The church pastor, Reverend Theodore Stanback, surveyed the damage on the third floor of the New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church.
Sunday School is normally held in the classrooms that are now in ruins.
"There's a lot of water damage, a lot of windows out that have to be repaired," he told Action News, "and we have to place our roof back together."
The pastor received a call about the fire Monday morning, not long after the blaze broke out around 5:30 a.m. in the 6200 block of North 7th Street.
Firefighters arrived to smoke billowing from the roof. It took about 30 minutes to place the fire under control.
"The fire marshal indicated that there was a chimney fire that caused the whole situation," said Rev. Stanback.
A Ukrainian congregation also uses the church. The sanctuary wasn't damaged. Reverend Stanback said the third floor classrooms bore the brunt.
Now the Pastor's attention has turned to how to restore this building. He explains the church will have pay out of pocket for the damage since its insurance payments were delinquent.
"The cost of the damage here hasn't yet been tallied," he said, "but members of the church here have faith they will land on their feet."
