In 2022, when John David Mangrum and his team of elders sat down with the remaining congregants of First Church in Charlestown to discuss merging their historic church with Mangrum’s plant, only two women showed up, including 90-year-old Ms. Pat, who’d attended First Church for nearly a quarter of its 400-year history.
“Ms. Pat, what do we need to know? What do you need to know? What do we need to not touch? And do you want to do this?” Mangrum recalls asking her.
He knew he was entering holy—or at least historic—ground. The church was founded in 1632
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