Local church moving forward in faith in building anew
Millersburg Christian Church has been a part of the Millersburg landscape for many years, but failing structural concerns and other issues in the current church building have facilitated the push to build a new church on the same site.
On any given late-afternoon day, a ray of sunshine finds its way onto the sanctuary wall of Millersburg Christian Church.
Unfortunately, this beam of light isn’t coming through the stained-glass windows, but instead from a large crack that has developed over the decades.
Because of deterioration in the church, which has been standing on the corner of North Clay Street and East Clinton Street since 1857, the church leadership team and its congregation has decided to raze the current church structure and rebuild a new church facility at that same spot.
The final church service in the current church facility will take place Sunday, March 9, at which point the church services will move out to West Holmes High School in Excalibur Theater for the next nine months to one year until the new church facility is built and they celebrate a renewed beginning. Services will continue to start at 10:30 a.m.
“Yes, we have plenty of history in this building, but this isn’t the first time this church has been torn down. This will be the second time,” said Leslie Westbrook, church administrator.
The church is working hard to preserve as much of the old church as possible including the stain-glass windows that adorn the sanctuary.
While there has been some pushback from some in the Millersburg community concerning tearing down a church building that has so much history, the MCC congregation has seen a united commitment to the rebuilding project.
The leaders said people outside the congregation don’t see how dilapidated the building has become, and renovations to save the building would be nearly as expensive as building a new structure.
Currently, several major problems exist including the bell tower pulling away from the building on two sides. There are electrical and plumbing deficiencies, the basement ceiling is too low, there is no handicap accessibility, limited seating, the roof leaks, and the balcony is structurally unsound.
Worship minister Jeremy Westbrook said the focus on rebuilding centers around serving the congregation and community as well as the church can.
“A lot of the discussion wasn’t about how can we facilitate this grand new design for events, but instead it centered around how can we allow this facility to best benefit our community,” he said. “We want to be a blessing to our congregation and to the community.”
Discussion on building began in 2012 when David Miller surveyed the building and listed all the faulty parts of the church that would need repair, and it was lengthy and expensive.
Once those changes were discussed, other issues cropped up, and the entire building would have to be brought up to code including adding an elevator.
“Our members understand the situation we’re facing,” Westbrook said.
The church leadership has explored other options for the past five years including purchasing land on Glen Drive, but every time a possible move to another location came up, they heard the congregation’s desire to remain planted on the corner of Clinton and Clay.
Beginning in 2019, the church began a serious fundraising campaign that has seen it meet that three-year goal in half the time.
That opened the door to the next step in the process, meeting with Ivan Weaver Construction to move forward with a new building.
“We want the community to understand that we’ve done our due diligence. We’ve looked at other places, and this is our best option,” Leslie Westbrook said.
The other message the leadership team wanted to convey was that even though memories abound in the current church building, living as faithful followers of Jesus isn’t about the physical church building, but rather its people and the kindness, love and acceptance that is extended to its members and community in sharing the faith.
That is the message the church leaders want to share as they move forward on razing and rebuilding their church exactly where it has stood for many decades.
“People wanted to stay right here in this location. It’s kind of a staple in the community,” said Josh Ware, associate minister. “There’s a real connection to this plot of land, and we wanted to continue to have that connection.”
The church is currently selling many items on Facebook for those interested.
While church services will move to Excalibur Theater, the Millersburg Christian Church offices will move to the Life Center next to the church at 189 N. Clay St., where regular men’s and women’s Bible studies also will commence. The youth group will meet at Millersburg Elementary, and children’s classes on Wednesday evenings will take place in leaders’ homes. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For updates visit www.millersburgcc.com.