The pastor of a Sunshine Coast church devastated by fire has revealed how it plans to keep its most popular event alive after the “tragic” incident.
Senior Pastor Phil Greenbury said that while the community was still reeling from the “shocking” news the Lifepointe Baptist Church had burned down on Friday, the community already had a plan for how it would hold its annual Christmas event.
Each year thousands of families gather for its festive event Christmas at Lifepointe, which drew more than 35,000 people last year.
Pastor Greenbury revealed that if they have to, they would hold this year’s 20th Christmas festival in the church car park.
“Our Christmas lights were stored in our shed that didn’t go up in flames, so that was a bonus,” he said.
“We are committed to doing something for our community this Christmas because people love it. We just have to see how much room we have got.”
With three quarters of the church building, including the main auditorium, “totally” destroyed, forensic investigators were still working to determine the cause of the blaze.
But Pastor Greenbury said invesigators had safely ruled out any sinister causes like arson.
“It looks like there was nothing underhanded or anything like that,” he said.
“The investigation is still inconclusive but they’ve given us no reason to believe it was done deliberately, which is great.”
There were reports the blaze was started by an electrical fault, with members of the Buderim community taking to social media saying they had heard a big “bang” before the blaze.
But Pastor Greenbury said it was all conjecture at this point.
“We were guessing it was an electrical fault because there is nothing else that it could be,” he said.
“I think our insurance covers it no matters what – I don’t know for sure yet. We have forensic investigators coming in and checking things out before the insurance assessors come in tomorrow (Wednesday).
He said the cost of the damage was estimated to be running into the “millions and millions”.
“It is early days but from what we know the building will be condemned. This means that we will now have to start the difficult process of rebuilding,” he said.
He said he was in disbelief when a neighbour called him to let him know the news of the fire.
“It was a shock to start with, I thought ‘how can the church be on fire?’ … so we went straight down to see it – and it was on fire,” he said.
“I just had concern for our wider community because so many people use the church every day of the week in different ways – we have hundreds of people coming through the doors each day.
“My main concern is the hole it is has left in the community because the building is not there to be used.”
Because of all the memories the church community had made within its walls, he said most members were “just devastated and sad” over the incident.
“It’s only a building and no one was hurt which is great … the community are remaining positive,” he said.
“We are moving forwards not backwards.”
Christmas at Lifepointe is just one event of many that the church is looking to reshuffle.
READ MORE: Church vows ‘to rebuild from the ashes’ after fire
Lifepointe has been a part of the Sunshine Coast community for more than 25 years and also hosts playgroups, music groups, children’s group and clubs, youth clubs, young adult meetings, ladies’ craft group, a counselling centre and YWAM (Youth with a Mission).
“We are planning somewhere for our Sunday services and we are in negotiations at the movement about a bigger hall space for our Sunday services, so watch this space,” he said.
“We are looking for smaller halls where we can bring the community through the week for all our daily community events.”
The parish has started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the church “get going in the interim”, with nearly $20,000 already raised of the $50,000 target.
Pastor Greenbury thanked the community for the outpouring of support and generous donations.
“The financial support is helping to bridge the gap for our church family to continue moving forward while we await the insurance process,” he said.
“We just want to say thank you so much to everyone on the Sunshine Coast: the mayor, politicians, the community, other churches and organisations.
“So many people have contacted to say they will help us in any way they can, that shows we are part of the community and a community hub here on the Coast, and we’d have it no other way.”
The support received has been with things such as helping to get the Sunday service up and running, rental costs for community programs and essential equipment required for those programs, as well as services, kids’ and youth groups and relocating the church food pantry to continue supporting the community.
“We are positive and moving forward we will build something bigger and better for our community as soon as we can,” he said.
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