In 1849, a group of Episcopal layman organized a missionary congregation in Lansing, and the church was accepted into the Diocese of Michigan in 1856. The Rev. John Bramwell of Monroe was the first rector of the parish. The first church was built in 1859 at the corner of N. Washington and Ionia, later the sit became of Daniel Buck’s Opera House, which became the Gladmer Theater. A wooden Gothic church was built on the present site facing the capitol in 1873, the same year that construction began on the State Capitol building. The church was replaced by a brick structure in 1914, to which a large parish house was added in 1952. The church is noted for its exceptionally beautifully stained glass windows and wood carvings, many done by the Rev. William S. Hill, who served the congregation for many years.

The first religious group organized in Lansing was a Methodist class that met in the cabin of Joab Page, near the dam in what is now North Lansing. The date was 1846, a year before the town was founded. Soon the congregation met in “God’s Barn,” a building belonging to James Seymour which he converted into a chapel. The First Methodists used this chapel until they built a frame church at Cedar and Franklin (Grand River Ave.) in 1870. A second Methodist class was organized in 1850 in Middle Town. These central Methodists built a brick church at N. Washington and Ottawa in 1862. In 1890, their present fine stone church, with beautiful stained glass windows, was dedicated a block away. The church may have been designed by the E. E. Myers, architect of the State Capitol. The Temple House (1923) and the Mary-Sabina Chapel (1942) were gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Scott. In 1951, a carillon of 36 bells was placed in the tower.

In 1848 a group of Baptists organized a church in Lansing, securing a site for a building near the new State Capitol. This effort did not succeed and in 1850 another group began meeting. They chartered the First Baptist Church of Lansing in 1851, and a white frame church was built on the present site in 1859. In 1892, a new church of dressed fieldstone with beautiful stained glass windows, designed by Bowd and Mead, was begun under the direction of the Rev. Levi Temple and Dr. Henry R. Pattengill, building Chairman and State Superintendent of Education. The Rev. Julious Fischbach served as pastor from 1936-1961. The Children’s Center was built with funds donated by the R. E. Olds family, members of the church. The sanctuary was extensively remodeled in 1959.

The first Catholic mass was held in Lansing in 1858 in the log cabin of Thomas Saier. The Catholic population was served by missionary priests from Detroit until 1862 when the Bishop sent Father Van Driss to establish a permanent parish in the city. In1864, a church was built in Madison near Chestnut, the tower and spire being completed in 1880. Father Brancheau, who came to St. Mary in 1897, was instrumental in the building of the present elegant Norman Gothic structure, which was built as a parish church and consecrated in 1913. Designed by Bowd, its nave is 108’ long and 63’ wide. In 1937, St Mary became the Cathedral for the new Diocese of Lansing, with Joseph H. Albers as the first bishop.

The Presbyterians were organized in the “Town of Michigan” on December 17, 1847, by the Rev. Calvin Clark, a missionary sent to help establish frontier churches. For the time, they shared space in God’s Barn with the Methodists in Lower Town (North Lansing). In 1852, they built the first church building in Lansing, on N. Washington at Genessee. The Rev. George Duffield, author of “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” served as pastor from 1876 to 1879. In 1889, a new Romanesque church was dedicated at Allegan and Capitol, which served for nearly sixty years. In 1948, they moved to their present site, meeting in the basement until the church was completed in 1953. The elegant, spare Gregorian church includes a unique wineglass pulpit. In 1984, the Molly Grove Chapel was a gift of Nan Wood Holmes; in 1986, the Hall of Christian Pioneers opened, a display of ten paintings that depict various Christian influences in Michigan.