Five years after racially motivated arson, MLK Community Presbyterian Church returns home
SPRINGFIELD — The design inlaid into the floor of the newly reopened sanctuary of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church is a labyrinth.
It's a spiritual tool, said the Rev. Dr. Terrlyn L. Curry Avery: Wander the curving path; emerge with an insight.
"It's the power of a centering place," she said.
The 40-or-so-member congregation returned last month to its newly rebuilt sanctuary at 22 Concord Terrace, after a catastrophic fire on Dec. 28, 2020. Prosecutors say it was a racially motivated arson attack on the predominantly Black church.
The newly renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield has reopened for services. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
The church's first service back in the rebuilt sanctuary was Nov. 9, and it hosted community celebration a week later on Nov. 16.
"It's exciting," Curry Avery said. "Part of the excitement is a returning home."
In recent sermons, she's linked her congregation's return to biblical stories of the return of the remnant, the Jews in exile.
"We are returning, and there is much work for us to do since we returned," she said.
The Rev. Terrlyn Curry Avery speaks at the Agape Gala in March 2023. (Dave Canton / The Republican, File)Dave Canton
Especially in the time of advent, a time of high expectations.
"I'm looking forward to us being able to have a beautiful candlelight service for Christmas Eve," the reverend said.
Over the five years since the fire, the church met online, in a gym at the neighboring Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services, at Alden Baptist Church and outdoors.
"We met in a parking lot," Curry Avery said.
It cost more than $2.5 million to rebuild, a sum supported in part with $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Through it all, the congregation kept on.
"I told them that Sunday," Curry Avery said. "You all really plowed through this time and never lost faith at all."
The Rev. Terrlyn L. Curry Avery, pastor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Presbyterian Church stands outside the church on Jan. 7, 2021. The church was heavily damaged in an overnight fire on Dec. 28, 2020. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican, File)
They still need some furniture. And they still have to replace lost kitchen equipment.
A federal grand jury indicted the accused arsonist, 49-year-old Dushko Vulchev , of Houlton, Maine, in 2022.
The FBI says the man pictured is church arson suspect Dushko Vulchev, seen here allegedly stealing a tire from a car in downtown Springfield in December 2020. (FBI photos)
He's pleaded not guilty.
Investigators found images in Vulchev's vehicle indicating his hatred of Black people.
Next month, he's scheduled to have a hearing in federal court here in Springfield concerning whether he can be compelled to take medication while incarcerated, which could restore his competence to stand trial. That is according to papers on file with the federal court.
In the meantime, Vulchev remains at Federal Medical Center Devens , a secure medical facility in Ayer, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons prisoner lookup page.
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