After engaging in what the Rev. Maria Hammons, interim pastor, characterized as a prolonged period of “prayerful discernment,” the congregation of Bethany Lutheran Church on Rolfe Square has decided to sell the building.

Uncertainty has surrounded the future of the building for months. Hammons said while the condition of the roof is a major worry, there are other structural issues that would require prohibitively expensive repairs. Damage to the bell tower is a source of significant concern, as is the general state of the structure and its façade.

Estimates for the work were “wide-ranging,” Hammons said, but apparently beyond the financial reach of a congregation that numbered as high as 90 parishioners for Easter but on average is closer to 60.

“It’s very expensive to make the repairs, but really for the church it was discernment,” she said. “A lot of churches are struggling.”

Discernment is held to be the equivalent of what in secular terms would be characterized as prioritizing, or choosing the best path to do the most good.

The future of Bethany contains “more options than a lot of people realize,” said Hammons, who added she was brought in last March and started in May. “I will stay on to see them through. I feel very privileged to be here, very much called.”

While she has “no idea where they might go,” the pastor said it’s possible Bethany might join with another congregation, although they will keep the cemetery no matter what else transpires. They have not as yet gotten a real estate broker or set a price for the building.

Hammons, who came to Bethany from St. Johns Lutheran Church in suburban Baltimore, said, “There’s a sadness about selling the building.”

The church has existed at Rolfe Square since September 1954.

As was typical of Rhode Island’s early Lutheran congregations, Swedish immigrants – many of whom lived in the Auburn section – were among the founders. They established Bethany in 1892.