On June 24, 2022, just one week and three days shy of two years from when they, along with six other volunteer fire departments, rushed to Mapletown in the early morning hours to fight the fire that engulfed the Mapletown UMC and parsonage, the Greensboro/Mon. Township VFD brought their fire trucks and other gear to 926 Mapletown Road, but this time, it was to witness the groundbreaking of the structure that would replace the one they tried to save two years ago and witness something come full circle.
In the early morning hours of July 4, 2020, a fire broke out, destroying the church, parsonage, and shed in between them. It took seven fire departments and their 90-some firefighters, with two departments on standby hours to completely extinguish the blaze. While devastating to lose such a beloved church home, no one was hurt, and that was most important. Some items, including a couple pews and the baptismal font, were able to be saved, and one of the trustees restored the font, and it has been used to baptize several people since. The trustees worked diligently and were mindful of their resources to work with a builder to design a structure to replace the former one.
The groundbreaking wasn’t supposed to happen so soon, but everything fell into place to make a groundbreaking possible to wrap the Vacation Bible School “Building In Faith.” The children of VBS took the first shovelfuls of dirt, followed by some of the oldest members and the trustees.
Following the groundbreaking, the kids and attendees were able to enjoy Kona Ice, hayless hay rides, playing in the water from the fire truck’s hose, a cookout, and pelting Pastor Lanfer and Chris Bennett with nerf darts after reaching a target goal of donations for the food bank.
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Mapletown Methodist Church