By Peter Sorkin
Nearly 100 people attended the services at 39-50 Douglaston Parkway, which featured music from the choir and a reading of biblical passages.
Pastor Adrienne Hausch said she was overjoyed with the turnout and pointed out that the rebuilding of the church's interior tells only half the story.
“The soul of the church has never been redesigned,” said Hausch whose grandfather founded the church nearly nine decades ago. “We look forward to seeing the church thrive for another 85 years.”
The Community Church of Douglaston was organized in 1915 and was first dedicated in 1924, according to former church pastor John Meyer. Meyer, who had been the Community Church of Douglaston's pastor since 1972, retired in September.
He said the more than yearlong construction project yielded stunning hardwood floors and allowed for a complete replacement of the stain-glassed windows.
“It was good to have this done,” Meyer said. “We rebuilt this place from top to bottom. We took out the tiles and discovered this beautiful floor. It makes us all very proud and it helps us articulate a vision that we have.”
Meyer said the first official Community Church of Douglaston started in the basement of a store across the street from its current location in 1913. Two years later, the church moved its headquarters to 39-50 Douglaston Parkway.
Meyer said he and his former congregates wanted to keep the tradition of the old church alive, but noted he was fortunate that one of the benefits to the reconstruction was the installation of a new air- conditioning system which will help comfort the congregation during the summer.
Hausch, who has been serving the congregation of Douglaston since Meyer stepped down, said she felt she obligated to carry on the tradition founded by her grandfather, Rev. M. Eugene Flipse.
“This place is a combination of the past and the future coming together,” she said. “It's a new era but some things don't change.”
Hausch said a new generation of children is helping to strengthen ties with the Douglaston community and its church.
“We have over 60 children in our Sunday school,” she said. “It's wonderful. There is a new generation of children coming through now and we see these families coming in all the time. We know this church will be around for another 85 years.”
Meyer agreed.
“That feeling, the soul of this church, has always been in place,” he said. “It warms the heart to see this church filled. All we did was change the design, but the spirit remains.”
