wfn.org | Church rises from the ashes

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Note #6311 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

19-December-2000
00457

Church rises from the ashes

May disaster lit a fire under Sault Ste. Marie congregation
		
by Midge Mack

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI -- Six months ago, few of the 375 members of First
Presbyterian Church in this historic town in Michigan's upper peninsula
("The Soo," as its is known in Great Lakes country) were expecting good news
anytime soon.

	Now, however, many are smiling again, and thanking God.

	The congregation was traumatized by a May 7 fire that burned its
98-year-old church building to the ground. Many members felt that their
church's long history and their own lives also had gone up in smoke. Pastor
Dave Henderson observed sadly: "They don't teach us how to deal with this in
seminary. There's no manual for it."

	Henderson now is qualified to write one.

	First Presbyterian has been comforted by a seven-figure check, the first
installment of an insurance claim of more than $2 million. The monetary
gifts it has received include a $10,000 grant from Presbyterian Disaster
Assistance, which braced members' morale.

	Recently the leaders of First Church chose an architect -- John Meyer of
Wigen Tincknell, Meyer & Associates in Saginaw -- to design a new church.
Meyer has already started  talking to city officials about zoning and
utilities, and to church groups about what they'd like to see in the new
building.

	"I want this job," Meyer, one of 14 applicants, told the selection
committee. "I feel that I share your vision."

	The church hasn't decided yet whether it will rebuild on the present site
or move to a "greenfield" location at the edge of town. That has been the
most contentious issue from the start.

	Henderson, the pastor, says that, while it's tempting to move to another
site where there would be no parking limitations and the congregation could
make a fresh start, the historic location appeals to the emotions and would
be better for maintaining the church's traditional city services such as its
Soup Kitchen and Habitat for Humanity missions. The most recent "preliminary
survey" found that the congregation is leaning toward the old site.

	Another factor in the church's resurgence is a unique approach to
stewardship suggested by Don Myers, elder and stewardship chairman (and
candidate for the lay ministry), who admits that he stole it from a Ponca
City, OK, church years ago when he was stewardship chairman at a church in
Wichita, KS.

	"It was successful in both places," Myers says, "so this year we're
pledging to God for the first time at this church -- not to a budget. I had
a member build a Joash Chest (a reference to the Old Testament King Joash of
Judah, who had a container put near the temple in Jerusalem for
contributions to be used to renovate the temple), and we placed our pledges
sealed and locked in it until next November, at which time we'll mail the
members back their envelopes, and they can see how faithful they've been.
We've finally made giving a faith happening. I think this is the time to
start exercising our faith."

	First Church even has its own version of the "widow's mite." During a
recent stewardship consecration service, Henderson held up a jar of pennies
presented to him by a handicapped woman who ekes out a living by sweeping
floors in downtown businesses. He said the donor told him she saves pennies
in a butter dish, and was giving the church what she had saved in five
months.

	Henderson realizes that many in the congregation are still grieving. He
chokes up when he retells the story of that fateful warm spring Sunday:

	"It was unusually warm in the choir loft, and several choir members told me
they watched elder Bill Buck, sitting in his usual spot in the third row ...
fingering something on the pew beside him, and he kept glancing up at the
chandelier directly over his head. He thought it could be dust warmed from
the light, and turned his attention back to worship.

	"Around 2:30 in the afternoon, when my wife, Leslie, was out working in her
garden, next to the church, a passer-by called to her, 'There's smoke coming
from the church roof.' Leslie ran into the building and met the custodian
coming out with the news that he smelled something burning. When the fire
trucks arrived we thought everything was under control -- until these
massive flames burst through the roof and were simply unquenchable.

	"By 4 o'clock the entire congregation was assembled in the parking lot,
helpless but worshiping for the second time that day."

	The fire is believed to have started in electrical equipment between the
roof and the sanctuary ceiling. The blaze apparently smoldered for hours
before the flames broke through the roof. All that was left of the church
were parts of a few sandstone walls. Myers, the elder, says it reminds him
of "bombed out" London or Dresden of World War II.

	After the blaze, the congregation worshiped with local Methodists for
several weeks -- an arrangement that gave rise to a side benefit,
experiments in joint ministry -- then moved to First Baptist Church, a
downtown church with a big building and a small congregation. "We're
fortunate," Henderson says, "because we can use 100 percent of their space
80 percent of the time."

	"We had several offers for worship and limited office space, but we wanted
to keep our program intact. Our workshop-rotation education plan uses more
space than most, and we have many committee meetings. This arrangement with
the Baptists benefits both of us, because our rental (has helped) them to
install barrier-free bathrooms and extend their outreach. They use the
building Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. We take over at 11, and are there
every day all week."

	St. Joseph Catholic Church provided space for First Church's Soup Kitchen
on Sunday. For the rest of the week, the feeding program, which is sponsored
by local churches of several denominations, has been taken over by the
Salvation Army.

	A new Oversight Committee, established just after the fire, is composed of
elders, deacons, trustees and members with expertise in construction and
financial management. Its chair is Elder Leanne Deuman, a calm and cordial
attorney who keeps committee members working overtime to deal with "what's
next" in the life of First Church.

	The Christian Education building, attached to the church at one end and to
the manse at the other, was charred, smoke-blackened and water-stained but
proved salvageable. The manse was not damaged.

	Henderson calls the tragedy "the most devastating thing a congregation can
experience," but adds:

	"We've had nothing but blessings since it happened. One of the smallest
churches in the presbytery sent us $10,000. We've received more than $23,000
(in all). We've discovered talents we never knew we had. When we found our
records intact but soaking wet in a metal safe buried under three feet of
ash in the basement, our librarian Barbara Kenn took them home to put wax
paper between each page, a time-honored method of book preservation. Her
husband, John, is systematically sifting the debris, finding mostly shards
of china, melted tableware, rings from the tops of pots; he's restoring
anything useful. And Leanne's talents are a special blessing. She's working
so hard to accommodate everyone's concerns, talents and ideas, so that
whatever we do build is inclusive of all of us and can be embraced by the
whole congregation.

	"We've revealed new depths of our faith and of our spirit. We've found that
a building can be burned down, but not a congregation."

	First Church's nightmare has been a wake-up call for other churches in the
presbytery, reminding them to re-examine their insurance coverage and alarm
systems.

	Henderson would like to hear from other congregations that have been
through similar disasters about "processes, programs, procedures -- anything
that will give us a clue on what to do and how to do it." Mail responses to:
First Presbyterian Church, 1901 Johnson Street, Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783.

Midge Mack, formerly an associate editor and interim editor of the
COMMUNIQUE, a publication of the Synod of the Covenant, lives in
Hendersonville, NC. She and her husband, George, are elders of Trinity
Presbyterian Church. Midge also chairs the communications committee of
Western North Carolina Presbytery.

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