Staff writer
Jay Plank of Ramona recently purchased the Lincolnville United Methodist Church building from the church conference. The congregation disbanded in May.
“I want to keep the building there,” Plank said.
He and his son, Justin, are continuing work to restore and preserve the Rosebank Brethren in Christ Church building northwest of Ramona, which he purchased last winter.
“The Lincolnville church building is older than Rosebank,” Plank said. “It is 120 years old, but it doesn’t have a basement and will be easier to keep up.”
Plank is hoping that someone in the Lincolnville area would explore establishing a nondenominational church there.
He has had a furnace repaired and plans to have a roof leak fixed. He also plans to paint the building in spring.
“I’m kind of a caretaker,” Plank said.
Former church member Clay Simons of Lincolnville said he does not know what the future holds for the building, but he is glad it will be preserved and will not become a rundown storage facility.
Simons said a fundraising campaign to ship some of the church furniture to a former pastor’s church in Zimbabwe, Africa, has been successful.
The pews, pulpit, platform chairs, and a big wooden cross will be shipped to Zimbabwe sometime in the future.