Services Held at Black Church Hit by Arson

Song, tears and laughter filled Matthews Murkland Presbyterian Church on Sunday as services were held for the first time since a nearby sanctuary was destroyed by fire.

“To whoever started this fire, it took you about $1.50 worth of gas and two boxes of matches to destroy a building,” the Rev. Larry Hill said during an emotional sermon to an overflow crowd of more than 200 worshipers, most of them black.

“What you don’t know is that all you destroyed was a building. You did not destroy the church.”

Hill preached his message of forgiveness and reconciliation just 100 yards from the charred remains of the white clapboard church that dated to 1903. The current church replaced the old sanctuary about 20 years ago.

Authorities have confirmed that Thursday night’s fire was set but have not released any details. Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are looking into whether the blaze is linked to about 30 other recent fires at black churches in the South.

Myrlie Evers-Williams, chairwoman of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, visited the burned-out sanctuary Sunday afternoon, telling members that the spate of church fires is “going to stop.”

“And we’re going to come together collectively to see that it does,” she said.

“My friends, we have a challenge like we’ve never had before. We know churches were very important in the civil rights struggle. It’s where we met,” Evers-Williams said. “Sometimes it takes something like this to wake us up.”

Members of the small church, located in one of the city’s most affluent sections, could not deny they were deeply hurt.

“I’m so low I just don’t know what to do,” Lennie Stitt, a church member for 45 years, said before the two-hour service began. “The feelings are so bad. It hurts so deep.”

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About half the people in the pews Sunday were visitors. Among them were elected officials, including Reps. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) and Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), and white clergymen.

Myrick told church members that they are not alone.

“This community, if you want it done, will help you rebuild this church,” she said.

Barry Norman, a deacon at the predominantly white Carmel Presbyterian Church, attended the services with his wife and their three children.

“We want to show support for our brothers and sisters,” he said. “We want to show them we care.”