By Wes Bloom
The small congregation of the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Gravelbourg will never forget what happened on December 27, 2017. That was the day their nearly century old place of worship went up in flames. No one was in the church at the time, so no one was physically injured, but the emotional scars and sadness remain to this day. All that is left now of the old church are a few items that were ‘rescued’ from the fire … and the memories. Thank goodness for the memories.
According to Mitch Lorrain, chief of the volunteer fire department, even though the building did not completely burn to the ground, it was a total ‘write-off’. The smoke was so thick inside, he said, “… you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face”. Chief Lorrain said the fire started in the basement of the church and quickly engulfed all three levels of the building. Faulty ‘pot lighting’ in the basement is listed as the official cause of the blaze.
The historic old Lutheran Church was built in Mazenod back in 1925 and later moved to the town of Gravelbourg, where it remained until its tragic end last December. Even though contents of the church sustained severe smoke damage, said Pastor Bob Langdon, some items were able to be salvaged and are presently being refurbished and refinished by faithful members of the congregation.
“We managed to save the old pews and altar, along with a few smaller items from the old church”, said Langdon. “We will continue to use them in the new church we are building on the same site”.
According to Pastor Langdon, the new bungalow style church will be slightly more ‘user friendly’ than the old church was, for some of the ‘senior’ members of the congregation. The new church, which is being built by a private contractor, will cost about $450,000 and will seat some 100 people.
The present congregation, of about sixty, is a young ‘forward thinking’ congregation, said Langdon, with a good mixture of progressive and loving ’seniors’. “Our whole congregation is highly active and involved in the community”, he affirmed. He is proud of them for that.
Pastor Langdon also had high praises for the occupants of the town of Gravelbourg, who came forward with many offers of help. “To say we were overwhelmed with the kindness of the community, would be a gross understatement”, he said gratefully.
Until the new church is built, services are being held in the ‘lunch room’ of the old school on the southwest corner of town, just south of the hospital. More than 20 children attend Sunday School at St. Paul’s Church.
Construction on the new church is just beginning and hopefully will be completed sometime in July.
