CALAIS – People may have to bring their own chairs, but members of the Second Baptist Church are determined to hold the first worship service in their new building by this Christmas Eve.

Two years after a fire seriously damaged their old brick church – a downtown landmark – members have decided to build anew and are planning a groundbreaking for a $1 million structure at 5 p.m. Sunday, July 20.

Construction on Church Street – at the site of the old building, which was demolished – is expected to be completed by early next year. Everett Libby of Calais was hired to serve as the clerk of the works.

It has been a long two years as the congregation has struggled with the effects of the fire, which snaked through the 119-year-old church on a September night in 2001.

The Rev. Albert Coffey, pastor, said the difficulties after the fire began with negotiations with the church’s insurance company and in making arrangements to begin construction.

The congregation hired a New York-based architectural firm, which has come up with a design that suited the congregation.

The church also kicked off a $325,000 capital campaign to augment the insurance money. “We have to raise that, but we are praying for $500,000,” said Sally Doten, who is managing the campaign.

The congregation, which averages 100 people in Sunday worship, at first met in a local school. With the renovation of the Calais Elementary School, the congregation was forced to move to the Calais United Methodist Church.

Coffey said it also helped that members of the building committee kept the congregation up to date on the construction progress. Another bonus: The church was able to save the original stained-glass windows from the burned church. They will go into the new building.

“We have a great church. People have a lot of faith. We have learned to have a lot of patience,” said church treasurer Carole Brocato. “It has been a long, drawn-out process.”

Although members have been without a building, Coffey said, the spirit of the congregation has remained vibrant. The congregation has grown by 18 members. And Coffey attributes the vibrance to the family spirit within the community. “This is in God’s hands,” he said. “We said we’d stay together – we’d help each other, and our ministry has got to go on.”