People who gather to worship are really the heart of a church. Still, it is best for a church to have a home.

Soon after fire engulfed the West Prairie Church in mid-February of 2007, its congregation set out to replace it on its original foundation. Seventeen months later, they have accomplished that with a few prayers, a community spirit, generous donations of funds and supplies, and long hours of volunteer work.

A 10:30 a.m. service is scheduled Sunday to celebrate the dedication of the rebuilt structure, 22 miles northwest of Williston. (Take the Grenora turnoff on U.S. 2 west). A barbecue will follow.

The original West Prairie Church was built in 1980.

"There were five churches out in that area, and three of them had merged. They built this one church as enrollment declined," said West Prairie Church Council Church President Bob Horab. "In 1980, they just merged into one church. That church stood for 27 years." When the blaze consumed their church that Saturday on the cold prairie, the congregation of 80 was devastated. No one is quite sure what caused the blaze, but electrical problems are suspected. Only a sign with the church's namesake, a bell tower and a cross were salvaged.

Still, the tenacity of the MonDak people came through. Round Prairie School opened its doors that Sunday for services.

"We continued to meet there as a congregation until our new church was built," Horab said. "At first our small congregation didn't know what we were going to do with it as far as to rebuild or not. We went to a vote a couple weeks after the fire. We took a vote. We had insurance dollars. The majority voted to rebuild. The families with young kids it hurt, because they had lost their church. Some of the younger kids, would come and sweep when we were rebuilding."

They began rebuilding around the original church sign, upon the same concrete slab where the original lay.

"The structure is basically the same as it was on the previous church with a few subtle changes," said Horab. "We kept the former corner stone, we replaced it with the original cornerstone. We're going to place the old cornerstone underneath the bell tower.

"We had a small crew as far as donations go," he added. "We hired someone to get the shell enclosed."

He said about 35 percent of the labor was completed by a contractor.

"Then, there were a lot of donations and members who worked on it," Horab said. "We are mostly farmer members, and worked on through most of the winter."

It involved many weekends and spare hours. He credited members with donating to the building fund, the furnishings and the labor.

Horab said generous donations came to refurbish the new church.

"We got all of the interior furnishings from other churches who closed," he said. "We've got a gorgeous altar and other items. To find that kind of turn-of-the century woodworking, is hard to do. It is so close to the one we lost in the fire."

He said those who gave these were very open to donating these because after their churches closed down, they didn't want to see it just stashed away in storage. He said had it not been for the volunteer hours and the donations, this project could have cost up to $350,000. It was completed for a fraction of that. Horab noted the church is debt-free on the project.

With steady work and a team effort the new West Prairie Church became a reality. West Prairie Parishioners are happy to be home again.

"We were out of the church for 14 months. Our first service at the new site was Palm Sunday of this year," Horab said. "I think this actually helped bring the congregation together again. I think it's nice for us to have a place to go."

The church measures 40 feet by 100 feet, just like its original. It seats about 110.

"Everybody is welcome to come and see our new church. There is a special invitation to those who donated time and some of the furnishings for the new church," Horab said.