Massachusetts fire that destroyed church on Easter being investigated as arson, FBI says

Massachusetts authorities are investigating a fire that tore through a church on Easter Sunday as an act of arson, officials said this week.

The blaze at the Faith Lutheran Church/Eritrean Evangelical Church in Cambridge broke out on April 9 around 5:30 p.m. The six-alarm fire quickly spread and was finally extinguished at 4 a.m. the next day, the FBI said. 

The FBI, Massachusetts State Police and other law enforcement agencies on Tuesday asked the public for information on the blaze, as well as photos and videos of the church.

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“We are keenly aware that any place of worship is a cornerstone of the community, and we want to reassure residents that we’re approaching this case with the seriousness and gravity that it deserves,” officials wrote in a joint statement.

“No piece of information is too small to share,” the statement continued.

The Rev. Robin Lutjohann, the church’s pastor, said the building was empty at the time. He called the fire “heartbreaking.”

“It is a place that is loved by the community,” Lutjohann told WHDH-TV. “There’s a sign in front of the building, a banner that we’ve put up there, ever since COVID, during the season of Easter, which says, ‘We will rise.’ And we will.”