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PERRY TWP. -- Love thy neighbor and turn the other cheek -- Church at the Center members take that instruction of Christ to heart and senior pastor Tim Ginter said they've tried to be a good neighbor.
On Friday, he responded to recent stories about the noise complaints by a neighbor, Brian Bell, regarding their outdoor worship since the COVID-19 pandemic began and the neighbor's own actions during the church's Sunday services, such as firing a shotgun multiple times, running a boat motor, running a planer and blasting loud music.
"The situation grieves us. Through all the months of disturbance, the church has not retaliated and has made efforts to be a good neighbor," Ginter said.
A few weeks ago, he said the church's music level was decreased to where the sound can barely be heard at the front of the parking lot near the street, near the neighbor's property. On Friday, he checked with the sound personnel from the church to confirm that was still the case. He was told that last Sunday, the sound person stood near the street and could barely hear the service.
The Church at the Center has been on the property for the past five or six years and only started holding outdoor services in March when COVID-19 hit the area.
There hadn't been any issues up until that point.
The building can accommodate 80 people, but since they've been set up outside, the size of the flock has more than tripled, with 251 in attendance last Sunday.
People stay inside their cars and park in the lot, sort of like a drive-in movie, and can listen on their radio. When asked why they haven't moved back inside like other churches have with social distancing or increased the number of services to handle the larger numbers, Ginter said they would have to hold nine or ten separate services.
When asked about the growth of the church, he said "I believe it's not only because of the uniqueness but because people feel safe in their car and they don't want to go anywhere else."
He explained they tried to open the sanctuary up for five weeks and invited people inside with social distancing and staffing and only one person showed up for about 15 minutes.
"I would anticipate at some point when this is all over, we would go inside," he said.
In fact, the church has already been working on plans to erect a large new building in the spring, approximately 100 feet by 240 feet, at the back of the 3-acre property off of the parking lot, putting them even farther away from the neighbor and the street.
"We at Church at the Center are making every effort to provide a service for the hundreds of people in the area who are looking for strength and encouragement during this very difficult season and yet at the same time not offend our neighbors who may not agree with us," Ginter said. "We do take to heart the words of Christ who told us to love our neighbors and to turn the other cheek."
He added, "We're committed to the best of our ability to exercising our first amendment rights without disturbing our neighbors or violating the law."
The church had intended to install a 12-foot high sound barrier wall at the front of the property from the driveway extending south to the property line in an effort to bring peace to the situation, but when a permit was sought from Perry Township, members were told the zoning did not allow for a fence that high.
So instead, Ginter said unbeknownst to the neighbors and prior to the recent Perry Township meeting when Trustee Jim Armeni talked about the church's issues with the neighbor, members have been making plans to build a landscaped earthen mound at the front of the property. The mound will be 4 feet high and then arboretum trees he described as very dense will be planted on top to block the sound. He said the earthen mound had already been in discussions last week and they want it completed as soon as possible.
"We're moving forward as quickly as we can with these things," he said.
He pointed out that their service is only one hour, one day a week. When asked about the beeping of horns during the service, he said that will likely continue because that's the only way for the church members to express themselves from inside their vehicles.
Ginter also addressed the complaint about storm water drainage, saying this is the first the church has heard of this. He said when the parking lot was expanded, it was graded professionally in such a way that the water doesn't run toward the neighbor's property. He said the water drains into a creek along the side of the church property.