Building Project

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church

Building Project

“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
· characterized by warmth and fellowship among its members
· inviting to families with children and teens
· welcoming to visitors
· active in reaching out to the community around us
· growing in its fine musical heritage
· utilizing the full potential of volunteer service among God’s people in this place

To support this mission, the congregation plans to build a large multipurpose room with a kitchen, new classrooms, an expanded reception area, and new offices. This addition will meet the current challenges by:

1. Providing a large, ground level multipurpose room for Sunday morning fellowship
2. Providing adequate classrooms for Sunday School and adult Bible classes
3. Providing a larger ground floor space with attendant commercial equipped kitchen for large congregational meals
4. Providing a gymnasium for youth activities and neighborhood outreach
5. Providing more office and work space

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 in 1938. Twenty one years later, in 1959, St. John’s built an educational wing to provide for additional fellowship and Christian education space. Aside from a project in 1985 to improve and beautify the current sanctuary, the congregation has 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 space with kitchen on the property adjacent to the south exposure of our current building. Consequently in June 2001 the Facilities Committee was established to specify the needs for such a building. After receiving a thorough and favorable final report from the Facilities Committee, the Building Committee was established by the Church Council in March 2005 to work with an architect to develop a specific proposal.

Progress...

After much planning and adjustments to previous 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 (as listed above), at an affordable cost.

After another informational meeting in early May, the Voters of St. John’s gave the “go-ahead” at a special Congregational / Voters Meeting on 4 May 2008 to Schwerdt Design Group 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 building preparations began in September and on Sunday, 28 September, the adjacent up/down duplex formerly 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 present 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.”

To God Alone Be the Glory!

Support the Capital Campaign

Members and friends who are already in the habit of purchasing items via computer “on-line”, are encouraged to support the Capital Campaign by simply purchasing from their favorite outlets and stores “on-line” through this web site

http://www.bign.com/stjohnelc