BATON ROUGE - Feb. 17 marked two years since St. Luke's Episcopal Church burned down. While a new sanctuary is currently under construction, time passes, and for around the last two years, St. Luke's has held services in St. Luke's Episcopal School, located next door to the former church.

If people looked at the service, many wouldn't know that the room of worship actually serves as a cafeteria for the school during the week. The seats and stage may serve as temporary places of gathering for worship, but the reason behind it remains timeless.

"We've done a really great job of that in this space. We have some things we had thought we'd lost in the church, like for example the steeple cross was damaged and we've repaired it," Fr. Bryan Owen said.

Saint Luke's lost its original pipe organ and piano in the fire; however, new ones were donated. They serve as reminders of what this church has been through and what's ahead. When the congregation moves into the new sanctuary, the new organ and piano will move in too.

"The organ was donated by Live Oak Community Church, and the piano was from a local family, who live over in Sherwood Forest," St. Luke's Music Director Terry Bowman said.

Before St. Luke's burned down, leaders held three or four services a week. Now, because of limited space and a tight schedule, there's only enough time for one. However, several congregants told WBRZ the limited schedule actually carries a silver lining.

"I have gotten to know people that I never would have gotten to know because they came to another service and I just didn't see them," Connie Caldwell said.

Congregant Lacy Howe told WBRZ he has been coming to St. Luke's for over 30 years. He was married there, and his kids were baptized there. He considers it a blessing to have this temporary space.

"We miss our church without a doubt, and we're looking forward to the new one, but this has offered us a closer body than what we had," Howe said.

As for the new sanctuary, construction on the new building broke ground this past November and is ongoing. While St. Luke's hopes that construction will be completed by Christmas, a lot of work remains before then.

Part of that work is the Capital Campaign kickoff on March 21, where St. Luke's leaders will ask the congregation and the greater Baton Rouge community for donations to help pay for the new construction.

"The goal is $3 to $3.5 million, I personally think we'll do better than that," Caldwell, who serves as the Campaign Co-Chair, said.

While this setup is temporary, Fr. Owen says every congregant plays their part, helping to bring the new sanctuary to life.