A Pentecostal church that once laid in ashy ruins in Fordham Heights has been restored. And while it’s been nearly seven years since a fire tore through the church, for Bishop Ronald L. Bailey, the hope of returning home was worth the wait.

For Bailey, Love Gospel Assembly church’s commitment to the Bronx laid on firm ground and was forecast by the church’s late founder, Gerald Kaufman.

“[H]e prophesized that if we stay, God would stay; God will restore the Bronx and that we will literally see the bricks come back to his building,” Bailey said in an interview with the Norwood News from the church’s newly restored lower level.

So begins the journey to engage members of the church to reconsider joining again. Officials have now organized a Jan. 21 procession to rededicate the church to God, and tell followers who have left the church to come back. Bailey has spotted prior members from time to time, and tells them it’s okay to come “back home,” no questions asked. “This is the church they got saved in, this is the church they grew up in, this is the church that sometimes their parents came to, and we want them to know it’s homecoming,” Bailey said.

To see the multi-cultural church restored to its full glory would leave many thinking a four-alarm fire never tore through the three-story building on the Grand Concourse at East 183rd Street on July 25, 2010. Bailey was at home when he received the phone call explaining that the church went ablaze, gutted by a rush of waters that extinguished a fireball of flames. A portion of the roof also collapsed.

“This thing was in shambles. It was a wreck,” Bailey said.

The top-down renovations cost some $2 million, with restorations to its auditorium-like first floor, complete with pristine blue suede carpeting, a rebuilt balcony and an upgraded and audio-visual system. The church has been opened, though the New York City Buildings Department had only given the basement clearance to open, according to Bailey. Last month, the Buildings Department returned and lifted a vacate order on the first floor.

Finding the funds to rebuild meant sacrifices for the church. That included the selling of its adjacent property. While the church was being rebuilt, the organization became somewhat nomadic, moving from place to place. The accommodations were always pleasant, but Bailey always reminded himself that it wasn’t home.

In one tenure, the church found a room at MS 399, but were soon forced out after a state judge ruled church groups cannot practice in schools, regardless if they’re empty. The ruling has been upheld numerous times.

“God had given me a word and it became a mantra for us,” Bailey recalled. “It was that every setback only comes that we will take a step back so we can make a comeback, and that was our mantra.”

With no regular house of worship, the church’s signature events were put on hold. That included the Love Kitchen, where church members feed the poor with humility and dignity two times a day. Bailey has longed for the days when he and his flock could give back.

But why stay? The church could have moved anywhere else, but its mission to help the impoverished in Fordham Heights remains a hallmark born from when it first opened its doors in 1970.

“We feel that the work is going to get started,” Bailey said.

Editor’s Note: Love Gospel Assembly is located at 2323 Grand Concourse at the corner of East 183rd Street.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.