Dionne Gleaton
The Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, S.C.
(TNS)
Nov. 12—”These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” John 16:33
The congregants of Bethel Park United Methodist Church in Denmark are finding comfort and encouragement through that Bible passage following a fire that heavy damaged their church early Saturday morning.
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“That’s just a breath for us to take. God just works through it all and is ever faithful,” church lay leader Diane Williams said.
“In the United Methodist Church, there’s been much debate and much division. Even in our heart of hearts we feel that, but when this happens, God will take something bad and use it for good. Scripture says that,” she said.
“I think that what someone meant to harm us may actually pull us tighter together,” Williams said.
Church pastor the Rev. Javy Rudolph “Rudy” Gwaltney III said he’s been through a flurry of emotions, including anger, but he remains true to his faith.
“I consider it an act of evil. It’s something that’s in the world, but our congregation is a very loving congregation, a very mission-oriented congregation. We will get this cleaned up, and we will do the best we can going forward and try to continue in our callings,” the pastor said.
Gwaltney said the fire was discovered early Saturday morning.
The Denmark Fire Department had already been dispatched to a false alarm at a different church.
“A mechanical failure had caused the alarm to sound. One of those firemen on the way home drove by our church and saw the smoke and the fire there. It is about roughly 1:30 a.m. Fortunately, they were already out and were there very quickly,” he said.
The pastor continued, “At about 2 a.m., I got a call from the chief of the fire department, who let me know that there was a fire at the church. I went out and, before the night was over, they had — even though it wasn’t necessarily a giant fire — five fire trucks there from three different stations.”
He said the fire started in three different places in the church.
“It is strongly believed to be arson. One of the fires was started in the front of the church in our library. One of them was in the back of the church in our nursery area, and a third fire was started upstairs where there’s some Sunday school rooms,” the pastor said.
“The front entrance, the library is totally destroyed. Everything in there is crispy. It’s charcoal. It’s ashes. Fortunately, there was a door closed between that entrance and the social hall. So, from that point at the front of the church — and everywhere in the church — the damage was limited to a lot of soot in the sanctuary, which is as far away from the library as you can be,” he said.
The pastor said the church is not only covered in soot, but one of the rooms in the nursery was completely destroyed.
“The firemen were there until about 5:30 (a.m.), and then a deputy stayed and watched over the building until ATF and SLED could come in. They arrived about 6 o’clock in the morning and did their investigation. I haven’t heard any of the outcomes, or any of the reports from their investigation,” Gwaltney said.
The church did not gather on Sunday, but will be using a temporary location going forward.
“Several of the church members are members of Little River Place — they call it the Denmark Country Club — that has a place that they use as a pavilion. They’re going to let us use that until we get the sanctuary cleaned up and safe to go back into,” the pastor said.
“Everything is kind of on hold at the moment until the insurance adjuster comes in and looks at the property. We’ve got the report in, and we’ve got the adjuster’s name and are hoping to hear from them shortly,” he said.
He has not heard of anyone being charged for causing the fire.
“I haven’t heard anything along those lines,” Gwaltney said.
He said the cleanup process will take time, though he’s not sure how much.
“We have several volunteers ready to help with the cleanup. It’s just a matter of what day we can start,” he said.
In the meantime, Williams said the congregation is leaning on its faith despite the circumstances.
“It’s a tragedy, but God will take ashes and turn them into beauty. The scripture is encouraging to us,” she said.
Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow “Good News with Gleaton” on Twitter at @DionneTandD
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