March 18, 2024

Jasper County Church of Christ makes move to former UAW building

The Jasper County Church of Christ has found a new home. The church recently purchased the UAW building at 1813 First St. N., but they are not kicking the former owners out. Instead the church is looking to partner with the organization to help keep the church full.

“We do not like it that church buildings sit empty, it is a waste,” the Rev. Fred Rhodes said. “We want to give back to the community so we are going to continue let people use the building for meetings.”

The ability to give back to the community was a big part of why JCCC picked the building. The church wanted to be able to invite community organizations into the church as a space for them to use. They also did not want to displace the union, which still has work to conduct.

“It worked out good because then the money stays here and the union was still needing a place, they still have business that they are doing. We were able to help them out,” Rhodes said.

The building also had physical advantages, the most obvious, the lack of stairs. In their previous building at 1100 N. Third Ave. E., Rhodes said there were 12 steps to get into the building and another 15 steps to get to the basement where the fellowship hall and classrooms were located. At the new location, there are no stairs at all.

“It was a challenging situation. For a meeting house to worship in, it was difficult,” Rhodes said. “We were glad to make that switch.”

Also a plus for the church was the move in ready status. Several buildings Rhodes had viewed for potential sites needed a substantial amount of work before the church could begin worship. The UAW hall was ready to go from day one.

“We just moved our things in and went to work. A lot of building would have taken some work before we could get started but we were able to just slide our things right in and go,” Rhodes said. “We’ll get some painting done further in the year and get things to where they are more to what we need, but there is really very little. We are looking forward to it, it is a good deal.”

Since the move in late July, the church has seen dramatic growth bringing in about 30 percent more people.

“We thought that we would really be dwarfed when we moved in but now we are thinking about taking the removable wall out,” Rhodes said. “It actually got a little crowded faster than we thought, which is a good problem.”

The church is planning an open house Oct. 28 though 30 and invites the community to come see what is going on at the new location. They will also be holding a “Better Living” seminar with motivational speakers.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at
641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or
jpierson@newtondailynews.com