Family Baptist Church in Tulare to continue Sunday service after fire earlier this week

TULARE, Calif. (KFSN) -- 'Walking through the chaos' is how Samuel Gray, the senior pastor at Family Baptist Church in Tulare, describes this week, after the church caught fire on Monday morning, destroying the chapel and part of their offices that have been there since 1989.

"Through it we've seen God's hand, we have seen his graces, we have seen his preparations as we go through this. From a Monday morning shock to now it has just been a constant movement," explains Gray.

Moving forward with hope, Gray has seen the community, other churches and the California Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team have come together to help with basic needs.

RELATED: Fire breaks out at Family Baptist Church in Tulare

In the meantime, the latest service was held outdoors in the parking lot, keeping the spirit of their mission alive and helping parishioners hold on to hope through prayer.

"It's encouraging, and also it's just a reminder that God is in control," says Gray. "The church is the people and not the building. While the building has burned, the church has not, so we are just looking forward."

Meanwhile, the investigation by the Tulare City Fire Department continues.

It hopes to have a completed report of the cause of the fire within the next couple of weeks.

"We are fairly confident that this was not an intentionally set fire and we do believe that the fire originated inside of the church," explains Fire Marshall, Ryan Leonardo, with the City of Tulare.

The church will set up a temporary tent for Sunday services.

They will have a bilingual service on Sunday at 11 o'clock, in English and in Spanish.

The community is welcome to come.

For more information, you can visit their website here.