Members of the congregation at Grace Chuch-Norton campus, attend a worship service in their new building on Sunday in Norton, Ohio. The church was damaged by a fire almost two years ago. (Ed Suba Jr./Akron Beacon Journal)
Sunday’s Akron Beacon Journal includes a story about the new worship space at the Grace Brethren Church in Norton, Ohio (Dan Gregory, campus pastor). The facility had been severely damaged in a January fire. Read the complete story here.
Grace Brethren Church in Norton opens rebuilt worship space
NORTON: Grace Brethren Church in Norton rose from the proverbial ashes on Sunday.
Congregants saw a fresh, new worship space — a minimalistic remodeling in soothing tones of burgundy, beige and gray.
“It’s fabulous. It’s welcoming. This made it new and more modern,” raved church member Shelley Beavers of Wadsworth.
Church leaders were forced to remodel their auditorium when an electrical fire swept through the building in January 2011.
No one was hurt on that Tuesday morning. But the whole building was swamped with smoke and virtually nothing usable was left of the auditorium, a 1982 addition that had served as the church sanctuary.
Church members considered several options before deciding to remain on the current footprint of the existing building and rebuild. Insurance came through, so additional fundraising was not needed.
Still, the building sustained $1.5 million in damage, so church members were forced to make do with improvised quarters at Norton High School and then at the church gym. As of Sunday, those days are over.
