City's oldest church unveils major building project

New Bern’s oldest church added a new chapter Sunday with the unveiling of a $6.4 million additions and renovations project that has been in the works for years.

Christ Church, a downtown historic landmark dating to 1715, opened the new facilities to its congregation after All Saints Day services.

It includes a renovated parish house, new classrooms and a suite of offices, an educational building and a small chapel with a balcony.f

“There is lot of joy, and relief that we have it finished,” said Rector Pete Stube, after he and visiting Bishop Clifton Daniel led church members on a tour to bless each room. “There is great joy, because from what I am hearing is that it is beyond our wildest dreams as far as beauty and functionality. We hope that the ministries that have been part of this place for generations will blossom here.”

He said continued growth of the nearly 1,000-member Episcopal congregation made a need for more classrooms, offices and work space.

Stube said the plans for the expansion dated 16 years, but were dormant for a time, then revived about six years ago.

“We did a capital campaign and raised most of the money,” he said. “We’ll see once all the pledges are in whether we break even or not. We’re awfully close.”

He said the church was “awfully close” to not having any debt.

“Our goal at the outset was not to handicap our ministry, which would have happened if we were servicing a big debt,” Stube said.

He said “50 years of deferred maintenance was one of the reasons for the project. For instance, an old building close to being condemned was torn down and the new chapel, with a two-story ceiling,  is in its place. A large stained glass window in its original brick makes up one wall of the chapel. It is also viewable on the other side from the main sanctuary above the high altar.

The project has a lot of local hands involved, including a hand-built altar table for the new chapel, a labor of many months by member Ronald Wallace. Wallace, a career educator who does woodworking  as a hobby, said he worked day and night to complete the table.

“This (project) is fabulous, beautiful,  and it pulls the whole church together. It has been a blessing to have such good people to work with.”

The project architect is not a Christ Church member, but is a New Bernian. Charles Francis said nearly three years of design work was involved, with a number of challenges at the site.

“One of the biggest challenges was trying to construct the project in a very constrained space,” he said. The Christ Church property is next to a parking lot behind it and Middle Street to one side. 

“Once we met that goal, the challenge was to see that the construction was appropriate to the existing buildings,” he added.

One of the modern additions is an elevator to the second floor, making the new facility handicapped accessible.

The church celebrates its 300^th anniversary in 2015.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com.