A new Vicksburg church is meeting at Beechwood Elementary School on Mississippi 27.

Elevate Church, a nondenominational group of worshipers who previously were part of Crosspoint/ First Methodist Protestant on Porters Chapel Road, has been meeting at the elementary school since July 15, said Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Swinford.

After parting ways with their former church, the group met for several weeks at Goldie’s Trail Bar-B-Q, Pastor Robert Andrews said.

“We feel like God called us to start a new church,” Andrews said. “We had to meet at Goldie’s until we finished the paperwork so that we could use the school. We’re going to be portable for right now.”

About 125 people regularly attend, Andrews said.

Swinford said the district’s allowance of the group was neither against the law nor a departure from board policy, which allows civic and religious organizations to use school district facilities as long as they follow proper procedures, which includes filing a use-of-school-facility application.

An application is turned in to a school principal and then sent to the superintendent’s office.

“Community members did a formal request for use of our facilities for July 15 through November 15 on Sunday mornings,” Swinford said. “The schools are the taxpayers’ money, so it’s open for them to use them as long as it’s within the law.”

Swinford said VWSD Board of Trustees Attorney Briggs Hopson III told her that as long as any other denomination or religious group followed the same procedure and was approved, the school district would not be violating any laws concerning public facilities and religious preference.

Jan Schaefer, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Attorney General’s office, confirmed the district’s decision.

She said state law allows the school board to authorize a policy that allows the use of school property for public meetings and gatherings. Schaefer cited a similar use of school property by a church in Webb, Miss.

Swinford said any group could use the facilities under similar conditions.

“I wouldn’t make a differentiation between Catholic, Muslim, Methodist or Hindu or any other denomination,” Swinford said. “At the end of the day, you have a group in town that needed a place to work and worship.”

The church rents Beechwood’s gym, on Mississippi 27 across from Warren Central High School, on Sunday mornings for $100 a day. Church representatives also signed a waiver preventing the district from liability concerns. The agreement also allows the district to revoke the contract if property is damaged, littered upon or if anything unlawful occurs.

District 1 Trustee and Board President Bryan Pratt said the district is within its rights.

“It’s not something that would be brought to the board because it’s about the use of an auditorium or gym, but as long as the policy is followed for everyone, there’s no problem,” Pratt said. “Now, over the long term would be the question. But from what I understand from our board attorney, there’s not an issue.”

Andrews said that the unconventional worship site is just one unique aspect of Elevate.

“It’s a real change for most people who grew up in a church,” Andrews said. “A lot of people are connected to the buildings, but the Scriptures teach us that a church is not a building. The people are the church.”