Heavy snow from this week's nor'easter is believed to have caused Tuesday's collapse at the Shiloh Baptist Church on Davenport Avenue.
The church was empty when the roof and side wall came crashing down.
The church's Tiffany stained-glass windows were destroyed, but the pastor vowed to rebuild.
"What we have to realize is no life was loss. We will rebuild," the chairman of the church's trustee board Wilbert Austin said.
In the meantime, the 300-person congregation will celebrate at a church youth center down the street.
The buildings on both sides of are evacuated until demolition crews bring down the rest of the compromised church.
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