VIRGINIA BEACH — Someone driving early on a May morning in rural Virginia Beach hit a couple of mailboxes along Princess Anne Road before crashing into the illuminated sign in front of Bethel United Methodist Church on the other side of the road.
They apparently took off toward the south, leaving behind a driver’s side mirror and a sign damaged beyond repair.
Now the church is stuck figuring out how to replace its sign, and this small, country house of worship is appealing to the wider community so it can raise funds. Bethel, which has roots in the community that reach back into the 1800s, has about 13 people in its congregation.
The Rev. Barbara St. Jean, the pastor there, said replacing the sign will cost about $4,500. There have been a couple of donations, and she hopes more people will answer the call for help. Insurance won’t cover it.
“We have a $5,000 deductible,” St. Jean said during an interview this past week. “The sign is going to be $500 under that. If we can get some help financially from the community, that’s going to help keep this little church going.”
The southern Virginia Beach community has answered the call to help Bethel before.
Via email, St. Jean wrote about a 1947 fire which burned the church down. The church then had some – but very little – insurance money but also gifts from the community and proceeds from the potato harvest, she wrote via email. Church members wrote to their friends to close a gap in their funding at the time, according to the book Glimpses of Down-County History: Southern Princess Anne County.
Now, donations can be made, written to the church and with a memo that the gift is for the sign, by mail to Bethel United Methodist Church, 465 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23457.
The sign is part of the ministry. It holds up messages to reach passersby.
“Whatever they’ve been going through on that particular day or week,” St. Jean said, “they see the sign, and that touches their life.”
The congregation is keeping the faith and hoping for help, and the damaged sign still offers an invitation to those who drive along Princess Anne Road.
“Sign broken,” it read this past week. “Come inside for message.”
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