Jason Miller laughs when asked about comparisons to the ancient Israelites of the Bible, who wandered for years looking for their homeland.
Miller is pastor of South Bend City Church and his congregation has done a lot of moving recently, going from various locations in 2016 to holding services in a former Studebaker buildingnear downtown.
“Wandering is a big spiritual theme in scripture,” Miller said. “And sometimes something really good gets forged in a community when you have to wander a bit and improvise and I think that’s been good for us.”
But soon the non-denominational Christian church will have a new home in another iconic local landmark when it takes over the former printing press building of the South Bend Tribune.
City church bought the building from Schurz Communications, the former owner of The Tribune, last year for $1 million. Now the church is looking to put an additional $4.5 million into the space through a combination of donations and a mortgage.
“We wanted to be in the heart of the city, this gives us a chance to do that,” Miller said.
Miller added that helping revitalize an older building was something the community enjoyed with Studebaker and so they were happy to embark on that journey again.
The ground level, where the floor of the printing press used to be, will be the main space for church services and crews will add more windows to bring more light into the building. Eventually the worship space will move up to the second level of the plant, but that’s in phase two of the renovation.
Miller envisions the rest of the first floor including areas for kids to play and space for other community organizations.
Currently, crews are reconfiguring the building’s heating and air units to tone them down now that the building no longer houses heavy machinery.
That repair is one of the more practical reminders of the building’s former use, but Miller said he’s mindful of City Church continuing the newspaper’s legacy of helping South Bend residents see truth and understand their place in the world.
“A newspaper hopefully exists to amplify the truth and to tell important stories and help people understand the world and their place in it. And we sure hope that’s the business of a church,” said Miller.
Beyond continuing The Tribune’s legacy at the printing press, the church owning its own building will be a big step forward. Miller is hopeful of moving in by December. In the meantime, the church will continue at the Studebaker building on a month-to-month basis.
Even with the sale of the printing press, Schurz Communications still owns the building immediately to the south on Lafayette Street that housed the offices of The South Bend Tribune. Schurcz sold the paper in 2019 to Gatehouse, which then merged with Gannett.
Today The Tribune operates from another area in the Studebaker building in the renaissance district.
And old newspaper buildings being repurposed isn’t unique to South Bend. In Chicago, the former Chicago Tribune building is being converted into a casino — a significant change of pace from what Miller is doing in South Bend.
Ultimately Miller said City Church hopes the move to the printing press is beneficial both for their congregation and for the city overall.
“It just represents a whole lot of people who both love the city of South Bend and love their faith and want to see good things downtown,” Miller said. “Our big hope for this building is this feels like a contribution to the city of South Bend.”
