Interesting Facts

Our 41-acre campus and nearly 80,000 square-foot facilities provide us with a wonderful base for our ministry.
You’ll find a relic from the famed Melrose Abbey in Scotland dated 1246 A.D. embedded in the Kirk (the Kirk sanctuary was patterned after Melrose Abbey).

The Kirk is part of a strong interfaith community; we partner with St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic Church, Christ Church Cranbrook (Episcopal) and Temple Beth El on a variety of events, such as an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service (held this year on Tuesday, November 21 at Kirk in the Hills).
Our carillon is the largest in the world in number of bells (77), tied with Hyechon College Carillon in South Korea.

Kirkin’ O’ the Tartan is a special Scottish tradition and one that Kirk in the Hills celebrates yearly in November, which marks our anniversary. Mid-service, there is a “knock at the door” just outside the sanctuary where permission is asked to enter the sanctuary for a Procession of the Tartans and Piper. Once granted, the piper leads our procession up the center aisle. Colorful banners, each bearing a different family tartan, are carried into the sanctuary and line the front of the church. With the pastor leading the blessing and the congregation participating in response, we celebrate our rich heritage of family and faith.

While uniquely Scottish, this celebration is meant to include all cultural traditions because it also celebrates freedom from oppression. At one time, tartans were forbidden to be worn and all forms of Scottish cultural identity were suppressed. We identify with people everywhere who have suffered in the same way. We celebrate our families then and now, our freedom to worship openly, and to be in the community of Christ that binds us to each other.

Dewindt and his wife, Esther, brought a wide variety of art objects, tapestries, tiles, plaques and crosses to the Kirk from their many international travels. Some of the religious paintings throughout the Kirk have been restored in partnership with the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Construction experts believe that the Kirk was the first church to have its spire delivered from above - lifted by a helicopter and placed atop the tower in late spring of 1957.