TRURO — Alarm over the impending eviction of the mostly Jamaican congregation that meets at Truro’s Chapel on the Pond coalesced into a community meeting last weekend, as neighbors, preservationists, and members of Outer Cape faith communities gathered to brainstorm options.

About 25 people met at the chapel, at 17 Pond Road, to share ideas on Sunday. They included Pastor David Brown, leader of the congregation of about 50; members of Provincetown’s Unitarian Universalist church; neighbors who helped preserve nearby Pilgrim Pond; and Fred Gaechter, chair of the Truro Conservation Trust.

The chapel and the quarter-acre lot on which it sits are owned by Bob and Kathy Valleau, retired evangelists based in Vail, Colo. who recently returned from a multi-year yacht-based ministry trip in the Mediterranean.

They first announced their intention to close the chapel in January, when they told Pastor Brown they planned to “prayerfully repurpose” the property. They subsequently told Brown and the Independent that they were not sure exactly what that might entail.

In February, however, they told Brown that his congregation needed to vacate the property by March 31 because it would be listed for sale on April 1. The asking price will be more than $1.5 million, the Valleaus have told people who have inquired on the congregation’s behalf.

Sunday’s meeting, led by Brown and Kate Wallace Rogers, a Unitarian Universalist parishioner in Provincetown, focused on launching an effort to acquire the property.

“The reason we’re here this evening is to talk about what we can do, where we can go from here, to make it possible for us to worship in a place that we call home,” Brown said at the start of the meeting. “I’m excited to know that I’m not alone.”

“The Jamaican community has shown up very strongly to help maintain the businesses on the Outer Cape, especially during the pandemic, when businesses had very few workers,” Wallace Rogers said.

“It’s my understanding that as we intend to make reparations to restore the equilibrium of justice and privilege,” she continued, “that this would be a fabulous step in the right direction to support a community that relies on this beautiful and historic building.”

The Rev. Kate Wilkinson, senior minister of Provincetown’s Unitarian church, was seated up front. “My dream is that it could remain a chapel, and my other dream is that Pastor Brown and his congregation could securely call it home for the foreseeable future,” she said. “Let’s get a group of people together to buy it.”

No Early Offers

Several Outer Cape venues, including Truro Central School, the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, and other churches have been offered to Brown for holding services. But Brown said it’s important to the congregation to have a place that is home. He has been wondering whether it would be possible to crowd-source enough money to buy the chapel.

Wallace Rogers said she had reached out to the Valleaus about the possibility of putting an early offer on the chapel. She eventually received a text message from Bob Valleau ruling out that possibility.

“We would be delighted to receive your offer when the property is listed,” Valleau wrote to Wallace Rogers. “It is certainly not final, but we believe the listing price will be over $1.5 million just to give a preliminary indication. We thank you for your interest.”

Barbara Wojcik, a Truro real estate broker who sometimes worships at the chapel, also reached out to the Valleaus about putting an early offer on the property and received the same reply.

To many people at Sunday’s meeting, the Valleaus’ refusal to consider an early offer was puzzling at best, wounding at worst.

“We’re getting a strong sense that they don’t want to be lured into a conversation about a higher purpose or anything beyond a strict financial arrangement,” Wallace Rogers said.

“Strategically, economics would dictate that you don’t know the full value until you put it on the open market,” Wojcik said. “This is free-market capitalism.”

The Valleaus purchased 17 Pond Road in January 2009 for $385,000, according to town assessor’s records. Wojcik said she first attended services at the chapel that November.

A different pastor was leading services from 2009 to 2013, Wojcik said. She joined a congregation in Dennis Port, though she occasionally returned to the Chapel on the Pond after Pastor Brown began conducting services in 2017.

The church had about five parishioners when Brown took over, Wojcik said. He has grown the parish to more than 50.

Wojcik said she found the Valleaus’ actions confounding.

“It sounds like they’re not going to give any preference to the current congregation, and that’s up to them,” she said. But “if they’re stating they are determined to repurpose the building, that means it’s not going to be used as a chapel.”

Wojcik wondered if the Valleaus would prefer nonreligious buyers if their offer was only slightly above the congregation’s best effort. How could a “prayerful repurpose” result in such an outcome, she asked.

Karen Clarke, a member of Brown’s congregation, said that in the seven years since he had run services there, “we have been doing our offerings week after week. We have no idea how much tithe and offering has been collected.”

Pastor Brown said that the congregation did not keep its own financial records, instead passing the money to Robin Mclellan, a director of the nonprofit Boathouse Ministries, who collected it after every church service.

According to Boathouse Ministries’ IRS 990 tax forms, which are public records, the group brought in $21,309 in contributions in 2022 — its only revenue — and paid Mclellan $7,700. The group also claimed an $11,300 expense for “preacher honorariums” on its Schedule O form.

In 2021, Boathouse reported $13,350 in preacher honorariums, $6,400 for Mclellan’s compensation, and $41,931 in total contributions.

Mclellan did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Bob and Kathy Valleau each did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including specific questions about the chapel’s financial records.

Paths Forward

Clarke said she has not given up hope that her congregation will be able to continue worshipping in the chapel.

“My prayer is for God to give them a heart that they could rent us this property, or even give us this property,” Clarke said of the Valleaus. “We have put a lot in. We are not a rich congregation.”

Ellynne Skove, a neighbor who had been involved in the Pilgrim Pond preservation effort, said that community members in Truro might be able to help raise money.

“There’s money in this neighborhood” that goes toward preservation, Skove said, “not just toward creating huge monstrosity buildings.”

Skove said she had a “very practical” question: would the congregation be able to handle the chapel’s maintenance costs and repairs?

“Absolutely,” Brown said, to which Skove said, “Amen.”

Fred Gaechter, chair of the Truro Conservation Trust, said he planned to discuss the property with his board at its meeting on Feb. 21, after the Independent’s deadline this week.

Gaechter told the Independent that, speaking as an individual and not for the trust, he believes “a community needs a church.” He added that his hope was “to partner in this project as best we can, bring the representation that the trust has in town, and see if we can help with coordinating some of the fundraising.”

Wojcik said she hoped that the trust would “acquire the chapel and hold it as a trust property,” allowing the congregation to continue using it.

Interested parties will gather at the chapel again on Saturday, Feb. 24, and will likely continue to convene weekly, Wallace Rogers said. “We are hoping for miracles,” she added.

After the meeting, Brown told the Independent that he felt “somewhat hopeful.”

“I’m happy the community came in such great numbers and supported the cause,” he said.

Of the Valleaus, he said, “I hope that their hearts will be open.”