The records of the Church of the Good Shepherd are perhaps of most value for their genealogical information about church families. In addition, the records include a complete church register and an inclusive series of parochial reports, Bishop's Committee meetings, church school records, and annual reports. Church histories were written in 1959 and 1981 and a scrapbook spanning the life of the church combines pictures and newspaper clippings.
The records have been arranged into the following series: Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, Communicants, etc.; Administration; Membership; Activities; and Historical and Background Information.
The first meetings of the Dearborn Heights Church of the Good Shepherd, a congregation within the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, were organized in 1954 by a group of determined women. St. Luke's Mission of Allen Park, Michigan sponsored its creation. The first service was held at Mayfair School in Dearborn Heights on 14 May 1954 with 60 in attendance.
Two acres of land were purchased at 4138 Williams Avenue and the first services were held there on 11 May 1958. The church attained a maximum membership of 520 persons in 1959. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for an additional building on 24 July 1966, though the congregation had dropped significantly, allegedly due to the shift of more affluent members to the northern and western suburbs.
In August 1971 the Bishop's Committee requested the removal of the vicar. When their request was denied, the committee resigned. At this time a large faction of the church left and attendance declined. Another upheaval occurred in 1974 when missing bingo funds escalated into a legal dispute. Financial problems were also caused by declining growth, the maintenance demands of the large building and property, and the 1975 threat by Urban Affairs to cut the church's funding. In September 1977 the vicar was asked to leave.
During the 1980's the congregation was stable but small with slow growth. A 30th Anniversary Celebration was held on 18 March 1984 and attended by the Rt. Rev. H. Irving Mayson, Suffragen Bishop of Michigan. From 1988 to 1990 Good Shepherd organized a hunger task force. The church sold its building in 1990 and a small group continued without a building until 1998.
The first vicar of the Church of the Good Shepherd was the Rev. Everett W. Francis (1955-1964), succeeded by Joseph F. Kalbacher Jr. (1964-1969), Nelson L. Adair (1970-1977), Frederick B. Jansen (1978-1982 and 1983-1987), Hope Koski (1982-1983), and Patricia Eichenlaub (1987-1998).
