ASHES

For Christians, the Easter season is a time of resurrection and renewal. For First Church of God, 72036 CR 7, Nappanee, that message will be extremely poignant this year. “Our whole goal looking back was to be open by Easter,” said Pastor Sam Bennett.

A year and a half after the church was destroyed by a fire, the first church service in the new church is planned for 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 2, which is also Palm Sunday. Bennett can’t wait to do that first service. “I’ll probably bawl my eyes out,” he said.

Bennett explained the fire broke out in a chimney over the church’s fellowship hall on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. It was the first time the heat was turned on for the fall/ winter season. Bennett explained members of the congregation were in the building between 8:30-9 a.m. in preparation for Sunday School, which started at 9:30 a.m. At 9:40 a.m., his class was interrupted by a church member reporting smoke in the building.

While everyone was evacuating, flames were already coming through the roof of the fellowship hall. It took the Nappanee Fire Department and five area departments assisting to bring the fire under control.

“There’s no training or education for a fire,” Bennett said. He’s been in ministry for 35 years and had never faced such a challenge before.

Members of the church were able to grab computers and save the church files, but the entire building was a loss. “Word spread through the community. Several churches stopped their services to pray for us. Other pastors came and prayed with us that day,” Bennett said.

After the fire was extinguished, Bennett and the congregation had to stay to be interviewed by fire investigators and the ATF. Bennett explained the federal agency was involved because it was a church fire.

“It (the building) sat for months. We’ve probably been in construction for a year. Once they started demolition, there have been people working every day,” Bennett said.

He noted the church’s insurance carrier, Mennonite Mutual, has been great to work with. The Center, formerly Family Christian Development Center stepped up and provided worship space for the congregation as its gone through the rebuild.

The new building is on a similar footprint from the original church, with a more open concept approach that gives the congregation more usable space. DJ Construction was contracted to demo and rebuild the church.

Bennett said the new building is more effective for ministry. The foyer of the church acts as a hub of a wheel feeding into other areas of the church.

There is a large children’s area with separate spaces for kids of different ages and a comfortable private area for nursing moms.

There is a large activity center, which used to be the fellowship hall. It can now be used for church dinners as well as for basketball, volleyball and pickleball.

There’s also a screen so the youth group or other members of the congregation can gather to watch a movie.

The youth group area has two levels, with the lower level opening into the activity center. The sanctuary is designed to offer more seating than the old one did. “It’s very modern,” Bennett said.

In the sanctuary and in the adult area at the other end of the building some of the original brick walls from the former building remain.

Bennett explained the brick walls in the sanctuary were the original firewalls. They are now covered in drywall.

Members of the congregation have been in the building during various stages of construction. Once all the framing was up, church members were invited to come in and write scripture verses on the inside of the walls and on the floor before the carpeting was installed. Another change is now church leaders each have a laptop and church records are stored on the Cloud, One Drives or Teams as a precaution.

As a thank you to the community, especially the first responders who came to help the day of the fire, a Community Celebration Service and Open House will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 30. “We will be inviting the community to come and celebrate with us what God has done and show our appreciation for their support,” Bennett said.