After serving Galion for over 177 years, Peace Lutheran Church, 129 W. Walnut St., held its final service on July 28, but its congregation remains determined that the historic building will continue to serve the community in a new way.
The Peace Lutheran congregation has called the church home since 1847 when it was built, but the congregation was present in the community in other buildings long before that. Due to declining membership in recent years, the church decided to close its doors.
“Church attendance is down,” now-retired Pastor Rich Genzman said. “We’re all getting older, and the younger people are either not coming to church as much anymore or finding other ways to worship.”
Though the church is closed, its former members still want to make sure the building serves the community.
“Our desire is that the building would still be of continued value and an asset in Galion. That it could be repurposed for something and not be an eyesore, but could contribute to the building up of the community,” Genzman said.
When the church made the decision to close earlier this year, the congregants also decided that the building should be a gift to the community and began searching for the best way to make that happen.
“We didn’t want to get something out of it. We just wanted to give back to the community that we’ve been a part of for 177 years,” Genzman said.
Once the decision to close was made, the church board sought out local organizations to repurpose the building, but many found the cost of upkeep prohibitive. Finally, Genzman contacted the Galion Port Authority.
Galion Port Authority Executive Director Mark Rantala agreed with the congregation’s sentiment.
“We didn’t want this landmark building to deteriorate or to become a drain on the community,” Rantala said. When the Port Authority gained possession of the building at the end of August, Rantala said they knew that something special needed to be done with the building.
“We see this as preserving an asset in the community,” he said.
Already the Port Authority is in preliminary talks with a developer to reshape the church into some kind of community gathering space. While there has been no official agreement yet, Rantala said he is in “serious” talks with one particular developer.
Exactly what new purpose the church building will serve is still undecided. Initially, the Port Authority had considered converting it into housing, but after giving the potential developer a tour of the building, the developers suggested the building had to be something “more special than housing,” Rantala said.
He added the Port Authority has only had the building a short time and many things could still change. While plans are still in the early stages, the community can be assured that the building will continue to serve Galion in a meaningful way.
Hannah Bryan is a correspondent for the Galion Inquirer. She can be reached at [email protected].
