To the tune of “This Land Is Your Land,” the members of Bible Lutheran Church celebrated the dedication and groundbreaking Sunday for their future sanctuary along Blue Jay Road.

The gathered congregation sang “This land is God’s land, this land is our land, from the Blue Jay Highway to the Georgia Pow’r lines,” along with more traditional hymns to mark the occasion.

“We’re very pleased we’ve come this far,” said Richard Hall, the congregational president, “such a long way in a such short period of time.”

The church has about 30 acres off Blue Jay Road, not far from its intersection with McCall Road. Bible Lutheran was organized in November 2009 and has been meeting at Blandford Elementary School since January 2010, Hall said.

In just more than two years, the church’s congregation has grown to 234 members. They’ve had the land where the church will build its sanctuary and cemetery for a little more than a year.

The church has a set of building plans in hand but there is no date to start construction.

“That is the question,” Hall said. “We don’t have any definite plans. We’re getting our site ready. Actual construction and building is still in the planning stages. We hope and pray that we will do some sort of structure by the end of this year.”