wfn.org | PC(USA) Takes Lead in Rebuilding Burned Black Church in Mississippi

[PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG]

8-October-1996 
 
96406            PC(USA) Takes Lead in Rebuilding 
                Burned Black Church in Mississippi 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LAUDERDALE, Miss.--Responding to the National Council of Churches (NCC) 
request in August to become the lead entity managing volunteer work teams 
to rebuild a burned African American church here, members of the 
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Team (PDAT) have been on-site since the 
first week in September. 
 
      St. Paul's Primitive Baptist Church was destroyed by fire on Easter 
morning this year.  According to local officials, an investigation failed 
to pinpoint the origin of the blaze, and the church building was not 
insured. The new church is a modest structure of approximately 3,000 square 
feet. 
 
     Following the establishment of its Burned Churches Fund in May, the 
NCC determined that St.  Paul's should be a recipient of the special funds 
to rebuild burned and vandalized churches nationwide.  According to a 
recent NCC news release, nearly $2 million dollars has been awarded by a 
grants committee made up of national civic and religious leaders. 
 
     According to Stan E. Hankins, associate for Disaster Response U.S.A. 
in the Worldwide Ministries Division, PDAT members the Rev. James L. Mechem 
and the Rev. Jean Anne Swope, both of  Lake Clear, N.Y., are among the 
Presbyterians currently in Mississippi. Swope and Mechem have committed to 
help St. Paul's rebuild during the entire month of October. 
 
     As lead entity for the rebuilding project, Hankins said, the PC(USA) 
is coordinating volunteer groups from outside the community and mobilizing 
individuals and groups from within the community.  With the cooperation of 
the U.S. Navy, he said, the denomination is also feeding and housing the 
volunteers and PDAT members at the nearby naval air station in Meridian, 
Miss. 
 
     Hankins said Presbyterian work teams are scheduled from Oct. 13 
through mid-November.  Anyone interested in helping the church rebuild or 
helping finance the work team trips should contact the Presbytery of 
Mississippi Office at 1-800-736-4488 as soon as possible, since each work 
group will be limited to 15 to 20 people. 
 
     The Rev. James L. Kirk, pastor of Moorings Presbyterian Church in 
Naples, Fla., and a PDAT member, traveled to Lauderdale, Miss., the week of 
Sept. 9 to help rebuild St. Paul's church. He told the Presbyterian News 
Service he was appalled that a church could have been burned because of the 
color of the people who gathered to worship God.  Yet, he added, he was 
spiritually encouraged by working with people from all races and 
ethnicities giving of their time and talents to rebuild on God's 
foundation. 
      
     "It was clearly a best-of-times, worst-of-times experience," Kirk 
said. "But I was impressed by the cooperation and the outpouring of the 
community to show some solidarity. The body of Christ is healing and is 
being renewed because of the rebuilding efforts in Lauderdale, Miss., and 
because of similar efforts in dozens of communities. I am most encouraged 
to say that Presbyterians are right in the middle of these efforts." 
 
     Locally, many of the workers were members of Trinity Presbyterian 
Church in Meridian, Miss., which offered its facilities to the volunteers 
for rest and relaxation. The church also mobilized its members and members 
of other churches in the rebuilding of Pilgrim Grove Presbyterian Church, 
another burned African American church, in Newton, Miss. That project is 
sponsored by the Presbytery of Mississippi. 

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For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

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