the community. The congregation was organized by the Presbytery of Detroit in 1947 and still remains a Presbyterian denomination today. The cornerstone for the church was laid in 1951, the same year Colonel George died. His remains are entombed under the narthex (back) of Kirk's sanctuary. Beck gave us the entire background of the Presbyterian faith and its origins in Scotland. Scotland is home of the well-known gothic Melrose Abbey monastery that was built in the 12th century. Kirk in the Hills has acquired several stone wall pieces of Melrose Abbey which can be seen in the Melrose chapel area.
On Tuesday, we revisited Kirk in the Hills to film one of their outreach programs in action. Congregation member, Glenda Herb, has championed a mission with the Baldwin Center in Pontiac and Hope Warming Shelter where she and other dedicated congregation members make sandwiches once a week to help support these organization’s efforts. On this day Glenda along with Ann Hartzell and Mientje Barrow, assisted in making 500 sandwiches along with other congregation members who dropped them off. Since COVID, these ladies and families have served up over 40,000 sandwiches.
We are glad to share the Kirk in the Hills story and the Presbyterian faith in our film, Detroit: The City of Faith.