The congregation at St. Johns Episcopal Church is relieved their building has been sold and are especially pleased it will remain a church, said Teresa Lahar, priest.
David Crawford, Great Bend, recently purchased the structure at 17th & Adams and is leasing it to Cross Winds of Kansas (CWOK) Bikers Church. It also is home to other groups. (See adjacent story).
St. Johns’ new home is the chapel at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 3400 21st. The street address for St. Johns is 2107 Tyler.
Lahar acknowledged that the necessary sale of the building was “disappointing but it was the reality of the situation. Nevertheless, our new relationship with First Congregational helps us cope with the transition and our church can become financially sustainable.
“We have more resources now for our local mission,” she added. “For example, we have teamed up with our new neighbors to periodically cook and serve a Sunday evening meal at the Dream Center. We are working in tandem to further our Christian work in the community.”
Other charitable efforts include: providing meals to school children; supporting foster families through CarePortal; Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner; and helping the less fortunate with utilities, housewares and appliances.
St. Johns hosted its Blessing of the Altar April 25 and its first Sunday service was May 1.
Lahar said “it was a good Sunday turnout and it had a good feeling. The chapel is small but we felt like we had a crowd,” she laughed.
Mike Munz, First Congregational pastor, said church members are pleased to have St. Johns worshipping in the chapel.
“As a gesture of hospitality and welcome, we provided a potluck meal to our St. Johns neighbors after their first service here,” Munz said. “We wanted them to feel at home in the building.
“In many ways,” he added, “this doesn’t seem like a new relationship because of our outreach to the Dream Center. With both churches in the same building now, all of us look forward to new ways of working together.”
Bishop Mark Cowell
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas Mark Cowell, who attended St. Johns’ Blessing of the Altar, noted the local Episcopal church that seated about 100 used to have “a pretty full house for Sunday services. That was no longer the case.”
For a variety of reasons, attendance diminished and the congregation couldn’t afford maintenance of such a large facility, Cowell noted.
“Most of their income was spent on the building, leaving no resources for the work that a church is called to do,” he elaborated. “St. Johns recognized this truth, and as painful as it was to say good-bye to a place of many memories and a treasured history, the decision to part ways was necessary.
“We love our buildings but we do not worship them,” he added. “St. Johns took a courageous step toward being the church that Jesus called us to be. The move takes the burden off their shoulders and allows the congregation to once again engage the community outside the walls that had become their cage.”
This transition provides some financial support for First Congregational and opens up “opportunities for cooperative efforts in building the kingdom. I see this as a great model moving forward,” Cowell said.