Restored downtown church hosts first service

It had been years since the historic Gothic church at Central and Market attracted the kind of crowd it did for Sunday’s service.

The Downtown Church, a project of pastor Joe Wright and many others, officially opened its door to the public on Sunday, after months of restoration.

The church had sat vacant and vandalized since 2012, when its last tenant left the building. But that tenant, Calvary Chapel Fellowship, had its services in the basement – not in the grand sanctuary Wright and the Downtown Church are now using.

Wright said there were about 200 people at the service “from all areas of Wichita.” There were about 12 people present from the Church on the Street – the homeless ministry in the church’s basement, Wright said.

Flat-screen TV monitors flank both sides of the sanctuary. The piano has been freshly tuned, and the musicians played a full set Sunday.

There is still no air-conditioning or heating in the main sanctuary, but an Eagle article from July about Wright’s cause spurred the donation of an HVAC system for the southern half of the building, Wright said.

Companies that stepped up to donate HVAC equipment include York International Corp., CFM Distributing, Welch’s Heating & Air-Andover, Cook’s Heating and Cooling, Crew’s Heating and Cooling, and Snodgrass Construction Co.

The building is still in need of heating and air-conditioning in the sanctuary area, which is expected to cost about $60,000, Wright said.

The Downtown Church holds services at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday.

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Restored downtown church hosts first service."