In 1833 the Basel Mission Institute of Switzerland sent Friedrick Schmid as its first missionary to the United States, and he is credited with founding some twenty churches in Michigan, including Thomas Church. At first Thomas and Anna Roth hosted services in their home, and in 1844 they sold land to the church for a sanctuary; according to tradition, it was named for Thomas Roth. The present edifice comprises an 1874 church and 1965 additions. Services in German were held exclusively until 1935, then once per month until the late 1950s. In 1844 Thomas and Anna Roth, and John and Christina Maser, each sold a three-quarter acre parcel to the church, where members plotted a cemetery and erected a church. The earliest burial occurred in 1844, and more than one hundred graves date from the nineteenth century, marked with decorative vertical headstones. German funerary art, including weeping willows, clasped hands, parted curtains, German script, and plant motifs, prevails there.