Pastor Vincent L. Thomas knew that the Bethesda Baptist Church in downtown Jersey City, which he has presided over for the past six years, needed to be rebuilt from the ground up after a November 2007 fire damaged the entrance, the sanctuary and balcony of the 136-year-old structure.
“We have represented God in this community, and we want to continue to represent God in this community.” Thomas said.
In May, the early phase of the reconstruction of the Mercer Street church started when a crew from the Hoboken construction company Citi-Structure began demolishing the interior. Thomas said that phase ended earlier this month and the next phase – demolition of the exterior – will start by the end of next month.
“We have represented God in this community, and we want to continue to represent God in this community.” – Pastor Vincent L. Thomas
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Also looking forward to seeing the church active again is Mercer Street resident Alexander Calderon, who lives with his wife and two children three houses away from Bethesda. Calderon, a graphic designer and amateur photographer, has been snapping photos of the reconstruction work in his spare time.
“I remember when the church was going on, I got to meet a lot of friendly people,” said Calderon, who is not a member. “That stopped after the fire.”
In the meantime, the parishioners have been worshipping at Ferris High School on Merseles Street, a few blocks away from the old church. They’ve held services every Sunday since the fire except for the first two weeks following it.
Gone through different incarnations
The church was built in 1874 as the Scotch Protestant Episcopal Church, serving the Scottish community that settled in Jersey City. However, the church has been occupied over the years by various denominations, including Lutheran and Greek Orthodox.
The Bethesda Baptist Church moved into the Mercer Street church building in 1964. Bethesda Baptist’s roots goes back to 1882. It was originally located on York Street until its move to Mercer Street.
Downtown church returning to new
Thomas said he had discussions with church administrators before the fire about eventually remodeling the church to bring it up to code. But the three-alarm fire, caused by faulty electrical wiring, moved the conversation beyond what was originally intended.
“We had some areas that we were getting ready to refurbish and renovate anyway,” Thomas said. “And then when the fire came, we readjusted our thinking and said ‘well, let’s go ahead and renovate everything,’ so that we can go back into a church with new wiring.”
Thomas said that the church had problems with wiring before the fire.
Since then, the church has gone out into the community and raised money to start the reconstruction by asking the public to donate to the cause, sometimes as little as four dollars a person.
So far, Thomas said, a little over $2 million has been gathered to cover the demolition work and start preliminary construction, with another $2.5 million left to be obtained.
For more on the church and its rebuilding project, or to make a donation, visit http://www.bethesdajc.com, call (201) 434-2450, or e-mail: write2bethesda@yahoo.com.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.