TROY, Mich. – The yellow tape remained up outside of the Troy Church of Christ on Thursday afternoon, in the aftermath of the massive fire that leveled the building overnight.
It did not destroy the spirit of the parishioners here today.
“My Family grew up at this church,” Ron Palmer, a former elder at the church, said on Thursday. He has been a member for 71 years, predating the opening of the building in 1958.
“My kids grew up here; My daughter was married here,” Palmer said. “We built this church from the ground up.”
Emergency crews responded to the church on Trombley Road around 3:15 a.m.
After initially entering the building, the roof reportedly suffered a partial collapse, which required firefighters to try to put the fire out from the outside.
No one was inside the building at the time, and no firefighters were injured. Thursday was supposed to be the fourth day of Vacation Bible School here at the Troy Church of Christ.
Instead, it was spent cleaning up and assessing the damage as a group of parishioners and their kids watched from outside.
“The church is the People,” Patrick Oja, a current church elder, said. “It’s just a building, and Buildings can be rebuilt, and things can be replaced. It’s the people who’ve been part of this community for more than 70 years.”
“Obviously it’s devastating,” Manuel Florescu, the church’s pastor, said. “This is more than a building for us; it’s kind of a second home.”
“The core group of our members has been here and been supportive,” he said. “Now, we just have to get over the shock and figure out the next steps.”
One of those steps is what to do this Sunday. Florescu said that there will be Sunday service, but they just aren’t sure where.
“I heard on the news that he said we’re going to meet this Sunday; we just don’t know where,” Alex Calder, the executive director at Kensington Church in Troy, said. “So, I thought I’ll go over and tell them they can use our church”
“I talked to him this morning and just told him, as a church body, we’re here for you,” he said. “We care about your church, and we care about making sure that your church has a home if you need one.”
While this fire may have destroyed the church, the message remains the same.
“God is still in control,” Palmer said. “He will make beauty out of the ashes.”