BEND, Ore. -

About 21 months after an arson spree left part of a downtown Bend church heavily damaged, the congregation held their first Mass Sunday in the renovated building.

Trinity Episcopal Church dates back to 1918 and sits at the south end of downtown. It's recognized by its bright red doors, and for much of the last two years the sounds of construction.

But on Sunday morning, an old familiar sound echoed from the halls of the church. First a bell, then voices in prayer. For the first time since March of 2013, Mass was in session.

"It's the second Sunday of Advent, and we're supposed to be slowing down and waiting," said Colleen McCracken, an eight-year member of Trinity Episcopal. "But I think everyone will be hurrying into the church this morning."

The morning service was one of reflection -- a community still trying to understand why suspected arsonists burned 3,500 square feet of their 96-year old church. No suspects have been identified.

"We're still frustrated about what happened," Senior Warden Peter Lovering said. "But now we're left with an even better church."

Lovering estimates that repairs and renovations cost close to $4 million -- repairs that are still ongoing.

"A few wires hanging around here and there, but we're ready to open our doors," Lovering said. "To have it open again, and to have people worshiping is just a wonderful thing."

The service was led by the Rev. Jed Holdorph, who took over that role at Trinity Episcopal two months ago. He says the renovated church will go hand in hand with new leadership.

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Bend church holds first Mass since arson

Published: Sunday, 12/7/2014 - Updated: 2 minutes ago

BY MATT MARKEY BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR

WESTON, Ohio Pastor Chris Boggs was in a particularly troubling quandary a few years ago. His house of worship was too small, difficult to access, impossible to expand, and overwhelmingly impractical.

He needed a new church, but the housing bubble had just burst, banks had locked the vaults and loans were tough to acquire, especially for a tiny congregation looking at the huge debt it would incur to open a building fund.

There was no way we could borrow the money, Pastor Boggs recalled.

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So they set out to build a new facility with cash debt free. They wanted the church to be a community center as well, to give the youth of this village in western Wood County a safe place to gather. From the beginning, Pastor Boggs acknowledged it would be an arduous task and take years to complete. Some in his flock were skeptical, while others just left.

The concept was not so well received at first, he said about building the Sonlight Church and Community Center debt free. People want things now, but that was not the reality we were faced with at the time.

The pastor and the remaining members scrambled to raise money. They did the traditional churchy stuff spaghetti dinners, white elephant sales, raffles but Pastor Boggs knew those efforts can hit the ceiling quickly.

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Kindness built Wood Co. church

Lafayette's Flatirons Community Church is once again poised to make the move across South Boulder Road.

The mega-church, which has building-hopped around Lafayette for years, is expanding again - this time taking over half of the Lafayette Marketplace shopping center directly across South Boulder Road with plans to use the space for church offices.

Lead Pastor Jim Burgen explained the rationale behind the move during services Saturday night.

"In November, we averaged just under 20,000 people here every weekend, which is 4,700 more than last year in November," he said. "Which is awesome, but we're feeling the squeeze."

The church is under contract to acquire the marketplace portion of the retail center from Jax Mercantile owner Jim Quinlan, who bought the 93,000-square-foot plaza in 2012 for $2.8 million. Quinlan said his Jax Ranch & Home store on the west end of the complex is not part of the transaction.

Lafayette Marketplace, formerly Plaza Lafayette, at 400 E. South Boulder Road, is home to seven restaurants and bars, and nine retailers. The church is going to buy all of them, except for marijuana dispensary Herbal Wellness. Burgen said Flatirons will also work to staff with restaurants with unemployed and underemployed community members.

"We figure we'll be a part of the community, not just drive-in and drive-out. We want to be a part of this community," he said. "That's really, really important to us. So the idea is we'll have some great places for you to park for church services, and all through the week you can meet up with friends to get some good food over there, grab some coffee or whatever you want to grab over there all through the week.

"We'll also use those businesses to train some really good people who actually want and need jobs."

The first domino in this development fell Tuesday ,when Quinlan announced that his Gourmet Cheese Pantry Shoppe, Cottage Home, and Hearth & Design Gallery stores in the marketplace will close at the end of January. On Wednesday, Quinlan informed his marketplace tenants that the building was under contract to be sold.

Quinlan said the transaction has "been in the works for a while now," and that while a contract has been drawn up, "it's subject to some things falling into place."

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Fast-growing Flatirons mega-church to take over Lafayette Marketplace

Religious construction is downway downin the U.S. over the last decade or so. New religious buildings and additions to existing structures will total an estimated 10.3 million square feet this year, down 80% from 2002, according to Dodge Data & Analytics.

But that overall decline doesnt mean every denomination and faith has stopped building new houses of worship.

The Catholic Church and many mainline Protestant denominations are shrinking, according to the decennial U.S. Religion Census conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shed 22% of its adherents between 2000 and 2010, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America shrank by 18.2% over the same period and the United Church of Christ saw its ranks decline by 24.4%.

It makes sense that many shrinking congregations wouldnt be in a position to embark on ambitious construction projects. But other faiths are seeing strong growth. The estimated number of Muslims in the U.S. rose by 66.7% between 2000 and 2010, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew by 45.5%, according to the census.

Those congregations would be ramping up construction as their memberships grow. A mosque-building boom, for example, more than doubled the number of purpose-built U.S. mosques between 2000 and 2011.

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Not Everyone Has Stopped Building U.S. Houses of Worship

Photo by: Heather Coit/The News-Gazette

Children's minister Justin Craig shows what will become the fellowship area during a tour of the expanding Windsor Road Christian Church in Champaign on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014.

CHAMPAIGN Senior Minister Randy Boltinghouse walks through a construction zone at Windsor Road Christian Church, where crews are busy adding more space for a growing congregation.

A dozen years ago, the Champaign church at 2501 Windsor Road served about 500 people on a weekly basis. These days, it's about 900.

Boltinghouse, the senior minister since 1989, doesn't claim any credit for that.

"The Lord has been behind whatever growth we've had, and we are just trying to get out of the way," he said.

The $3.8 million project, which includes an expansion and some remodeling of existing spaces, should be finished next spring, Boltinghouse said, and "God-willing" some children's spaces could be done by this Christmas.

Overall, the church is expanding from 36,000 square feet to 48,000 square feet, with the addition creating badly needed larger spaces for children and teens making up one-third of the congregation, he said.

Some of what is under construction: Larger worship areas for kids and teens, breakout rooms for more focused study, an indoor playground for kids, a larger nursery (with separate spaces for crawlers and walkers), and a new family entrance with more check-in kiosks for parents dropping off their kids.

More fellowship space is also being built for different age groups, church leaders say. That includes a cafe area for adults, an outdoor patio and a gathering space for middle school and high school students with a TV, snacks and games.

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Construction helps church keep pace with growth

Published: Saturday, 12/6/2014

BY TK BARGER BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

The Reformed Catholic Churchs (RCC) global headquarters in North Toledo is far removed from the Vatican in many ways.

A building that once was the home of Community Church of God, at the corner of Doyle Street and Ketcham Avenue, is now the Holy Cross Reformed Catholic Church, where the RCC is centered. That is also where Metropolitan Archbishop Marc Ignatius Stephen Heckman, who uses the first name Marcis, lives.

The RCC, incorporated in 2000, is a fifth pillar of Catholicism, Archbishop Heckman said. We consider ourselves different because were made up of the Old Catholic movement [centered in Utrecht, Netherlands], the independent Catholic movement, the Orthodox movement, even the Roman movement, so were separate in that aspect.

For the past eight months, Archbishop Jose Israel de la Trinidad also was there after he moved from Puerto Rico, but he recently established a new Toledo residence for his religious order, the Reformed Carmelites. Archbishop Heckman is a Reformed Jesuit; there are RCC versions of several religious orders with Roman Catholic traditions.

Archbishop Trinidad is also principal of the Academy for Educational Excellence, a public charter school on Heatherdowns Boulevard that is Christian oriented, although its not a Christian school, he said. The academy currently has students in kindergarten through grade 5. There, the principal is known as Israel Irizarry-Koppisch, or Mr. Koppisch. He took Trinidad as his religious name. Irizarry-Koppisch is his last name in Hispanic construction, with his fathers last name followed by a hyphen and his mothers last name.

Archbishop Trinidad, 61, moved to Toledo as part of the RCCs own reform. The Church recently consolidated its North American dioceses into one archdiocese, and Archbishop Heckman, 56, who had held the offices of both metropolitan (head of the Church) and U.S. presiding bishop since 2012, made Archbishop Trinidad the presiding bishop of the U.S. Archbishop Heckmans Church work is done as a volunteer, he said; I am disabled, so I dont get to do a whole lot of work, and as he considers himself semi-retired, he appointed Archbishop Trinidad to lead the U.S. Church while he focuses on the RCC around the world.

There are RCC congregations on the African continent, in the Philippines, in Europe, and in Central and South America. In the U.S., congregations are in about eight states and Puerto Rico, with parishes forming in other states.

Holy Cross, in Toledo, has 20 to 30 members, Archbishop Heckman said, but you dont get that many here. Were lucky to get 12 in the pews most of the time; I admit that. But the church is full on Christmas Eve, he said Holy Cross will have a lessons and carols service at 8 p.m. and a midnight Mass.

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Centered in Glass City

CEDARBURG -- There's controversy over a religious site in the heart of Cedarburg. A Lutheran church wants to build a place for cremated ashes, but the city says no.

Crews were only able to install cabinets before the city learned the church was going ahead with the project without a valid permit.

"You can put one in your house, on your mantle, yard, you just can't sell the niches because only a church can do that," said Rev. Janis Kinens.

Reverend Kinens is referring to where one can freely place cremated remains of their loved ones. For the past four years, the Advent Lutheran Church has been working to build acolumbariumfor its members in a prayer garden in downtown Cedarburg.

Paul Rushing is the architect.

"I poured a lot of time and effort because I think it's a good thing," said Paul Rushing.

But Thursday morning, all work came to a halt when a city inspector told them to cease construction.

The city attorney says this summer the church was told the project would not be permitted due to a state statute defining acolumbariumas a mausoleum - a place that could only be housed in a cemetery.

The pastor disagrees the two are the same.

"It is fair to say the city and the church agree to disagree on the interpretation of the state statute," says City Attorney Michael Herbrand.

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Proposed religious site faces opposition from City of Cedarburg

Faced with the burden of caring for its aging building, a shrinking downtown Episcopal church is relocating to another parish in the city, while its longtime home on Linwood Avenue will be converted into a senior housing project by the operator of Canterbury Woods.

The Church of the Ascension at 16 Linwood Ave. at the corner of North Street will move three miles north to the campus of the Church of the Good Shepherd at 96 Jewett Parkway. It also will rename itself the Church of the Ascension at Good Shepherd, according to a press release and posting on its website.

When caring for a building limits the energy a congregation has for ministry, its time for a change, the church posted on its website. The church is not a building. Any church, Ascension included, is really a group of people in close relationship with God and one another.

Officials stressed, though, that the two churches are not merging. The congregations have maintained a covenant relationship since 2011, the website continued, so sharing space made perfect sense to both churches when Ascension began looking for a new base. However, Ascension will maintain its own congregation and its 4:30 p.m. Sunday service and monthly Pet Food Pantry.

The Church of the Ascension is not closing, the website said. Rather, it is evolving, adapting to the 21st century reality of how to be the church.

Like many parishes, Ascension has been shrinking as the demographics around it changed. The parish had 338 active members in 1975, but membership plunged to just 39 in 2013, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.

That created urgent financial pressures that threatened the churchs future. Over the past three years alone, the church has spent nearly $80,000 on building maintenance. If it had not taken these steps, it would have closed within six months, said Laurie Wozniak, spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.

The congregation of the Church of the Ascension is committed to mission work. When the cost of maintaining the building on North Street began to negatively affect that work, the decision to move was made prayerfully and with much deliberation, said the Rev. Cathy Dempesy-Sims, Ascensions priest.

The congregation and I believe that in doing so, we are being good stewards of both our money and the building, which will go on to serve the surrounding community in new ways.

The 164-year-old churchs historic building will now be re-purposed for senior housing by Episcopal Church Home & Affiliates, which runs the high-end continuing care community Canterbury Woods in Amherst and is constructing a similar but smaller facility at the former Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital site.

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Church of the Ascension to be converted to senior housing

Rep. Manny Pacquiao FILE PHOTO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY World boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao has set aside some P295 million from his earnings from big-time prizefights for the construction of a house of worship on a 5-hectare property here.

I owe to God everything that I have right now, said Pacquiao, a born-again Christian convert. The amount is nothing compared to what God has done to my life, he said.

The church lot alone could cost up to P95 million.

We came into this world bare and naked. In our final rendezvous with the Great Beyond, we can bring nothing, Pacquiao said. Building the church was also his way of glorifying and thanking God, he said.

Two hectares of the site would be devoted to a two-story church structure and annex, according to Rey Cortez, project engineer. Construction cost would be around P200 million, he said.

The building will serve as the main worship area, while the annex will house the Bible school, Bible study room, a pastors lounge and commercial offices.

We target to finish the project within an 18-month period. But he (Pacquiao) asked us to expedite the construction so it can be used by December 2015, Cortez said.

Pacquiao is currently renting the entire third floor of Maduramente building here for church services every Sunday.

When he retires from boxing, he said, he would turn to preaching and other jobs.

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Pacquiao sets aside P295M for new church

REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Worshippers attend Sunday prayers in Baraka Parish church on the outskirts of Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Christians say churches are being targeted in the Muslim-majority country.

An evangelical church in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, was raided by police yesterday and 37 young members of the congregation were detained.

The episode marked an escalation of attacks on the church by the authorities, which had already demolished parts of the building.

Church leaders believe that the move is part of a concerted campaignagainst churches in the country, though the authorities say that the land is owned by investors who want to build a shopping centre.

According to the minister of the evangelical church in Khartoum North, Pastor Yahya Abdelrahim Falo, the police arrived in nine vehicles at around 6am yesterday. He told Radio Dabangathat some of them started to demolish the outer walls of the building while others arrested the young Christians praying and fasting inside.

Falo said that the 37 detainees were divided into three groups. Two groups were taken to separate criminal courts and each member was fined the equivalent of $35 for "public disturbance and the obstruction of an official in the performance of his duties". The remaining 15 youngsters were tried at a different court, where the judge acquitted them.

Falo said that what had happened was "a blatant infringement of Christian sanctities, and a humiliation of all Sudanese Christians". He demanded an immediate halt to the current demolition of the church.

Yesterday's event was not the first time the church had been targeted. On November 19, the house of its senior pastor was confiscated and the 'youth house' was demolished.

In response, leaders from Khartoum churches, students and church members staged protests, and prayed in the adjacent church for a peaceful resolution.

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Sudan: Church destroyed and young people arrested, pressure increases on Christians