People now have one more reason to visit Chapel in the Hills.

A new prayer walk was created behind the chapel as a peaceful place for reflection, prayer and meditation. A sign welcomes visitors at the head of the walkway, which is about the length of a football field. A woodchip walkway leads visitors past statues and benches. The path ends at a rock shelf formation in the hillside.

"It was just an ideal setting for that purpose," said Terry Satrang, chapel manager and board member. He manages the chapel with his wife, Elline. He said work began last year and visitors already have been using the trail, which is open when the chapel gates are open - from 8 a.m. until dusk.

Dedication of the prayer walk will be at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 27. Bishop David B. Zellmer of the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will officiate. Chairs will be set up near the bell tower area behind the chapel, the same site where a number of weddings are held each year. The event is open to the public and should last about 45 minutes.

"We started to put everything together last year," Satrang said. "We got a contractor in there and got the statues set."

He said the trail was developed at the same time the statues were set. Cleanup along the trail took place last fall, and a layer of woodchips was laid, making the path more accessible and noticeable. Visitors have found the trail on their own and began following it even before it was completed.

"The feedback has all been very positive, as far as the tranquility and the inspiration that the people feel. They think it's a wonderful addition," he said.

Joyce Harrington of Iowa and her daughter, Tina Hill, of Hill City spoke few words to each other as they took their time along the path recently, stopping at each statue to read the accompanying captions.

"This is a good place to come and meditate," Harrington said. "Everyone goes through troubled times, and you can come here and talk to God."

Harrington said her mother had brought Hill to Chapel in the Hills years ago, and she had always wanted to see it. She said she ran out of time during last year's visit to the Black Hills, but made sure she and her daughter found the time this year. "We felt it was very important to both of us," she said.

Satrang said mapping out the trail was easy because of the rock shelf at the end of the little valley that runs in the back of the church.

"It was just an ideal setting for that purpose," he said.

The idea for a prayer walk arose five years ago as a way to utilize more of the Scandinavian chapel's acreage while continuing its ministry and its role as a tourism attraction. The plan was to create a prayer walk in a private setting out of sight of the chapel grounds so it would not detract from the chapel.

The Rev. LeRoy Flagstad, a board member, said the religious scene in America has changed: America is no longer as church-centered, with more emphasis placed on a person's spirituality. A prayer walk is kind of God's outdoor cathedral, he said.

"Americans are not as attracted to the church as an institution, but are more attracted to a more general spirituality," he said. The prayer walk fits that change.

The hand-carved limestone statues that line the walk are from the former Black Hills Holy Land, south of Hill City, which has closed. Each of the seven figures is accompanied by a caption written by Flagstad and paired with a bench along the path.

The first figure to greet visitors is of Christ with the caption, "Come to me and rest." The second figure is that of a seated teacher. Its sign reads, "Lord, teach me to pray." The third is a child figure: "Trust God with child-like faith."

The fourth, "Pray for children and families," is aptly placed next to a statue that depicts a mother and a child figure. The next signs read "Trust God to provide what we need," "Pray for world peace," "Amen" and "God hears our prayers."

Flagstad said the natural formation at the end of the path almost looked to him like a resurrection scene.

"I think of an open tomb when I look at it," he said.

He said he toyed with the idea of using the caption "He is risen" because he thought it fit the setting, but decided to follow through with a prayer theme.

The chapel is a special ministry of the South Dakota Synod of the ELCA. It was built in 1969 as the home of the "Lutheran Vespers" radio ministry, which relocated to Minnesota six years later.

The originator and preacher of the radio hour, Dr. Harry R. Gregerson, chose the Black Hills because of its beautiful setting and reputation as a vacation destination.

The location was donated by Arndt Dahl. A chapel was built in the style of an original stave church or "stavkirke" in Norwegian. The style was chosen because many of the original settlers of the Dakotas and surrounding states were Norwegian Lutherans. The little chapel is an exact reproduction of the famous Borgund Stavkirke of Laerdal, Norway, which was built around the year 1150. The visitor/gift shop is in the "Stabbur," which is an authentic grass-roofed store house, built in Norway and assembled here.

When the "Lutheran Vespers" radio program left the site, the focus of the chapel shifted to a tourism ministry. Some 150 couples each year choose to marry at Chapel in the Hills. Evening worship services are held at 7:30 p.m. each day through the end of August.

Satrang said the chapel exists entirely on donations from the visitors, the wedding income and gift shop sales.

"That is the three-legged stool that we live on," he said. He said the chapel receives no funding from any major organizations or from any local, state or national churches.

"Other than maybe some grants we try to get, the chapel is entirely self-supporting. I think many people in Rapid City don't realize that. They don't realize how hard the 70 to 80 volunteers we have here work to keep this open," he said.

Next year marks the chapel's 40th anniversary. No official plans are set yet to mark the milestone. Flagstad said he and the other six board members are always thinking of the future of the chapel.

"We have more vision for things to come," he said. "We need an information center, and we hope to be able to enlarge our gift shop. That would be helpful in our ministry to tourists. We have more things on the docket, too."