The man was homeless and hungry.
And the Rev. Tom Gerstenlauer had what the man from South Akron’s Summit Lake neighborhood wanted: a few cans of beef stew.
The man knocked on the door of the Miller Avenue United Church of Christ on a recent morning, and Gerstenlauer did what he has been doing the last six years.
He gave him food.
“We abide by Isaiah 58: Feed the hungry and clothe the naked,” the pastor said.
Gerstenlauer, 59, is the pastor of the church on Edison Avenue just a few doors from Miller Avenue.
Like the man at the door, the church also depends on the generosity of others.
The church has three primary partners who help keep the lights on and doors open.
The Trinity United Church of Christ in Wadsworth, First Congregational Church of Hudson and the Bath Church — UCC, together help cover about 75 percent of the church’s $85,000 annual budget. The Fairlawn West United Church of Christ in Akron, which has been a financial supporter of the church in the past, is expected to vote soon over whether to also become an official partner.
The church traces its history back to 1905 as the Miller Avenue Reformed Church — a time when the rubber industry around Firestone was in its infancy.
The original church building, where the parking lot now exists, was torn down and a new building was built in the 1970s. The move came as many church members were leaving for suburban churches.
On a recent Sunday, 29 people were in the pews — not including the church organist and Gerstenlauer.
The Summit Lake neighborhood the church serves has suffered a severe economic decline. Many homes in the neighborhood have already been demolished by the city and still others sit vacant.
The church works to offer refuge for the people of the neighborhood offering free meals each month thanks to food served by its partner churches and others by the Good Samaritan Hunger Center.
The church also has an emergency pantry, located just a few yards away from where a sandal- and robe-wearing Gerstenlauer preaches on Sundays.
The church is also home to a 12-step group, a men’s Bible study group, along with a Vacation Bible School in the summer. On Monday, it held its first Martin Luther King Jr. Day event.
About 20 children from the neighborhood made crafts with volunteers, including neighborhood residents and members of the Kent United Church of Christ, who made and served lunch for the event.
“Loving God, we your children come together in this place today to honor and celebrate the memory of one of the modern prophets of our time, Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Gerstenlauer said in grace given before the meal.
Gerstenlauer’s path to become a minister took a circuitous route as he spent more than two decades working in the trucking industry. But the seed was planted early. He wrote in his high school yearbook in Providence, R.I., that he wanted to become a minister.
His career switch to ordination brought him to the Chicago Theological Seminary. He served Trinity UCC in Canal Fulton for three years before taking on the challenge of the Miller Avenue church.
The decision for the church to seek partner churches came just as the church was set to close more than six years ago, Gerstenlauer said.
Other churches, Gerstenlauer said, have also helped out, including former partner Bethany UCC in Cuyahoga Falls, the Chapel, South Street Ministries, the Arlington Church of God, the Catholic Worker, the Summit Lake Neighborhood Association, Truly Reaching You and many other groups and individuals.
“We have become a core place in the community where people can gather and have some sense of security and stability and safety and food is a big part of the attraction,” he said.
The Rev. Daniel J. Doty, senior pastor of Trinity UCC in Wadsworth, said one of the reasons the church got involved with Miller Avenue is “the world is our neighborhood and we at Trinity church strive to live up to our mission statement that ‘Trinity Church exists to share the love of God within our community and beyond.’ ”
The Rev. Peter M. Wiley, senior pastor of the First Congregational Church of Hudson, echoes the sentiment as the partnership is “not so much an opportunity for us to have a presence but we really need to be connected to missions like this. It is a huge blessing on us to find commonality that we share with the people in this neighborhood.”
The Rev. David Loar, pastor of Fairlawn West UCC, said the more-than-century-old church is clearly a spiritual center for the neighborhood.
“The makeup of the congregation has changed a lot over that time, but central gathering to worship God in Jesus Christ has been the most consistent of its practice of mission for all these years,” he said.
The Rev. Richard Plant, associate association minister with the East Ohio Association of the United Church of Christ, said the Cleveland-based UCC “has a long history of compassion and advocacy for those who are marginalized and most in need.”
Duane Crabbs, who heads South Street Ministries, which serves the Summit Lake area as well, said Gerstenlauer “has done a great job of befriending people in the community.”
Gerstenlauer drove to East Akron before a recent Sunday morning service to pick up Linda Martin, 48, a former resident of the neighborhood, so she could attend the service.
“It gives me hope in the spirit,” Martin said of the church.
Also in the pews were sisters Gwen Jones, 88, of Lake Township, and her sister Dolores Capple, 86, of Hartville, who both were baptized in the church and have remained life members.
“It is a wonderful thing,” Jones said.
Vanessa Boring, the church’s janitor, has been attending services for nearly three decades.
“It is a church within a community,” she said.
To contact Gerstenlauer, email revtgerst@gmail.com or call 330-854-4354 or 330-253-2324. The church’s website is www.milleraveucc.org.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
