St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church
Building Project
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St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church Building Project |
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   “That We May Tell the Next Generation.” Psalm 48:13 St. John's is, and intends to grow in becoming a congregation that is increasingly
· rooted in the study of God’s Word To support this mission, the congregation has built a large multipurpose room with kitchen, new classrooms, an expanded reception area, and new music program space. This addition meets the current needs by:
Project History Following the first 64 years of ministry to God’s people at the corner of 2nd and Van Buren, St. John’s moved to her current location at 901 SW Fillmore Street in 1938. Twenty one years later in 1959, the congregation built an educational wing to provide for fellowship and Christian education space. Aside from a project in 1985 to improve and beautify the current sanctuary, the congregation had not added any new space, or significantly renovated its Christian education and fellowship space in nearly 50 years. In January 2001 a proposal came from the Church Council to build a large, ground floor fellowship area with kitchen on the property adjacent to the south exposure of the existing building. Subsequently in June 2001 a Facilities Committee was established to specify the needs for such a building. After receiving a thorough and favorable final report from the Facilities Committee, a Building Committee was established by the Church Council in March 2005 to work with an architect to develop a specific proposal. After much planning and adjustments to preliminary estimates of building costs, at a Voters Meeting on 20 April 2008, the congregation at St. John’s was presented with a $3.2 Million facility plan. It was agreed that the proposed expansion would meet the immediate needs of the congregation and surrounding community, at an affordable cost. After another informational meeting in early May, the Voters of St. John’s gave approval at a special Congregational / Voters Meeting on 4 May 2008 to Schwerdt Design Group of Topeka to develop the documentation and project drawings for this endeavor. On Tuesday, 26 August 2008, the Voters accepted the construction contract bid submitted by Rinner Construction, Inc. of Topeka, KS. Preliminary construction preparations began in September and on Sunday, 28 September, the adjacent up/down duplex owned by St. John’s and used for youth ministry and a vicarage was moved by the new owner to a site one & one half blocks east of the church. Physical changes to the existing facility began to appear by 1 October 2008, and on Sunday 26 October, the congregation celebrated the official beginning of our year-long project with a Groundbreaking Ceremony that included Sunday School children in keeping with our theme “That We May Tell the Next Generation.” Construction progressed steadily through the remainder of 2008 and into 2009 with a mild winter causing no significant delays. The construction progress is shown in the accompanying pictures. In the early days of October 2009, occupation of the renovated and expanded space began. On Sunday, 22 November 2009, the renovated and expanded facilities were dedicated to the glory of God. The guest preacher for this joyous occasion was the Rev. Matthew C. Harrison, then Executive Director of the LCMS World Relief and Human Care organization. (Special note: At the July 2010 LCMS Convention, Rev. Harrison was elected the President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod). Link to Dedication Sermon by Pastor Harrison To God Alone Be the Glory!
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