MANSFIELD — St. John’s United Church of Christ in Mansfield was founded in 1845 by German settlers.
In 1912, the congregation moved to its current downtown location at the corner of Park Ave. East and S. Franklin Avenue.
Dec. 5 at 11 a.m., the building will be auctioned. Chartwell Real Estate Auctions is conducting the live on-site auction. Registration begins at 10 a.m.
The decision to sell was painstaking, but one Rev. Dr. Faith A. Proietti, senior pastor at St. John’s UCC, said it was necessary to ensure its ministry and community connections continue.
“What will you miss most about this current location?” I asked Proietti as we stood in the sanctuary.
“I think the architecture and the demand of reverence,” Proietti said. “You look around and every piece you see are an image of God's creation."
St. John's radiates beauty from its glass dome lit by the sky to its stained-glass windows and honey-colored wooden pews.
“I think the church itself means stability. It has been here through a lot of tough times,” Proietti said. “So it has a certain amount of stability in our community that I think speaks loud and we've also been a church that loves community and loves its people.”
Church leaders said through the decades membership numbers were strong.
"When we had big industry in our community our church was full,” Proietti said. “I mean we used to run in the thousands and Sunday School used to be in the four and five hundreds."
Proietti said when industry left, the city’s population dropped, and so did church membership. She said today, there are about 150 members.
Ron Odson remembers when services were packed.
“We were born in the church. We were baptized in the church. I went to Sunday school through the church. I was married here in this church,” Odson said.
His grandmother was the first in this family to attend the church.
“I know probably every corner of the church. I've served on council. I've served in many capacities of the church.” Odson said. “So, it's very sentimental to me."
Even more so, the auction sign advertising the church’s 35,000 square feet sits out front.
"It's going to be very hard to accept the fact that it's no longer our church, that we're moving away and we'll never move back,” Odson said.
About a year ago, after much prayer and conversation, leadership and membership voted to sell the building.
"You have to grieve with that process and that takes time," Proietti said.
St. John’s will be renting space from Hope Lutheran Church in Mansfield.
“We're going to tear down some denominational barriers,” Proietti said. “We’re going to join together on different occasions, different holidays… Lent, Christmas and do join things together.”
Proietti said being fiscally responsible allows the ministry to continue important outreach services like the clothing closet they run and the Alcoholics Anonymous groups they support.
“We truly believe we have a purpose in Mansfield, and we want to continue on,” Proietti said.
Leaders want the church’s new beginning to be a testament that change can be scary but can open new opportunities.
“We need to come together to build faith and to have a place where people can come— especially in this day and age where they don't know where to go to find peace and tranquility and love and acceptance," she said.
For now, she’s savoring the final weeks of walking the sacred space and being able to ring the church bell that echoes throughout downtown.
"Isn't that amazing?” Proietti said as she rang the bell by pulling a rope in the church entrance.
The auction includes the church’s working pipe organ, which the auction company states is valued at more than $900,000.
Proietti said, “Our organist, who’s a professional organist, she’s going to be playing an hour before the auction just to let everybody hear how wonderful the organ is.”
Proietti said she hopes whoever purchases the building will turn it into something that continues to help the community.
