After a year of prayers and repairs, downtown Roanoke church returns home – Roanoke Times

It started with a couple of spots on the ceiling.

Just dirt, they thought, dust collecting near a couple of air ducts on the ceiling of the sanctuary.

But it proved more insidious than that: mold, black mold the visible sign of a disease that had invisibly infected the historic Greene Memorial United Methodist Church for years. The 130-year-old Roanoke church was slowly rotting.

By the time all of the problems were identified and solutions planned, the price tag for treatment reached $1.3 million a dangerous amount for a small congregation, but one the church decided was worth it.

The problems are just about all cleared up now. The sanctuary is spot-free and gleaming under new LED lights.

On Sunday, congregants will return to their old wood pews beneath soaring vaulted ceilings for the first time in a year. Services had been held in the church social hall and even in a large lobby in the meantime.

But the cost of saving the church has strained Greene Memorials coffers. Church leaders decided that preserving the historic building was important in itself, but also crucial to maintaining the congregations mission work, much of which focuses on downtown issues and organizations.

I think were on the edge financially, said Debbie Brown, director of programs and outreach ministries for Greene Memorial.

The church dipped into its endowment to pay the growing bill for the repairs. That means its on the brink of being unable to maintain support for all of its mission programs.

We know that in order to do any more repairs, that is definitely going to cut into anything we can do for the community, Brown said.

So theyve launched a Go Fund Me campaign that aims to raise $300,000.

The hope is that the community the church serves will help revive it financially.

It kind of escalated

Once a closer look revealed in October 2018 that the spots on the sanctuary ceiling were mold, the bad news kept coming.

The more they looked, the worse it got, Brown said.

Mold experts found the stuff not just in the sanctuary but all over the building.

Cracking and peeling wallpaper in the sanctuary indicated water was coming in. Water damage was found in the churchs educational wing.

Experts took two passes to identify and remove all the mold, Brown said. Then it was time to address the root causes.

Death by a thousand cuts, restoration contractor Colin Waters said. His company, Huntly-based Waters Craftsman, which works almost exclusively on historic churches, was brought in to assess the problems.

They were many, and typical.

Over the sanctuary, for example, a previous contractor had installed new modern guttering over the top of the original built-in gutters. It leaked and destroyed the wood structure beneath.

You get some guys who mean well but a lot of those times those modern techniques dont really mesh with a historic building, Waters said. You need a real craftsman to do that metal work. Otherwise youre just doing more harm than good.

Roof flashing was beyond its useful life all over the slate roof, and over the educational wing, faulty original construction and multiple past repairs allowed water to infiltrate the churchs exterior walls. That meant disassembling the walls to put in a functioning barrier to keep water out in the future. Subcontractor Blue Ridge Restoration of Lexington is handling the roof repairs.

Greene Memorials problems are a familiar story for Waters: Theyre common to historic churches.

Unfortunately, a lot of these churches are up against a pretty steep maintenance curve, he said. Youve got a building thats a real monster to maintain, and if you let it get away from you, you can really lose your butt.

Brown said church leaders were glad to identify the problems.

However, that came with a price tag, she said, and it kind of escalated.

As the list of problems grew, the churchs governing council and building trustees were faced with a decision: Should they spend the money to fix the building, or move?

Brown said church leaders had set a cost they could tolerate for the building repairs. But then the actual costs blew right past that limit by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Church leaders asked themselves what the corner of Second Street and Church Avenue would be like without the church.

No one liked the answers they envisioned. Leaving downtown never got much consideration, Brown said.

The thinking went well beyond the building itself and landed on how strongly the churchs downtown location was connected to its mission.

Greene Memorials outreach programs often focus on issues connected to the citys center, such as homelessness, and it partners with other nonprofits nearby. The church renovated the buildings educational wing about 10 years ago to enhance those partnerships.

Dozens of organizations use the church for meetings, and some city staff who serve the homeless have their offices there.

The citys annual point-in-time count of the homeless population is headquartered at the church.

Theyve kind of been the hub of a lot of the social change and a lot of the dynamics that have taken place in downtown, said Vice Mayor Joe Cobb. Theyre very mission-minded, and to me the mission is not other places its really focused in the heart of downtown.

Greene Memorial was a founding member of Congregations in Action, a group of churches that stepped in to support Highland Park Elementary School when it had no PTA.

The churches provide snacks and meals for students in poverty, hold clothing and school supply drives, and host the schools annual Fun Day, Principal Mark Crummy said.

That relationship happened because the school is so near downtown.

Theyre all great churches, Crummy said of the CIA members, but Greene has really been the touchstone for us.

The church was a charter member of Family Promise of the Greater Roanoke Valley, through which congregations use church facilities to provide housing and meals for homeless families, while the organization helps them find jobs and permanent housing.

Marie Muddiman, executive director of Family Promise, noted that the church also hosts the annual memorial service for the homeless people who died during the year.

And congregants knit hats and scarves that they leave in bags on the fence around the church for those in need.

If youre cold and walking by, theres a hat for you. Thats a small ministry but an important one, Muddiman said.

And then there are the bells that toll the hour, which can be heard across a large swath of downtown.

Who doesnt recognize the chimes? Cobb asked. They may not know where they come from, but they come from Greene Memorial.

The thought of not having Greene Memorial in downtown Roanoke is devastating, said Laura Stockstill, a second-generation member there.

She was married in the church and her three children were baptized there. One son, John, built the platform where musicians set up during services as his Eagle Scout project. She remains friends with people she met in church youth group decades ago.

But the congregation, like many older churches, is shrinking and aging. Its collection plate is not deep.

Members gave generously for the educational wing renovation just a decade ago. Many dont have the wherewithal to give so much again.

The hope is that the larger community will fill the gap.

Its a historical building and it means a lot to not only members of our congregation but so many people in the community, Brown said.

While the fundraising campaign continues, so does the work on the roof. Other jobs, such as repairs to the steeple, will be left undone for the near future.

But at least the congregation will return to its grand sanctuary on Sunday.

Since the mold was discovered, services were held in the basement social hall. A few weeks ago, an exterior drainage problem forced another move into the welcome center a large lobby.

Congregants have tired of the makeshift settings.

Its hard when somebody comes, who is a visitor, Stockstill said. You want to say, this is not what we normally do.

But, she said, holding a single Sunday morning service instead of two and cramming the congregation into smaller spaces has brought members closer.

Still, getting back to their old Sunday morning digs is much anticipated. Last week, musical equipment was moved back in, and hymnals and Bibles were returned to pews.

After the Sunday services, members will decorate for Advent.

Last week, Brown grinned at the thought of members finding their old pews Sunday morning.

I think everybodys going to be blown away when they go in.

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After a year of prayers and repairs, downtown Roanoke church returns home - Roanoke Times