The church on fire

Recently I visited a nearby country church with a tumultuous history. Built in a berg called Klondike, it was originally a Catholic church. In the ’90s, the building was hit by lightning. The volunteer fire department bravely climbed up into the attic and put the fire out, at some risk to their own lives. Repairs were made and the church went on.

But a few years later, in 2005, the diocese closed the church, and its members migrated to another nearby parish. The building sat empty for awhile until two women bought it and tried running a bakery out of the church kitchen.

When that tanked, a nearby family purchased it and decided they would form a new congregation in the building. They hired a preacher, printed an article in the paper, and invited the neighbors. A few showed up.