Arson suspected at six St. Louis torched churches

The church fires began rattling the community Oct. 8 when Bethel Nondenominational Church in Jennings, a small town neighboring Ferguson in North St. Louis County, was found in flames.

Each fire seems to start the same: The church’s front doors are sprayed with accelerant and set on fire. In many cases, the fires did not spread, authorities said. New Life Missionary Baptist was the exception.

New Northside Missionary Baptist Church in Jennings was set on fire Oct. 10.

Then came the church fires in St. Louis city: St. Augustine Catholic Church on Wednesday, New Testament Church of Christ on Thursday and New Life Missionary Baptist Church on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, a sixth church, Ebenezer Lutheran Church, was also found on fire, authorities said. Although the church is in a predominantly African American neighborhood, parishioners call it racially integrated.

New Northside Missionary Baptist Church, which was the second church burned in the recent fires, posted a message on its Facebook page the day after its front doors were set ablaze, saying: “Satan is busy, but my God is greater! Someone tried to set our church on fire, but the only fire that’s burning is the fire we’re having on the inside!”

From 2007 to 2011, some 1,780 churches, funeral homes and other religious institutions per year battled blazes, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit group that researches fire prevention and safety. Roughly 180 per year were deemed intentional fires, according to an analysis over the summer by The Post.