One of the Miami Valley’s oldest churches held its final Sunday service.
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As reported on Sunday News Center 7 at 6 p.mThe First Lutheran Church held its final service after nearly 200 years in Dayton.
It has occupied the corner of First and Wilkinson Streets, but can no longer afford to stay open, as News Center 7 previously reported.
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News Center 7’s Malik Patterson spoke with church leaders about the closure of First Lutheran Church. It was one of the first churches in Dayton. It has been around for 185 years.
Sunday’s service was different than the typical service.
The bishop of the Lutheran Church of Southwest Ohio delivered Sunday’s message.
Patterson said the church lost its pastor in 2022. The members were also no longer present and changes had to be made.
200 people attended the service at First Lutheran Church. Many were people who had never been to church.
But they wanted to see the historic church for the first and last time.
News Center 7 spoke with a man who hopes the church will survive and not be destroyed.
“To be honest, I don’t want to see it torn down. So if it becomes an event center, it honestly doesn’t really matter to me. I just want it to last. Make sure it is maintained because it is beautiful,” says Conner Fazzari.
Patterson says the church council and the Lutheran bishop need to figure out who to sell it to.
They want to sell it to another church, but that will cost millions.
We will update this story.
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