After Monday’s tragic structure fire at First Christian Church Disciples of Christ in Washington, the congregation is moving forward and planning the next steps in its recovery.

According to Elder F. Ray Moore, a longtime member of the church, the more than 300-member congregation is still going strong and will continue hosting services. The church has been in Washington since 1891. However, the sanctuary was built in the 1920s on the second and third floor of the church, above the basement level, according to 90-year member, Callaree Horton. Horton said she has been a member of the church since the age of 5 and has many memories of the building.

“It’s the hardest thing,” said Horton. “I happen to be the oldest member of the church — I’m 95. I’ve been there a long time, since they started building the sanctuary upstairs. The building has gone through so much, but my goodness, I’ve been all through that church, crying and laughing and everything. We are disciples and there are three things about being disciples—we love God, we love our fellow man and we serve humanity. Those are the three things we are going to keep doing. We’re going to come back because we are disciples and we disciples work together.”

According to Moore, although the building has been condemned, the church is in good financial standing and the congregation is in a position to rebuild, relocate or whatever it decides.

“We’ve got a strong denomination,” Moore said. “We don’t have any debt and we’ve got adequate insurance on that building to come forward and rebuild. We own all the land up front. We can move that whole facility forward and build a world-class facility. We are an effective church with effective leadership, which will have a relevant voice in the years to come. Our best days are ahead of us.”

Moore said that the church also has insurance on some of the property lost in the fire.

“We had a half million dollar organ,” Moore said. “It was one of the two best organs in this town.”

The congregation met at the Redman’s Lodge in Washington on Wednesday for an informational meeting and for the congregation to start the healing process.

“It’s like a death in the family,” Moore said. “There is a period of grieving. To help get through that, we had a meeting of church Wednesday night and showed pictures of the whole progression and was able to go through what’s remaining inside the church.”

Moore said the insurance company now owns the building and no one can enter the condemned building. However, the company along with engineers have walked through it and salvaged items for the church. So far, the church has recovered the communion table and a few other items from the chancel, which is the space around the altar.

Over 300 members who belong to the church are not alone, according to Moore. There are around 6,500 congregations with almost a million members across the nation that belongs to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The FCC of Washington has received support from regional and national branches of the church.

Rev. Arnold Nelson, Sr. Minister at First Christian Church, Duncan, Okla., wrote a letter to his congregation in response to recent losses suffered by two Disciples congregations—one of those was FCC, Washington. Week of Compassion is the relief, refugee and development fund of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ in the U.S. and Canada. The letter stated: “Both congregations have fresh reminders of important things today. They’re reminded churches are made up of people called by God, meeting in buildings and the church goes on regardless of structures made by human hands. They’re reminded the primary purpose of church is to worship God in all circumstances.”

The letter went on to say that Week of Compassion Interim Executive Director, Johnny Wray, had mailed a Week of Compassion check to FCC of Washington with love and prayers.

On Sunday, FCC of Washington will conduct one, big Sunday service at the Redman’s Lodge in Washington at 10 a.m., according to Moore. After the service, members will meet for a congregational meeting to discuss options for moving forward.

“The one we had Wednesday was more of a healing and informational meeting,” Moore said. “The church just has a lot of memories and it has been emotional. The meeting on Sunday will be to discuss the next steps. We will define our options in that meeting.”

According to Moore, Jack’sTavern, the Redman Lodge and the Masonic Lodge have offered the congregation places to worship and to hold meetings and services.

For more information or to donate to the church, visit docwashington.org.