CAMBRIDGE — Parishioners and clergy at Faith Lutheran Church watched in horror Sunday night as firefighters battled a six-alarm blaze in the house of worship where they had observed Easter services just hours earlier.
Worship had ended for the day and the church was empty when the fire broke out, according to the Rev. Robin Lutjohann, the church’s pastor.
“Even though this is a huge blow to us, and even though I’m filled with sadness and worry at the same time, I know that God is with us, and we will trust God to lead us forward,” Lutjohann said as he stood across the street from the burning church.
Cambridge firefighters responded to the blaze at 311 Broadway just before 5:30 p.m. and ordered a second alarm upon their arrival, and then a third and a fourth; the fire was up to six alarms by about 7:45 p.m., officials said.
The front doors to the church were locked when firefighters arrived.
“When they were able to force through the doors, they encountered heavy fire right inside the front doors,” Cambridge Acting Fire Chief Tom Cahill told reporters at the scene late Sunday.
“They made a very aggressive attack … but were unable to get water on the seat of the fire,” he said.
Firefighters were pulled from the building after 30 minutes and continued the battle from outside.
Cahill said several firefighters had suffered minor injuries but did not provide details. He said no other injuries were reported.
Officials were worried the steeple could collapse, but it was still standing late Sunday after the fire eased and crews began shutting off their hoses.
“I believe it will stay up,” Cahill said. “We’re very confident that all of the heavy fire on the front of the building has been knocked down.”
Fire crews were expected to remain through the night putting out hotspots. Cahill said workers from the city’s Inspectional Services Department will assess the structure.
“A majority of the roof in the rear of the building and on both the left and right sides, facing Broadway, have collapsed,” he said. “I think what’s remaining at this point, fortunately for us, is that main structure and the steeple.”
The fire, which was contained to the church property, drew more than 100 firefighters from multiple nearby departments to assist, Cahill said.
Outside the church Sunday evening, gray smoke poured from the steeple as firefighters doused the building with water from the ground and above, with ladders from at least four trucks pitched high over the property.
Fire appeared on the exterior of the steeple around 8 p.m., with orange and green flames licking at the shingles and moving up toward the cross at the steeple’s top. The fire cast off embers that glowed orange in the night sky as firefighters continued hosing it down.
Lutjohann stood among members of his congregation on the sidewalk looking across Broadway as firefighters worked to control the blaze. He was at home in Boston, he said, when his phone began ringing with text messages and calls from parishioners who live near the church.
“It’s overwhelming, of course, and I feel sad, but more than anything I feel worried about what it will take to restore the building to make it usable again,” Lutjohann said. “It’s a space that is beloved by many members of the community.”
Denise and Claudio Carrara have lived nearby on Broadway for almost 50 years and watched in awe as smoke poured out of the church.
“It kills my heart because it is such a beautiful church, and the people are so giving,” Denise Carrara said. “I hope they do some kind of fundraiser, because I’ll definitely give to the church, and I hope they rebuild somehow.”
The church’s former pastor, the Rev. Timothy J. Stein, died in July. His widow, Jeanne Garrison, stood by a fence at the edge of the playground and watched as the church burned.
“I’m just really glad that he was not alive to see this, because this would have broken his heart,” she said of her husband, who was pastor from 2000 to 2015. “He loved this church so much.”
Garrison, who still worships at the church, said she did not attend the church’s Easter service because she wasn’t feeling well.
“I missed the last service at my husband’s church,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”
Firefighters knocked out a large stained glass window on the church’s façade revealing the interior, where wooden beams could be seen burning in the congregation hall.
“It’s like this big chimney inside,” Garrison said. “It has this beautiful, carved wooden ceiling from the Swedish ship carpenters from East Cambridge, when they built their church.”
Garrison was home when she started getting text messages about a fire at the church. She said her hands began shaking, making it too difficult to type out a response, and she quickly walked over.
“There’s been a lot of love and a lot of money and time put into this church, and people are going to have to figure out what happens next,” she said. “The church is not the building, but the building has been so, so important to us.”
Globe correspondent Gia Orsino contributed to this report.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.