BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Resiliency and faith are being tested once again for a Buffalo church.
A difficult decision to ultimately close the doors of Mt. Hope Community Church, for good, could be on the horizon.
Pastor Charles Walker shared that he left the church around 4:30 in the afternoon, on Tuesday.
He recalled securing the doors before leaving
Later that day, he received a call from someone in his congregation.
He returned to his beloved church that he had led for 13 years to find it had been mishandled.
"I went inside and started noticing things were missing. One was a $3,500-$4,000 generator, which didn't belong to me, was missing. A torpedo heater was missing. Our keyboard was missing. Stuff had just been thrown around," he explained.
Inside the building, it is pitch black due to no power and will remain dormant indefinitely.
It is a gut punch for Pastor Charles because the church has been closed for several months because of complications from damage caused by the Christmas blizzard.
He had planned to reopen by Christmas to his congregation of 25 people.
"They're going to be crushed. They're going to be hurt," he said. "I may not reopen again. I may just keep it closed. I don't have the finances to make all the necessary repairs to get it up to par."
The fate of a church that has been in Buffalo for more than 30 years hosting community gatherings and bringing holiday cheer remains unknown.
"It's just things like this that God placed on my heart to help the community bring them together. It's been working but it hurts because this is how they say thank you," Pastor Charles said. "I know he didn't bring me this far to leave me."
The 2022 Christmas blizzard knocked out the church's heating system.
In March, a fire destroyed a home behind the church being renovated for the homeless, and now the break-in has set progress back even further.
Pastor Charles said he plans to meet with his congregation about this incident.
While the church has been closed, members have been attending other churches.
He is working on a GoFundMe to raise funds for the church.
Pastor Charles filed a police report.
7 News reached out to the City of Buffalo for more information and have yet to hear back.
