A local congregation remembers its church as it undergoes demolition, resulting from an April 28 fire.

Various members of First Christian Church could be seen on East Second Street this week as they met to fellowship and say goodbye to the historic building. Built in the 1920s, the church underwent multiple renovations, including an education wing added in the 1960s and a section housing an elevator in the early 2000s, said church moderator Milton Dail.

Dail said the church is looking to rebuild, but no specific location has been etched in stone. Owning property on the opposite side of Second Street, the church may rebuild there, but Dail says they have considered other locations.

“We’re looking at seeing if we can put something over here (other side of Second), and we’re looking at other properties to see if there is something to suit our needs better,” Dail said. “We haven’t made any

concrete decisions on where we are going to build, but we are going to build.”

With demolition under a 60-day contract with EHG Contractors, the congregation will say goodbye to the building, and all that will remain is a hill, returning to what it was before the church was built in the 1800s, Dail said. The church has decided to honor the building and the church’s past with a memorial garden or something similar. The contractors have been instructed to save certain items throughout the demolition process, including the wording over the entrance doors, the building’s cornerstones, crosses built into the block work under the stained glass windows and any stained-glass windows that were not destroyed from the fire. Those items will be used in the new church building, once it’s built, Dail said.

“It’s depressing that we lost the building since we’ve had it since the 1920s, but when you look back, we started in a house on Harvey Street,” Dail said. “Then they built a church on this lot, and then when they outgrew that, they built the church over on this lot and added on to it. So through the years, we’ve changed things anyway, so this is just another change that is coming about.”

Dail said that although the building is gone, the congregation’s attendance at services held at the Redmen’s Lodge remains strong. Prior to the fire, the church held a contemporary service at 8:30 a.m. and a traditional service at 11 a.m. Now, at the Redmen’s Lodge, one service is held at 10 a.m.

“Attendance is still holding strong at about 200 each Sunday, so it hasn’t hurt our attendance any, and it’s given us a chance for both the two services to come together and meet as one,” Dail said.

The church purchased property at 120 N Academy St. for its administrative functions, and the congregation has used it for men’s and women’s meetings and other subgroup gatherings within the church, Dail said.

Demolition will continue, and so far, there have been groups of church members with lawn chairs and umbrellas for shade, gathering as they watch their beloved church turn a new leaf.

Everything is still going on like nothing has happened,” Dail said. “Just the location has changed. There are some (members) that want to be out here because they want to see it, and there are others who have said ‘Let me know when it’s done. … I’ll drive by when they’re finished.’ It’s just whatever each member needed to move on with their grieving — they’ve been here for it.”