By
Michael Wacht
MIAMI - For more than 29
months, the congregation at Fulford United Methodist Church here has been worshipping in
its fellowship hall and chapel because the sanctuary was declared unsafe. But the Rev.
Steve Hoffman, the church's pastor, says the blessings have outweighed the inconvenience
of not having the church's central building.
One down side is that worship attendance dropped from an average of 220
people each week before the sanctuary was closed to about 170 people today, according to
Hoffman.
"We've had some erosion of the numbers. People didn't like
worshipping in the fellowship hall, and I won't second guess people's choices," he
said.
The blessing is that nearly a quarter of the people now worshipping at
the church began attending after the sanctuary closed.
"About 25 percent of the people here never set foot in the former
sanctuary. They've joined since then," Hoffman said. "For a lot of people, or at
least the people we're attracting, they're not coming because this is a comfortable place
to worship, but because they're sensing the spirit."
Hoffman said he started noticing problems with the 39-year-old
sanctuary in December 1998 when he discovered cracks in the beams that support the roof.
The church consulted an architect and a structural engineer who said the problem went back
to either an error in the original design or a construction fault.
The following January Hoffman saw new cracks, and structural engineer
Eric Colville told him to close the building.
The church responded by developing two different worship services. What
had been a "church light" morning worship service in the 60-seat chapel became
the traditional worship service. The main worship moved into the 140-seat fellowship hall
and became a praise and worship service.
Members of the congregation, which Hoffman says is multicultural and
multigenerational, have found homes in the two services.
The loss of the sanctuary was covered through the Florida Conference's
insurance, and on Easter Sunday the church broke ground for its new sanctuary. More than
400 people attended the service, and seven adults were baptized, Hoffman said.
The outside of the new building will maintain the Spanish monastery
look of the existing buildings, but will be "equipped for 21st century worship,"
Hoffman said.
Hoffman says he is looking forward to the expected December completion
of the new sanctuary. "This has been the most difficult and exciting thing I've ever
been involved in," he said.
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© 2001 Florida United Methodist Review Online |
