New owner for Fayette City church

By Jose Negron

jnegron@yourmvi.com

The former Fayette City United Methodist Church building will soon be under new ownership. 

Shawn Davis, senior pastor of the Pillar of Faith Church in Clarksville, Pa., said the church, which features a number of Mon Valley residents in its congregation, acquired the facility for its work in the area. 

The building was donated to the Pillar of Faith Church by the Western Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church for $1. Davis said the church came to a final agreement to acquire it late last month and it is in the final stages of closing on the facility. 

“We’re very excited,” said Davis, who noted a few families who attend the church hail from Donora, Monessen and Charleroi. “(The United Methodist Church) really did us a great favor and sacrificed a lot.” 

The Mon Valley felt like a suitable area for the Pillar of Faith Church’s newest site considering the number of congregation members from the area. 

The church began work in the Valley in January 2019 when it held small group bible study sessions in Donora, Davis said. 

The congregation then went through the process of renting a few different places before the opportunity to obtain the Fayette City structure presented itself. 

“We felt like being able to purchase a second building was going to be a long ways off, but I reached out to the United Methodist Church about renting a facility,” Davis said. “They got back to me and explained they really don’t ever do that, and they decided to sell us the building.

“It is greatly appreciated because we were expecting it to be a couple of years down the road until we would be able to reasonably buy something. They were gracious enough, God opened the door for us and we were able to acquire that large building. We count that as a tremendous blessing from them and from God.” 

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