The congregation of St. James Lutheran Church in Northrop was devastated when their church burned down on March 30, 2016.

The fire had started in the sanctuary as the result of a lightning strike.

The congregation of 225 has remained hopeful and patient, and soon will be able to start worshipping in their new church.

The church is expected to be completed by September.

Originally, they hoped to be in the new church this month, but several things delayed the process.

“They’re having a real problem trying to get anything done outside with the rain,” noted Tom Koeritz, a congregation member who serves on the church steering committee.

They are also getting all the inside woodwork (pews, baptismal font and altar) from a company in Iowa called Gunder Church Furniture. The items will be handmade and are not expected to arrive until close to September.

However, much has been completed over the course of the past year. Although it took a while for the congregation to come up with a design for the new church, construction began in May 2017 after a ground-breaking ceremony. Multiple crews have been working five days per week to get the church completed. Their hard work shows.

While the church will be at the same site as the last one, there are quite a few changes. There is no longer a basement, as the building is all on one level. The walls have all been sheetrocked and painted, mostly in earth tones. The ceilings are completed with light fixtures. There are speakers that are part of the new audio/video system installed by Gemini Studios of Fairmont.

Some of the flooring is done, and more is expected to be put in next week. There will be carpet in the narthex and sanctuary, while the fellowship hall will have epoxy flooring.

Other rooms include bathrooms, the pastor’s office, a copy room, secretaries office, Sunday school room, kitchen and ample storage space.

There will be a center courtyard with benches, a place people can sit and enjoy Sunday morning coffee.

Outside the church, near the entrance, a plaque on the building will make reference to the old church and when it was established. The original church was built in 1890 and stood out in the country. When it required structural repairs, the congregation voted to build a new church in town. It was built in 1940 and stood for decades before the fire.

Then there’s the sanctuary, which Koeritz calls the congregation’s pride. One notable change is the absence of a balcony. There is more room between the aisles, with seating for about 225 people.

There are several unique light fixtures that hang in the sanctuary. They were given by a church in Howard, South Dakota. The church, which was closing, reached out to St. James Lutheran after the fire and asked if they could donate anything. In addition to the light fixtures, the church donated 17 stained glass windows.

“They’ve all been sent up to Sleepy Eye Stained Glass and a guy there completely went through them and we had thought they were about a 1940 vintage, but it turned out the glass was actually 1890 vintage,” Koeritz said.

Koeritz said the congregation was able to retrieve the church bell from the fire, but when they sent it to a company in Ohio for inspection, a crack was found.

“They cleaned it all up and made an exact replica,” he said. “On the front it has an inscription on it and that will be on this new bell too. We don’t know what we’re going to do with the old bell, but the new one will be on a tower.”

The tower is being built by Wiederhoeft Welding and Machine in Fairmont. A 7-foot cross will be put on top.

Many congregation members have been offering their input on the different aspects and projects required to design and build a church from scratch.

“We have a steering committee of six people,” Koeritz said. “Of that, there’s sub-committees, like a design committee and a construction committee, and from those there’s all these little independent subcommittees like kitchen, fellowship hall and exterior committee. They meet and come up with the ideas and finally it comes to the steering committee for final approval.”

This way, many congregation members have the opportunity to be involved and share their opinions and ideas. Koeritz said at least 50 people are involved.

The main contractor is Leimer Construction of Truman.

After the fire that left the St. James Lutheran congregation without a church, they were readily welcomed at Zion Lutheran Church-Fraser, where members have been attending service.

“It’s really been a blessing that they opened up their church to us. They’ve been very hospitable,” Koeritz said.

With the church well on its way to being completed, St. James Lutheran might have a new pastor soon as well. Koeritz said they recently put out a call to a pastor and are waiting on an answer.

“We’re hoping that within the next month that we will know whether we’ll have a pastor or we turn around and rethink our list of options,” Koeritz said. “So if they accept we could end up having a pastor in place before the dedication.”