WS Chronicle

Since the 1950s when the church was first founded, Galilee Missionary Baptist Church has been a trendsetter. They were the first church in the city to use bonds for building purposes, and they were the first Black church to have worship service televised. Although a lot has changed over the years, Galilee is still the innovators they were 70 years ago and soon they will be one of the first churches in Winston-Salem to invest in growing the housing stock. 

Here’s what we know: Before Galilee moved to its current location on Northampton Drive, the church was located at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and New Walkertown Road, the current location of the CVS Pharmacy. “I know a lot of people in the community know about the good church that was had when we were on the corner of MLK,” said Rev. Chad Armstrong, director of development and ministries. 

Although the church is no longer there, Galilee still owns the property as well as property located at the corner of E. 5th St. and Dunleith Ave. Up until 2022 the parcel at 5th and Dunleith was just trees, but after giving it a lot of thought, church leaders decided to develop the land to uplift their community, remove neighborhood blight, and make a difference in the growing housing crisis in the neighborhood where they started. 

According to ncImpact, which explores key issues on how citizens find impactful solutions to North Carolina’s challenges, statewide there is a shortage of over 200,000 affordable rental units. And a study completed in Winston-Salem in 2018 showed that there was a shortage of 16,000 affordable homes here. 

“Galilee had owned that property for about 25 years and it was just a grove of trees originally on that property,” Armstrong said. “Once we cut down the trees and got that land cleared out, we began to dream and do some survey scopes, and from there we started to dream about what does it look like for us to have a legacy and a lasting impact that also helps meet needs in the city.” 

Shortly after the land was cleared, Armstrong said they started having conversations with Fine Line Homes. After months of planning, Armstrong said they decided to build townhomes. In their plans for the project there’s a unique clause that ensures that the townhomes will never be sold to a big developer that can raise prices and make changes without taking into account the impact that can have on a family. “Because we didn’t want to sell to developers, we wrote in the plan to our church body that property would always be owned by Galilee, never be sold but always be a legacy project and not a revenue generating project.”

The plans brought to the members of Galilee included four three-bedroom, two-bath townhomes. Each of the townhomes are three stories and include a garage and a second level outdoor living space. Each of the townhomes will also have a decorative front window that will include pieces of stained glass from the original church.

Galilee broke ground on the project last summer and the townhomes are expected to be completed in March. While giving a presentation to the congregation last year, Chris Dolon, vice president of Fine Line Homes, said he’s excited about the partnership with Galilee. Dolon said he believes the project will be groundbreaking in several ways and create the blueprint for others to follow. 

“Our country is going through a fundamental shift in housing and Winston-Salem is not outside of that situation,” Dolon said. “The numbers from HUD show that by 2030, 60%  all single-family homes will be owned by companies or corporations and that is not the American Dream, and that’s not why I build houses … we have the chance to be a part of something at 5th and Dunleith … it’s an opportunity  to change the players in the game.

“We’re really excited to be able to work with Galilee to set a new precedent for our city.” 

Rev. Dr. Nathan Scovens, senior pastor at Galilee, said he’s a strong believer in not forgetting where you come from and the importance of investing in your own community and that’s exactly what the 5th and Dunleith project is about. 

“Invest in our own communities, that’s the only way they become stronger and better. We want people to know that we have a vested interest in the success of that community,” Scovens said 

While this is Galilee’s first housing project, Scovens said it most certainly won’t be the last. “We’re in conversations with entities throughout the city to expand,” Scovens said. 

“This was kind of an experiment for us to be able to then be able to dream about what is the larger scope of possibilities for us,” Armstrong said.