Faith community rallies after 170-year-old Elma church destroyed by fire

The fire that started at the steeple above the roof raged into the main building at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 360 Main St., leaving it a total loss. The building’s roof collapsed as the fire spread throughout the sanctuary.

For a small church community that has already endured the pandemic and an almost two-year search for a new faith leader, Saturday’s fire was another difficult pill to swallow.

But Bob Breidenstein, who is heading the search committee for a new pastor, said Sunday he is confident that the church’s congregation will not only weather the storm, but become even stronger as they rebuild.

“Yesterday was 170 years’ worth of emotion,” Breidenstein said. “For a large part of our parishioners and congregation, this has been the only church they’ve known. They have been through the pandemic and so many of our elder parishioners who passed away during Covid, because of Covid or after Covid.”

“There are times that we have felt lost and been unsure about whether we were going to find our way, but what we came to understand is that St. Paul’s is a family, and families are more than walls, floors, and doors and anything that constructs a building. It’s much deeper than that.”