11 Suburban Churches Step Up to Rescue Inner City Congregation

Suburban Presbyterian churches join effort to save Cleveland's North Presbyterian Church

By Michael O'Malley, The Plain Dealer
November 24, 2009, 2:36PM
Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Eleven suburban Presbyterian churches have come together to rescue a century-old inner-city church that was once a sanctuary for high society but now is too poor to keep its doors open.

North Presbyterian Church, a grimy, weather-beaten, brick-and-stone edifice built in 1887 at East 40th Street and Superior Avenue in Cleveland, has only about 65 congregants, nearly half of whom are homeless.

"Our folks are dirt poor," said the Rev. Charlie Hurst, the church's part-time pastor. "And we don't have an endowment, so there's no money here."

But closing North's doors on the few remaining souls is not an option for the Presbyterian community.

The suburban churches have taken over the cost, cooking and serving of North's free hot-meals program and have begun exploring ways to raise money to keep the congregation going.

"Partnering suburban churches with urban churches is an alternative to closing churches down," said the Rev. Louise Westfall, senior pastor of the 1,200-member Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights.

"There is only one church, and we're all in it together."

One plan is to mothball the old North building, which is too expensive to operate, and build a new church in the neighborhood.

Hurst said he paid $15,000 in heating bills last year, digging into the church's savings and relying on handouts from other churches.

"These old buildings no longer work," said Hurst, who recently had the main sanctuary walled off and its boiler shut down to cut costs. Services are now held in the basement.

"I have no idea what the building could be used for," said the Rev. Martha Shiverick of Fairmount Presbyterian. "But I don't want to kill a congregation and the congregation is determined to stay in the neighborhood. I think that's where Jesus wants the church to be."

The old building is a Cleveland historic landmark, so it can't be torn down without going through layers of red tape in City Hall. And selling such a castlelike behemoth -- appraised last year at $160,000 -- is a difficult task.

Still, Shiverick has a vision of a new "green" energy-efficient building with easy access for the elderly and disabled. She already has architectural drawings and a proposed site nearby.

"The church has such a great ministry to underprivileged and homeless people that we want to keep it in the neighborhood," she said. "And we want it to grow."

North's roots go back to 1859 when the Old Stone Church on Public Square -- which has joined the suburban churches to rescue North -- established a Sunday school in the near East Side neighborhood.

From that school, the church was established in 1870, named after North Church in Boston, where militant colonists two centuries ago lighted signal lanterns in the bell tower on the night of Paul Revere's famous ride.

The church was first located on St. Clair Avenue, then on East 36th Street before the existing building -- which seats over 1,000 people -- was built.

Philanthropist Flora Stone Mather, wife of industrialist Samuel Mather and sister-in-law of statesman John Hay, was the largest contributor to the building fund.

The first service in the new building was held Oct. 23, 1887, with 800 people in attendance. A choir, accompanied by a cornet, two violins and an organ, sang "Christ is Our Corner Stone," according to a story in The Plain Dealer the next day.

The organ, donated by the Old Stone Church, is still there. So is the giant bell that still rings with the pulling of a rope in the bell tower. And despite what might happen to the old building, church leaders hope the old bell will be salvaged and continue to chime in the neighborhood for another 120 years.

"Urban churches have to be sustained," said Hurst. "And if suburban churches go into their cocoons, it's bad for both. If God is calling us to take care of each other, we need to know where each other is."