A church is more than just a building. It’s made up of the people who come to worship, those who minister to the community and the bonds made therein. The members of First Christian Church epitomize that, uniting and weathering a long road from a fire that claimed their original building to the grand opening of their new facility.

The church celebrated the grand opening of its new building Sunday, worshipping in the same site from which many of its members watched fire claim the old church on April 28, 2014. The unveiling of the building’ interior brought much awe amongst members and guests who saw it for the first time, according to Milton Dail, public relations chairperson for First Christian Church.

Members and guests met Sunday morning for a ribbon cutting that took place just before a special combined service brought the contemporary and traditional together. Usually, the church hosts a contemporary service, followed by a traditional service, according to Dail. Three hundred and fifty people came to the service, with a little overflow into the church’s new Family Life Center. Thanks to new technological capabilities, church services can now be streamed to the Family Life Center, enabling an extra 500 people to worship, according to Bryan Ross, a member of the church’s forward planning committee.

“We all came together as one large faith body so we could all just worship together for the first Sunday,” Dail said.

The ribbon cutting featured the three longest standing members of the church — Sonny Swain, Ben Woolard and Edna Woolard — who took part in cutting the ribbon from three doors to the entrance of the church, according to Dail.

After last year’s fire, the church was able to salvage several historical and sentimental items from the old building. Many of those items, including stained glass windows, concrete blocks imprinted with raised crosses and the old building’s cornerstones, have been incorporated into the architecture of the new facility, Dail said.

Groundbreaking for the new facility took place in late March 2015, and it was finalized a little more than a year later, according to Dail.

The building itself is reminiscent of the old, as it has the same color brick and roof, the sanctuary’s choir loft and pews are in the same arrangement and the lights in the sanctuary hang down from the ceiling much like those in the old building, Dail said.

“Everybody was very excited,” Dail said. “There were people so happy that they were crying because of how it looked like the old building. Everyone was just excited because we now have somewhere to call ours, rather than borrowing and renting space. It’s just wonderful to be in a spot of our own.”

Ross said the congregation’s long journey was made easier through a contract with WIMCO, whose superintendent took a personal interest in the job. The hard work put into creating the new facility paid off based on the reaction from church members during the opening, he said.

“The overall mood, I would say, from people who saw the sanctuary for the first time, ranged from ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ to tears. The sanctuary is so close to the old sanctuary that it just brought back all kinds of memories,” Ross said.

Kathy Simpson, chair of the forward planning committee, said the committee, worked closely with the contractors to make the building completely accessible to everyone through its one-story layout and technological capabilities. A new kitchen is housed in the church with the hopes of broadening its ministries, as well.

“It seems like a long time coming, but it also seems like a blink of an eye,” Simpson said. “It’s truly been a labor of love, but I’m glad it’s over. What was most rewarding to me on Sunday was the fact that so many people said, ‘Oh, it looks like our old sanctuary, and that’s exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to maintain a semblance of our heritage while combining newer technology. We’re just glad to be in our home. There is no perfect building, but I think we came pretty close, and after all is said and done, it is just a building — the church is the people.”

The greater community is invited to a dedication service Sunday at 3 p.m. A reception will follow at 3:30 p.m., along with an open house from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Dail said they extended the invitation to the community because of the extensive support First Christian’s congregation received in a time of struggle. Invitations have been extended to area fire departments that responded to the fire and those who have made monetary donations, as well as those churches and organizations that have offered First Christian Church members a place to worship. Because of the support from the community, the church never missed a service after the fire. Now it continues to worship in a home of its own.

First Christian Church is located at 307 E. Third St. in Washington.