Triumph Church

Beliefs

Triumph Church's motto is “the Church where the Word is the Word.” Members believe that religious affiliations and denominations are unimportant as the church bases its beliefs solely on the Bible, asserting it to be inspired by God, inerrant, infallible, and the final authority on matters which it covers. Based on its understanding of the Bible, Triumph intends to nurture souls within Christ through the four tenets of: fellowship, discipleship, stewardship, and worship. Triumph also believes in and draws the following Biblical conclusions about the following topics:

Locations

Triumph is also a multi-site church, currently providing nine weekly worship services at five different sites in Metro Detroit. Many churches using a multi-site model duplicate the sermon through satellite video transmissions (or video venues) or by sermons delivered by a site or campus pastor. However, Triumph's senior pastor Kinloch delivers each sermon in-person at each facility.

In addition to its worship facility in the New Center, Detroit area of Detroit (known as the East Campus), Triumph also occupies its historic worship facility in southwest Detroit (known as the South Campus). The South Campus facility, which dates back to 1954, hosts a Sunday morning service and Tuesday evening Bible Study, led by the campus pastor.

Additional Sunday worship services are held at Canton High School in Canton, Michigan and at the Millennium Centre (known as the North Campus) in Southfield, Michigan.

In August 2009, Triumph announced that it would relocate its 11 am Sunday worship service, which was previously held at Cass Technical High School's 1100-seat auditorium, to the 2,700-seat Detroit Opera House beginning in January 2010. Additionally the 8AM Sunday and 6:30 pm Tuesday worship services moved from the 300-seat southwest Detroit campus to the 800-seat New Center Detroit campus.

In June 2010, after six months of weekly occupancy at the Opera House, Triumph transitioned its 11 am service into two different services at two different locations; a 10:45 am service at the Millennium Centre and an 11:45am service at the East Campus. Due to capacity attendance at both of the new services, Triumph added another service at 12:45 pm at the Millennium Centre. In 2012, Triumph added an additional service at the North Campus at 8:45am.

Triumph Church property owned

Detroit Opera House

In 2009, Triumph entered into what is believed to be the first-ever weekly rental or residency agreement with a major Detroit entertainment or performance venue.

Under the deal, each week the Detroit Opera House housed the 11 am Sunday worship service for Triumph. Triumph formerly hosted this service at the 1100-seat Cass Technical High School auditorium.

Triumph Church held weekly worship services at the Opera House from January 3, 2010 through June 6, 2010, including an Easter Sunday worship service featuring the Grammy award-winning gospel musician Kirk Franklin.

Worship style

Though Triumph traces its beginnings to the 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 church activities and worship.

Triumph utilizes a modern, high-energy worship style that features popular Urban contemporary gospel music in the subgenres of either "praise" (faster in tempo, stronger and louder) or "worship" (slower in tempo and more subtle so the song's message is understood). Additionally, Triumph worships will include sermon topics that deal with Biblical connections to pop culture and may showcase brief theatrics or hip hop dance performances to contemporary gospel or Christian hip hop music.

Leadership

Solomon Kinloch, Jr., was born to Solomon and Janie Kinloch on July 28, 1973, the youngest son and the fifth of six children. He is the senior pastor of Triumph Church. He has been a minister since the age of 14, beginning under the tutelage of Pastor Robert Smith, Jr. at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Kinloch received formal training from the American Baptist College in Nashville, TN. In 1998, Rev. Kinloch accepted the call to Pastor at Triumph Baptist Church, in Detroit, Michigan.

Kinloch serves on the board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the New Market Tax Credit Advisory Board. Recognized as a premier personality in preaching, Kinloch has received numerous recognitions and awards for his extraordinary accomplishments as a young visionary. Comcast has spotlighted locally him as a 2003 Newsmaker. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference selected him as 2003 Pastor of the Year, and the Detroit News has declared him one of “The New Generation of Black Leaders”. He was named a “New Kingdom Voice... one of twelve Dynamic, World Changers” by Gospel Today Magazine. In 2006, the Michigan Chronicle named him “Contemporary Pioneer” during its 70th anniversary celebration.

History

In the fall of 1920, 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 Reverend L.A. Forte, Reverend Rosbrior, Reverend F. Freeman, Reverend Scott and Reverend G.W. Sims respectively. In 1941, Reverend A.D. Boone, who had been a member for twenty years, accepted the call to pastor Triumph.

It was under the leadership of Boone that members marched to the new church in 1954 and one of its current locations. Located underground at 2550 South Liddesdale in Detroit. After the death of Boone in 1969, Freeman re-assumed pastoral duties until God appointed another pastor, Reverend David DeYampert in 1970.

Under DeYampert, Triumph‘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. By June 1988, members held a special service to celebrate full payment of the mortgage.

From 1989 to 1997, Triumph faced difficult times as the membership dwindled from its highpoint of over 1,200 to only 44. In addition to the struggles facing the church, Pastor DeYampert died on July 2, 1997. Earlier the next year on March 22, 1998, Triumph Church appointed a then-24-year-old Solomon Kinloch, Jr as its next pastor.

Under Kinloch visionary leadership, membership has exploded from forty-four members to nearly 20,000. To accommodate this growth, Triumph Church made a decision to transitioned into a Multi-site church by adding additional services on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at various sites. The growth has also led to the creation of the Spiritual Beltway.

The Spiritual Beltway

The Spiritual Beltway represents the vision to more aggressively impact the secular population of Metro Detroit by eventually operating between four and six community campuses that are extensions of Triumph Church.

The vision aims to accommodate current membership needs and future growth by maintaining a level of intimacy within ministries and the worship-experience by offering locations within 30 minutes of the majority of the population in Metro Detroit. As one church in multiple locations, members and visitors would not have to endure extensive commutes to experience a Triumph worship service.

The Spiritual Beltway, includes breaking ground or renovating more than 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land on four different sites in four different cities inside Metro Detroit; (Canton, Detroit, Northville and Southfield).

The earlier phases of the Spiritual Beltway included the acquisition of a 29,000-square-foot (2,700 m²) worship facility and adjacent land in the New Center, Detroit area and the purchase of a 16-acre (65,000 m²) site in Canton, Michigan. Additionally, in 2005 the church acquired 6.6 acres (27,000 m²) of property in Lincoln Park. The land, was the former location of Oakwood Hospital at Outer Drive and Fort streets in Lincoln Park.

However, the growth of the church quickly exceeded the type of facility and parking the Lincoln Park property could accommodate. At the time of the Lincoln Park acquisition, the church consisted of over 4,000 members and was growing at a rate of 900 new members per year. The Lincoln Park hospital site already too small before construction began. (In less than four years, the church's membership would eventually double to over 8,000 members).

2006–2009

Pastor Kinloch was quoted in Heritage Newspapers as saying that congregants came from "Ann Arbor, Westland, Canton, Farmington Hills, Southfield and Madison Heights," which proved to be the prophetic beginnings of the Spiritual Beltway.

The Spiritual Beltway for Triumph Church took off in 2006. Against conventional wisdom, the church began to hold services in Canton, MI at the Village Theatre. The service, formerly housed at the Allen Park Municipal Auditorium was moved to the brand new 1100-seat Cass Technical High School auditorium near Downtown Detroit.

In 2008, the Canton service was moved to the Canton-area’s largest auditorium, the 960-seat Salem High School.

2010–present

By 2010, Triumph had again outgrown a facility. Cass Tech was no longer sufficient, so Triumph signed an agreement with the 3,200-seat Detroit Opera House, making it the first time a local church took up temporary residency for weekly worship in one of the major downtown Detroit performing arts venues.

It did not take long for another major performing arts venue to take notice of Pastor Kinloch and Triumph Church. The owners (St. John's Providence Hospital) of Southfield's Millennium Centre called and offered to be the long-term home of Triumph Church for its North Campus. Quickly, Triumph’s newest campus became its largest. Currently, the church hosts three Sunday services at this site alone. Four other services (two at Detroit’s East Campus, one at Southwest Detroit's South Campus and one at the West Campus in Northville) round out the seven Sunday worship services.

Under Kinloch's visionary leadership, Triumph Church has since blossomed into a multi-site phenomenon. As of today, it is utilizing four campuses and hosting eleven weekly services for its 18,000 members (and counting).

Recognition

In 2009, Outreach Magazine named Triumph the third fastest growing church in the United States, with over 2,000 new members formalizing a commitment to the church during the 2008 calendar year.

In 2012, Outreach Magazine named Triumph the sixth fastest growing church in the United States, with over 4,000 new members formalizing a commitment to the church during the 2011 calendar year.

In 2012, Outreach Magazine named Triumph one of the Top 100 Largest churches in the United States, with nearly 10,000 in attendance each week.