Sanford church seeks community help after fire, insurance loss

Sanford’s Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church is worshipping in its educational building next door after a March 18 fire heavily damaged the historic Orange Avenue sanctuary, and the rebuilding bill is already stretching beyond the congregation’s reach. Roof, flooring, pews and drywall all took damage, while the church also lost its insurance coverage late last year after more than 40 years with the same insurer.

Pastor Michael Griffin said the church launched a GoFundMe campaign with a $100,000 goal, but that figure is only a starting point. Labor and materials will push the final cost higher, and the congregation is now leaning on donations instead of an insurance payout to restore the building at 710 Orange Avenue.

The fire began around 4:30 a.m., when a man walking his dog saw flames and smoke coming from the church and called 911. No injuries were reported, and Sanford police said the cause remained under investigation. Senior usher and financial assistant Patricia Phelps said she saw flames coming from the roof as multiple fire trucks worked to get the blaze under control.

Even before the cleanup is finished, the church is trying to keep worship going. Services moved to the educational building next door, and other churches have offered space while Zion Hope rebuilds. Younger members also helped get the fundraiser online, and early donations had already topped $10,000, a sign that support is arriving quickly but still far short of the full recovery need.

For Zion Hope, the loss reaches well beyond one building. The church traces its roots to June 9, 1888, when it began in a brush arbor under Reverend Wash Levingston in Sanford’s Georgetown community. Historical records say the congregation’s first settled pastor was Reverend Joe Richards, and early services were held in an old horse stable on Mellonville Avenue from 1888 to 1890 before the church moved to East Fifth Street and Locust Avenue and later to Orange Avenue. The current concrete, stone-block building was constructed in 1926 under Reverend Hardy Wesley Williams.

Zion Hope also carries a direct link to Sanford and Black history through Reverend John Hurston, father of author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. Florida Memory says Hurston pastored Zion Hope for 17 years and in 1910 led a congregation of about 200. That history now adds weight to a practical question facing Sanford and Seminole County: whether community giving can match the scale of what a century-old Black church has lost.