What does a quick look at the neighborhood tell you about the community surrounding this church?
Center-city church – directly in the middle of established, prominent names and places long-associated with the City of Wilmington. Tall steeple, colonial-looking brick structure with intentionally maintained historic features, including gold leaf weathervane and copper roof. Surrounded by businesses, with homes a few blocks away.
What does the building tell you about the culture of this church?
Building is well maintained, including historic features. Recent renovation has added ADA access to an entrance (including an automatic operator), and created an entirely new entryway off the primary parking area. The renovation also updated fellowship space to allow work camp mission trip use. Aside from fellowship, a renovated kitchen is intended to be used to teach cooking skills to kids aging out of foster care.
The renovations, especially, tell me that this congregation is attempting to spend/renovate into more missional building space. “Attempting” isn’t meant to be pejorative; rather, I am allowing that mission is a verb before it is a noun. Knowing that this congregation also allows extensive, daily use of the building by a range of local groups makes me hopeful that construction spending will live up to billing.
What do the material objects inside the church tell you?
The age of this church almost necessitates the fussy fixtures and accouterments I might expect. That is all certainly present – ornate trims, brass candlesticks, pillars, etc. are all characteristic (at least in my mind) of buildings of this vintage. The enormous pipe organ and choir space convey some value placed on traditional worship music.
Looking at the bulletin (if one is available inside the sanctuary), what do you learn about the symbols, rituals, worldview, tradition, and culture of this church?
The bulletin is clearly thoughtfully and carefully assembled. Order of worship, church news, denominational explanation, and other current events are features as one might expect. The format is typically Presbyterian in its organization and tidiness. However, the content is perhaps more upbeat and welcoming that the formal surroundings might suggest.
I would add that the website breathes some un-fussy life into this mix; the pictures capture a somewhat diverse congregation worshiping and fellowshipping together. This provides a welcome contrast to the otherwise stuffy interior of the building. The website is also effective in conveying a more youthful presence than the physical plant might portray.