Gilead Church meets on King Road in Brownstown Township, just down the road from where it spent more than fifty years in Taylor and across the Downriver area from its original homes in Dearborn and Detroit. The name comes from a place in ancient Israel known for its healing balm, and the church's heartbeat, in the words of its pastor, is to help people find spiritual healing through a relationship with Jesus Christ. That focus shows up in everything the congregation does, from its Sunday worship services to its midweek Bible class for older adults.
A Healing Name and a Long Road from 1941
Dr. Robert Parr began Gilead Baptist Church in 1941 in a rented school in Dearborn, Michigan. As the population of metro Detroit shifted in the 1950s, Parr moved the congregation first to a permanent location in Detroit and then to Allen Park, where he served until his death in 1964. Dr. J. Thomas Downs followed as pastor and built a bus ministry known nationally as one of the strongest of its kind. The Big Blue Bus introduced thousands of children to faith in Jesus. The church also developed a missions philosophy that emphasized supporting national pastors in their home countries.
The church moved to Taylor in 1973, and the Baptist Park School ministry educated the youth of the Downriver community there from 1974 to 2016. In October of 1986, Pastor Thomas R. Downs, known to the congregation as Pastor Tom, was called into leadership. He had earned a B.S. from Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri and an M.A. from the University of Detroit, and he brought a love for teaching God's Word that has marked his ministry ever since. He and his wife Cindy have two grown daughters, Christina and Rachel, both Liberty University nursing graduates married to men who serve on the Gilead staff, and six grandchildren.
On July 13, 2025, Gilead Church held its first service at its new Brownstown Township location at 23156 King Road, marking a new chapter in a congregation that traces its roots back more than eight decades.
Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, Make a Difference
The simplest description of Gilead comes in four phrases: Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, and Make a Difference. The leadership team filters every idea, program, and budget request through this purpose statement. If a planned activity does not help meet it, the church does not do it.
The purpose is rooted in two teachings of Jesus. The first is the greatest commandment to love God with all the heart, soul, and mind and to love the neighbor as oneself. The second is the Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Out of these flow five commitments: worshiping God with sincere expression, sharing the Good News of Jesus with others, connecting with believers in meaningful relationships, preparing disciples to fulfill their purpose, and encouraging leaders in their God-given destiny.
Sunday Mornings on King Road
The Sunday worship service begins at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium. Gilead describes its services as a place where just about everyone feels welcome, with a warm and friendly atmosphere and a focus on people from all walks of life.
Visitors are encouraged to arrive about 20 minutes early to find a parking spot, grab a cup of coffee, check children into Gilead Kids, and settle into a seat. A Welcome Center in the lobby stays open during every service, staffed and ready to answer questions. Dress is come as you are, with all clothing styles welcome as long as modesty is kept in mind.
On the first Wednesday of every month at 6:30 p.m., the church gathers for a special evening of worship, prayer, an inspirational message, and communion. Childcare and Kids programs are available for infants through sixth grade during both the Sunday and First Wednesday gatherings.
Gilead Kids: A Safe Place to Love Church
Gilead wants children to love church, and the Gilead Kids ministry is built around three age-graded environments with background-checked, regularly trained volunteer teams.
- Nursery and Toddlers (six weeks to one year): Children are prayed over weekly in well-staffed rooms with age-appropriate toys that are thoroughly cleaned every week.
- Preschool (two to five years): Children learn the Bible through age-appropriate stories, crafts, and songs that reinforce biblical truths.
- Elementary (six years through fifth grade): Services present the love of Jesus in an exciting way, with games, dynamic worship, a Bible memory verse, a Bible story, and small-group time with leaders and friends.
The ministry also looks for Buddies, volunteers who serve children with special needs so that each one can participate fully.
Gilead Students: Middle and High School
Gilead Students exists to lead sixth through twelfth graders to know God, find freedom, discover their purpose, and make a difference. The group meets on Sunday nights at 5:00 p.m. for an environment designed for fun, positive relationships, life-changing truths from God's Word, and next steps in a student's walk with the Lord.
Throughout the year the students gather for themed nights and outings, from pool parties and thrift shop games nights to a pumpkin patch outing and pumpkin Olympics, a progressive dinner at Christmas, and a turkey bowl football game. Parents and students can stay in the loop by texting Gileadstudents to 84576. Kellen Robbins oversees the ministry.
Small Groups, the Growth Track, and Victory Bible Class
Small Groups are Gilead's primary vehicle for connecting people to one another. Three times a year, in what the church calls semesters, new groups launch around shared interests. The current seven hubs are Men, Women, Co-Ed, Marriage and Family, Students, Freedom, and Outreach. Anyone can host a group, and groups are as varied as the people who join them, from sports and lunch groups to parenting groups, Bible studies, and creative arts gatherings. The fall semester runs from early September through late November.
The Growth Track happens every month in three consecutive Sundays, with Step One on the first Sunday, and meets immediately after the service in the Multi-Purpose Room off the lobby. The three steps help people connect to the church, discover the strengths of their purposeful design, and develop their God-given gifts to make a difference. Step One also offers an opportunity to become a member.
Victory Bible Class is Gilead's traditional adult ministry, meeting on Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. for warm fellowship and preaching from God's Word. The class includes a luncheon on the last Wednesday of each month, along with monthly breakfasts, occasional potluck dinners, and trips throughout the year. Staff Pastor Dean Mileto oversees Victory Bible Class.
College and Career, and the Dream Team
For young adults between 18 and 30, College and Career is led by Pastor Craig Brown. Beyond connecting to one of Gilead's many Small Groups, this group gathers throughout the year for events designed to help its members connect to God as they connect to one another.
The Dream Team is Gilead's name for everyone who has discovered their gifts and is actively serving them. Areas of service include Baptism, Events, Facilities, First Responders, Gilead Kids Check-In, Gilead Kids, Greeter and Usher, Growth Track Host, Gilead Worship with vocals and instruments, Hospitality, Next Steps, Nursery and Preschool, Prayer, Production, Resource, Safety, Small Group Leaders, and Tech with lights, cameras, and visual elements. Each area lists its own expectations, such as background checks or age minimums, and the church encourages anyone interested to talk with a team leader.
Reaching Beyond the Downriver
Gilead supports missionaries locally, nationally, and internationally and invites the congregation to join in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who need to hear about the hope found only in Jesus.
Locally, the church supports Fish and Loaves in Taylor, Michigan. Nationally, it partners with Life Church Horizon West in Orlando, Florida. Internationally, Gilead supports Branko Tihojevic in Serbia, Juan Carlos Sanchez in Ecuador, and Hope of Life International in Guatemala. Many of these efforts are coordinated through BEMA, the Baptist Evangelical Missions Association, and ARC, the Association of Related Churches. Every year Gilead offers a short-term missions trip to Hope of Life Ministries in Guatemala, where the team ministers to and serves people in the village of Pueblo Nuevo.
What Gilead Believes
Gilead holds to a Bible-centered statement of faith. The church teaches that the Holy Bible alone, in its original writings, is the authoritative Word of God, inspired, infallible, and inerrant, and the final authority in determining all doctrinal truths.
There is one God, eternally existent in three co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, who on earth was fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, died on the cross to atone for the sins of mankind, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return again in power and glory.
The church teaches that man was created good and upright but fell by voluntary transgression, and that his only hope of redemption is in Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift from God received by grace through faith in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, not a result of human effort. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is essential for anyone to know God.
Gilead also describes a Pentecostal dimension in its beliefs. The baptism in the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost as the promise of the Father, sent by Jesus after His ascension to empower the church to preach the gospel throughout the whole earth. The Holy Spirit is manifested through a variety of spiritual gifts to build and sanctify the church, demonstrate the validity of the resurrection, and confirm the power of the gospel. All believers are commanded to earnestly desire the manifestation of the gifts in their lives, and the gifts always operate in harmony with Scripture.
Water baptism is presented as an act of obedience that follows salvation, a public confession that a person is a follower of Christ. Baptism services at Gilead are held on the first Sunday of every month. Infant baptism is not offered, though a baby dedication is available for parents who want to present their children to the Lord.
The Lord's Supper is a unique time of communion in the presence of God, with bread and grape juice taken in remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Marriage is defined as a covenant, a sacred bond between one man and one woman, instituted by and publicly entered into before God.
The church also affirms the resurrection of the saved to eternal life and the lost to eternal damnation, the second coming of Jesus Christ to establish His Kingdom, and that it is the Father's will for believers to become whole, healthy, and successful in all areas of life, including the spiritual, mental and emotional, physical, and financial.
Connecting, Giving, and the One Year Bible
Gilead makes it easy to stay connected between Sundays. Every message is available in podcast form on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and a backlog of archived messages lives on the church's YouTube channel. A One Year Bible reading plan walks the congregation through Scripture together, with daily readings listed for every day of the year. The annual 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting is held each January, with daily prayer topics, a personal prayer guide, and a kids prayer guide.
Giving is available online, by text to (844) 648-2160, through the Church Center app, or during services with envelopes provided in the pews. The office phone is (734) 287-2650, and the general email is office@gileadchurch.com. The church is located at 23156 King Road, Brownstown, Michigan 48183.