ELMA, N.Y. — It has been one year since a fire demolished the 150-year-old St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Elma. After a year of rallying together, the church is nearing a rebuild of its beloved building.
May 13, 2023: exactly one year ago from Monday, flames shot out the steeple ofSt. Paul’s.
Members of the congregation watched as black smoke poured out of their 150-year-old building, leaving it beyond repair.
The church had sat on Main Street since 1862, and had looked exactly the same for 150 years, after it had to be rebuilt because of a much earlier fire in 1872.
“Looking back on it, that was the most intense pastoral care thing I’ve ever been a part of in my life,” pastor Jonathan Haseley said.
Hasely is now the pastor of the church, but at the time of the fire, St. Paul’s was in the middle of changing its lead pastor.
Haseley is a Niagara Falls native but had been working in Omaha, Nebraska. He was in town for a few days interviewing for the job when he watched the fire happen.
“We sensed God was telling us to be here for this time,” Haseley said.
“You came right into this role of helping rebuild, how much more engrained have you felt in this community?” 7 News reporter Derek Heid asked,
“I’ll tell you what, that first day when that church was burning down, I felt like I made more connections with people in those 6 hours than I probably would have over the course of 6 months,” Haseley said.
One year later, Haseley has become a staple at St. Paul’s, leading his new church family through a year of rebuilding.
“Our new pastor is wonderful,” St. Paul’s building team volunteer Dale Ponivas said. “We’re really happy and pleased with his service. And we’re really looking forward to doing a good job [with the building].”
For 12 months, Sunday service has been held in a converted recreation room they own next door, normally outfit for a luncheon not a church service.
This temporary area has come with plenty of reminders of their previous home. Members refurbished the once severely water damaged baptismal pool, memorialized the bell from the steeple, and built a cross from the charred wood.
Outside their church, people across the country donated $100,000 to aid in the St. Paul’s rebuild, which now reaching its next step.
“Now, we’re sorting through architects, contractors, seeing who’s going to be a good fit. Then pulling all those pieces together of what we would like this building to look like,” Haseley said.
Where the church once stood is now just an empty lot, but Hasely already has ideas for new the St. Paul’s.
“Having a place that as soon as you walk in, [I want people to say] ‘I feel welcomed,’ ‘I feel at peace,’ ‘I feel like this is a place I could fit in.’”
The church hopes to start construction later this year and reopen the new site in 2025.
They will be hosting a ‘Strawberry Social’ fundraiser on June 19 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. They also accept donations in person.
