A Local Church Catches On Fire, Arson Is Suspected

BELDEN, Miss. (WCBI)- Imagine arriving for church service on a Sunday morning for praise and worship, only to smell smoke coming from inside one of the rooms and seeing the building vandalized.

That was the reality for members at Belden United Methodist Church this past Sunday.

Investigators said a Molotov cocktail was thrown inside the building.

Tupelo Police and Fire departments are suspecting it to be arson, now an investigation is underway.

“The devastating part, in my own opinion, is not the fact that they would do something to a place of worship, but it’s that in their own mind, where is the moral standard,” said Pastor Joshua Hopkins of Belden United Methodist Church.

Pastor Hopkins said someone threw the Molotov cocktail through a window inside the church’s storage room.

When he walked into the room to view the damage, Hopkins said he saw a busted window, carpet burns, and debris every where.

“I was floored to be honest with you,” the pastor recalled. “When we first walked in it was almost like that state of unbelief until I looked up and looked kind of around and saw that the things that were back there were melted all the way down, and then seeing the bottle on the ground and the whole in the window. Just to know that it was an arson atempt, I think that was more shocking and scary than it was anything else.”

Hopkins believe the incident happened last Thursday, however, he didn’t discover the damage until after church service on Sunday afternoon.

“After our services we typically go in the back and we have our records back there,” said Hopkins. “As things were turned in, one of the parishioners came to me and said that he smelled something like an electrical fire. I went in the back and I started smelling it, and as we got closer to the door and the door was open, we realized that it’s not an electrical fire, but that it’s an arson attempt on my churchh.”

The fire only caused damage to the storage room.

Hopkins admits this is a devastating blow to his church, but he’s thankful that no one was injured.

The pastor also expressed he’s already found it in his heart to forgive whoever is responsible for this act.

“As far as the community is concerned and anybody watching this, I just wanted to kind of say, yes we could use your prayers, but the people that need your prayers the most are the ones who actually committed this crime,” Hopkins expressed. “They’re the farthest away from the lord. It’s our job to make sure that people like that have a safe haven.”

So far no arrests have been made in this case.

Tupelo Police and Fire investigators are continuing to investigate this crime.

If you have any information on this incident, you’re asked to contact TPD or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi.

Hopkins said a Molotov cocktail was also thrown inside of a christian school just down the road from the church.

However, investigators have not determined if the two are related.