On Sunday, March 23, 2025, three days before we begin our 104th year, we will celebrate Heritage and Hope Sunday. Throughout the years, the people of St. John’s have had hopes and dreams to live the words of the Church Covenant, recognizing that the principles of the Covenant reflect the purposes for which the church was established. These include caring for and looking after one another, meeting together for worship, but primarily “trying to do that which pleases” God in our lives and relationships.
In the 1960’s, as the Elizabeth neighborhood was changing, there were conversations about the church moving further out of Charlotte. However, the decision was made to stay at Fifth and Hawthorne. A long-range development plan was proposed which included a building addition which now houses church offices, children’s Sunday School and Weekday School rooms, the music suite, and the gym. Initially there was space provided for a day care center operated by the Department of Social Services. It was envisioned that the gym would be used by the community in addition to the church family.
The latter part of the 1970’s was also the beginning of the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. By the late 1980’s, the church became disassociated with the Convention most strikingly over issues of local church autonomy. Priesthood of the believer, leadership of women within the church, and support of missions.
As a result, the church found new relationships for continued servanthood in the form of personal involvement and financial support, globally, nationwide, statewide, and locally. Examples of this involvement include funding for Nyarwang School in South Sudan, welcoming the “Lost Boys” from Sudan, building houses with Habitat for Humanity, sheltering those without through Roof Above, feeding the hungry though Loaves and Fishes and Friendship Trays (now Nourish Up), helping people in maintaining their lives through Crisis Assistance, welcoming refugees and immigrants, and providing space in our building for mission and community outreach activities.
As the church moved into the 1980’s, additional space was needed primarily for church wide events such as Family Night. The planning provided outreach space for MMae’s Inn (now Hospitality House to provide a place for families of patients in the hospitals. This subsequently was used by Dove’s Nest and Charlotte Family Housing.
The turn of the century brought new challenges and changes to the church leadership structure by the restructuring of the Deacon Panel(s) proposed by a Vision team.
Resource Teams replaced the committee structure to focus on the primary areas of church life- personnel, building, finance, missions, membership, education, and pastoral care. There were also significant changes in the church staff. An intentional interim study was undertaken to help the church identify what was important in a pastor. A capital campaign was undertaken to provide funding to address long neglected maintenance issues. An endowment fund was established to provide funding for major expenses outside of the budget.
Just as the church had addressed the issue of integration and the role of women in the church, the church affirmed that “Marriage is Commitment” to God and to each other whether the two persons are of different races, cultures, or sexual orientation.
One of the major challenges most recently was the effect of the Covid pandemic. The congregation discovered Zoom and online meetings and on-line worship services.
We move into our second century with the prospect that our dreams for the future of the church will need to be met by change as it was during our first century.
