The Augusta Chronicle had this to say the Saturday before Greene Street Presbyterian Church opened:
"The first service will be held in the Greene street Presbyterian church tomorrow morning ... The edifice is one of the handsomest little churches in the city, and will stand as a monument to those who have labored for it.
"The building is one of the neatest in the city. It will seat about 400 people and the seats are on an incline, which will make it very convenient for those people in the rear of the church to see the pulpit.
"The east window ... is of beautifully colored glass and neatly designed. The pews in the church are of mahogany and are very comfortable. ... There has been plenty of time taken in the erection of the church, which is perfect in detail."
That article ran Aug. 25, 1906, under a headline that called Greene Street Presbyterian "A MODEL IN BEAUTY."
The church opened with 66 members that Sunday.
It closed last month with just a dozen.
In May, the Northeast Georgia Presbytery decided the church should close and appointed a commission to determine the property's future. The small congregation could no longer afford to maintain the historic property.
Greene Street held its last service June 1.
"It was a small group, but it was a beautiful service," said the Rev. Ed Rees, the pastor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. He was selected to head the commission that eventually will share its recommendation with the Presbytery.
"It's not a quick process. It's a very serious matter that affects both the church and the community," General Presbyter Ken Meeks said.
It's too soon to say whether the property will be sold or rented to another church, the Rev. Rees said.
"What will happen now, we don't know," he said. "But we have this conviction that God is not finished with this place."
There has been talk of closing Greene Street for at least two years.
Under the Rev. Mark Deaton, the church renovated and upgraded the building's roof, plumbing and electrical service.
But eventually those renovations, and the ongoing outreach, especially to the community's homeless, drained church finances, the Rev. Rees said.
The church is in need of repair. Plaster is chipping in places, leaving wall frames exposed.
"There's a lot that needs to be done," he said. "But there's a lot of potential here, too."
The Rev. Rees says Greene Street was ahead of its time when it was built, as seen by the stadium-seating arrangement of pews and the sanctuary's acoustics.
"The acoustics are awesome. I can whisper," he whispered, "and everybody in this room could hear me."
The stained-glass windows described in 1906 still exist.
"When the light comes in those windows, it feels like God's coming in and sitting right next to you," the Rev. Rees said, seated in the pews a few weeks after Greene Street's last service.
"Closing a church is an extremely painful decision to make," he said. "People were baptized here. People were married here. But there just wasn't the money."
The church's baptismal font still sat in the corner, although a piano and most of the Bibles had been moved. Below the communion table stripped bare, a penny had been left in a stack of dusty offering plates.
Reach Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.
THE CHURCH'S PAST
MAY 8, 1879: The Second Presbyterian Church is organized by the Presbytery of Augusta.
1906: The congregation dedicates a new facility on Greene Street in 1906 and the church is renamed.
1945: The church expands with the addition of an education building, known as the Marvin MacFerrin Memorial Wing.
LATE 1960s: The congregation begins a study on the future of the church. Within the next decade, the John C. Calhoun Expressway is built "in the church's front yard," the Rev. Ed Rees said.
SEPTEMBER 1974: Predicting Greene Street would close, some members decide to build a new church on Wheeler Road, named Greene Street Presbyterian Church West.
JAN. 14, 1979: The Wheeler Road church opens. Membership at the downtown church drops below 100.
JAN. 1, 1991: The two churches are officially divided, and the Wheeler Road congregation is renamed St. Andrew Presbyterian Church.
JUNE 1, 2008: Greene Street closes its doors after its last service.
WHAT ABOUT GAP MINISTRIES?
In 1979, GAP Ministries opened to provide downtown residents with spiritual and financial assistance, said Elaine Lea, chairwoman of the GAP board of directors.
The ministry is currently housed inside Greene Street Presbyterian Church and has continued to operate there since the church closed.
Ms. Lea says the ministry's future, too, is in flux, but the ministry would like to stay in its current home.
"The location is a huge positive for GAP," the Rev. Ed Rees said. "When people come here, it's a church, not a storefront, so it's helping their spiritual lives, too."
The ministry is open three days a week to provide financial assistance for certain bills and runs a food pantry and summer camp, among other programs.
"We're fortunate because the church has said it really wants the ministry to go on," Ms. Lea said. "They could have just closed and locked the doors. They didn't."
THE CHURCH'S FUTURE
A commission has been appointed to decide the future of Greene Street Presbyterian Church.
The group of seven people will meet monthly until a decision has been made. It has no deadline to dispose of the property and has yet to lean toward a single decision.
Plans are in the works for a celebration of Greene Street's history and ministry. The event has tentatively been set for 3 p.m. Oct. 19.
"We hope to invite anybody who has ever had anything to do with the church," the Rev. Rees said.
Call (706) 736-4575 for more information.
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