PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Tuesday, Jan. 19, marked the actual 20-year anniversary of a devastating fire that destroyed the Grant Memorial United Methodist Church. To mark the occasion, members held a candlelight vigil at the site of the former worship facility on Epworth Street in Presque Isle.
The congregation will hold a banquet at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, at the new church on Fleetwood Street, where members will look back to the time before the fire. There will be speakers from the Epworth Street era, as well as talks by Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar and District Superintendent Pat MacHugh.
The church will have a remembrance service led by Bishop Devedahr at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 24.
“There are many people in our congregation that still mourn the loss of the Epworth Street building. The service will include a time of healing. Our focus is on the resiliency of a congregation that continued to meet and continued the ministries of the church, not missing even one Sunday during the two years they were without a facility,” the Rev. Christopher Dare said.
“The focus is also on our community that came together to encourage and support our congregation, who provided places to meet and worship and who helped make our new facility possible. This is not a story about a fire. This is a story about the church continuing to be the church in spite of tragedy,” he added.