Faith Presbyterian ready to build new Indian Land Church

Faith Presbyterian Church in Indian Land will break ground May 15 on a permanent church building at the former site of the historic Six Mile Creek Presbyterian Church, a building some 175 years old.

Church activities take place in the old Six Mile building, except for Sunday morning worship, which is located at the Indian Land Recreation Center.

The land, owned by Providence Presbytery – the church’s governing body – was given to Faith at the time of the church’s inception in 2007.

“That’s one of the factors that led us to Indian Land, all the rooftops coming up and that we had this property already sitting here,” said Faith Presbyterian pastor David Bender.

“We’re excited to continue to bring life to this property that has held church life since the 1830s.”

Congregants are excited about having a place of their own to worship, he said.

“Way back when we started, I thought about putting a church sign (on Shelly Mullis Road,) but I did not know which way to point the arrow,” Bender said, a problem he hopes will be fixed by year’s end.

“It would be wonderful to be in (the new building) Christmas Eve, or before,” he said.

But though the permanent building will feature 8,000 square feet of mixed use worship and fellowship space, the historic building will remain an integral part of church life.

“We’ve continued to treat it like part of what we’re going to use for a good long time,” Bender said. “It’s become important to us.”

Recent renovations to the historic church include foundation support, rebuilding and preserving window frames, reinforcing floors and repairing and painting original concrete columns. Upcoming repair and preservation projects include repairing the stone fence adjacent to the cemetery and continued restoration of the wood, brick and brick mortar.

The groundbreaking is the first phase of construction. The second phase will include additional mixed use fellowship and classroom space.

Some 120 church members will caravan to the groundbreaking site, at the intersection of S.C. 521 and Van Wyck Road, immediately following Sunday morning worship.

“The weather needs to be good that day,” Bender said.

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 9:48 AM with the headline "Faith Presbyterian ready to build new Indian Land Church."