Members of Minot’s First Lutheran Church celebrated a long-awaited groundbreaking after Sunday services yesterday.

It’s been years coming, and completion is still a ways off, but the church’s sanctuary and Parish Hall across what years ago was part of Walders Street, will soon be joined above ground. The two are now connected by an underground tunnel.

The project is significant in that recently updated Parish Hall will not be as isolated from the sanctuary as it’s been since the 1960s when it was built, and useable space between the two structures will result. Going back and forth between the buildings will be a much more enjoyable experience for all, and a much safer and more comfortable walk for seniors and people with disabilities.

Along with the connection, the church will be adding new, accessible entrances to the church’s Parish Center, as well as an elevator, a new accessible bathroom in that building and a gathering space. The hope is to also add a new parking lot to the north of the building, which would require extra funding.

First Lutheran has a rich history, having grown hand-in-hand with Minot, suffering through the same floods and benefiting from the same upturns and setbacks the greater community has experienced in more than a century. To see First Lutheran reach a milestone is to see Minot also thrive.

So congratulations members of First Lutheran Church. Your big day could hardly have been a better one, according to Minot Daily News reporter Ashton Gerard, who attended the ceremony and described the scene this way:

“Birds gently chirped their songs of spring and a light breeze swept across the city of Minot as the congregation at First Lutheran Church gathered in the courtyard between the church’s sanctuary and the parish hall.”

History has just been made … and smartly recorded. Well done Ashton.