St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, an architecturally important and beloved part of downtown Germanton for generations, may be torn apart, moved and rebuilt to house a congregation in Carrboro that needs a place to worship.
Germanton Baptist Church, which sits next to the Episcopal church, is buying the land from the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, said the Rev. Jeff Stephens of the Baptist church.
“Our church is experiencing significant growth,” said Stephens, who came to the church in January 2011. “And for the Episcopal diocese to approach us about purchasing the property is an exciting opportunity because we are in desperate need of some room to grow.”
Germanton is north of Winston-Salem, about 90 miles from Carrboro, which adjoins Chapel Hill. That’s a long way to transport a building. It might be less expensive to take it down and reuse parts of the building. Half a million dollars is a lot for an old building.
It’s good to see that God has a plan for the Episcopal Church.
“The Baptist church’s interest lies in the land, not the historic church, which hasn’t had an active congregation in decades but remains the property of the diocese.”
Of course it hasn’t had an active congregation in decades. Only the orthodox can maintain and grow congregations, and only a church with growing congregations has money to spare to maintain historic buildings. One of the side-effects of TEC’s oppression of the orthodox is that historic buildings will be lost.
Sounds like a win-win for Advocate and Baptists but a loss for Germantown. I wish them well. Statmann
Maybe we should create a front organization with the Baptists to buy churches from TEC before they turn them into mosques and strip clubs, and then have the Baptists sell them back to ACNA et. al? Just a thought.
It’s a lovely church. I have stopped in several times to take a look at the interior on my way up to the state park at Hanging Rock.
But I agree with Tom Rightmyer: half a million dollars is a lot for an old building.
And a very good thought, David Keller. I hope the thought lands on eyes and ears that hear.
David and Milton, An excellent idea until KJS+ gets wind and then the diocese will be required to sue someone and keep the church for future Episcopalians. God forbid it goes to to…….. Baptists! ARGH!!
It would be a mistake for the Baptists to touch the old church building. After all, could not the law firm of Schori & Beers contend that a trust has been established for the benefit of TEC in every church building that they sell? Given the number of judges willing to ignore over a thousand years of Anglo-Saxon trust law and hold that a beneficiary can create a trust for its own benefit, it looks to me like TEC could successfully allege such in a future courtroom.
Blue cat, Thats a good point as I suspect many strippers and Muslims are Episcopalians.
#2:Good one!