What Was Left After the Fire?
Much of the contents of the historic church had been maintained and cared for, such as the original pulpit upon which the historic Bible sat at the time of the fire, the pews, and the stained glass.
But all of these precious historic items were destroyed in the fire, that is, except the Bible that had been used by church leaders since the founding of this historic church 180 years ago. This Bible also traditionally stayed open on the pulpit, and at the time of the fire, it remained there, as usual. Only, the Bible had been closed by someone the night before, which is one reason some of the congregation believe the 180-year-old bible survived.
While the congregation is mourning, the survival of this Bible has sent a message of hope in this difficult time.
“The first response on Sunday is heartbreak,” Doug Paul, a church elder explained. “But there is just as much as there is a heartbreak, there’s also hope and a confidence that, if God protected us for the first 180 years, there’s no reason why we’re not going to build again and be protected for another 180.”
The church community took the miracle of the Bible’s survival as a sign.
As Paul put it, “We are a Bible-believing church, and we believe that that is the word of God, and that is sustaining, and so the idea that essentially nothing in this church survived but the word of God—that’s not lost on us.”
Their belief in the Bible being God’s Word comes from 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Watch an interview about the church fire with the church leaders, who share about how the 180-year-old bible survived here: