Walt Green stood at the corner of Sedgwick Street and California Avenue, contemplating the ruins of the Institutional Church of God in Christ, which went up in flames Sunday evening, January 25.

With a blue coat and hat, and in 20-degree weather, Green watched reporters from KDKA-TV set up their cameras and members of the Pittsburgh Fire Department arson investigation team poke through the ruins. The arches of the chapel were visible to the outside, and the roof was completely caved in. The attached offices and chambers were burned out. Piles of ash and blackened wood littered the ground around the building.

Green, a soft-spoken man who lives in the neighborhood and remembered the church being built in the 1950s, said that he thought it was arson.

“The fire burned so quick and was so big, it must have had help,” Green said.

As he watched, other members of the church and the surrounding community came out to watch and pay their respects to the neighborhood institution, which burned for two hours from 7 p.m. to around 9 p.m. Investigators are still not sure what caused the blaze.

Sharon Gans, the CEO and President of Children Youth Ministry and a member of the church, said that it was a blessing that church had been canceled for that evening, since services were supposed to have been going on when the fire started.

“We have to thank God because there are no casualties,” Gans said. “We can always replace that building. Because church is on our hearts and minds, and we will come back stronger than ever.”

Deacon James Sims has been a member of the church for 28 of his 89 years, and has helped maintain the building for decades. His care for the building reflects his faith, and he believes that the fire is part of God’s plan.

“I am not looking at this and seeing a ruin,” Sims said. “Because I know that anything that happens is in his plan.”