There has been a resurrection of God’s churches in Middlesex and King and Queen counties following five church fires in the counties from 2018 to 2020.
With the exception of the Glebe Landing Baptist Church’s “Old” lodge building that sat next to the church in Laneview and burned Nov. 23, 2018, the other church structures have been rebuilt and are either being used, or soon will be offering worship services again on God’s sacred grounds.
Old Church Methodist Church
The 300-year-old “Old Church Methodist Church” near Shanghai in King & Queen burned in September 2020, due to an electrical malfunction in the church. On Sunday, Oct. 13, with the church fully rebuilt, the congregation conducted a “special” worship service and dinner celebration honoring firefighters and emergency services personnel who fought the fire.
“It has been a long four years since the fire and our members have put a lot of time, talent and hard work to repair, replace and restore Old Church to the House of Worship we now call Old Church Methodist Church,” said Goins.
The fire and rescue departments that were honored on Sunday were Central King and Queen Volunteer Fire Department (VFD), Upper King and Queen VFD, Upper Middlesex (Water View) VFD, Middlesex VFD (Urbanna), Gloucester Fire and Rescue Station 4 and 6, Walkerton VFD and King and Queen Emergency Services Coordinator Greg Hunter.
Goins also thanked Tasha Carter who was driving by in the early morning hours of Sept. 3 and called 911.
Other churches
The other church buildings were not as fortunate as Old Church as the churches and sanctuaries were totally destroyed and new buildings had to be built.
St. Paul Baptist Church in Jamaica of Middlesex County burned Nov. 17, 2018 under suspicious circumstances. The fire was determined to be arson, but no one was ever prosecuted for the crime.
The church is back up and running with a new church building and on Saturday, Oct. 12, the church was filled with members celebrating the life of one of its members.
An arsonist burned down the old lodge building at Glebe Landing Baptist in Laneview on Nov. 23, 2018. It was not rebuilt and no one was ever prosecuted for starting the fire.
Lower King and Queen Baptist Church near Dragonville was destroyed by fire in August 2020. The cause was never determined.
A new church building on the site of the old church is just weeks away from reopening.
New Hope Memorial Baptist Church near Glenns nearly burned to the ground Nov. 2, 2020. The location where the fire started was determined to be in the pulpit, which led to suspicion as to how the fire started. However, the actual cause of the fire was never determined.
New Hope Memorial has been totally rebuilt and Sunday services are being offered under the pastoral leadership of the Rev. Dan Grantham.
“Thank God for his help and to all the church families who have praised him by keeping his word and his churches alive!” – the Rev. William Smith
Amen!
