Saint John's Evangelical and Reform Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the voice along for the ride. Now, picture north Texas in the early 1880s: twelve families, German descent, and no church to call their own. So what did they do?

They did what Texans have always done when the need arises and the building hasn't been built yet: they showed up at a neighbor's house. Mr. and Mrs. H.

Raab opened their home, and those twelve families gathered there for worship, week after week, making something out of nothing but faith and a living room floor. That's where this story starts. Then came October 1882, and the Rev.

F. Werning (a pioneer missionary out of Waco) helped charter the congregation formally. Saint John's Evangelical and Reformed Church was real now, official, a United Church of Christ with its name on the deed of history.

They built their first sanctuary on Calhoun Street. Now, a lesser church might've stayed put and called it done. But not Saint John's.

That original building got moved; picked up and carried to the corner of Texas and Taylor streets. And then, as if to prove the point a second time, it was relocated again, arriving at its present home in 1915. Three locations.

One congregation. Same twelve families' worth of determination running through the whole thing. For over a century, Saint John's Evangelical and Reformed Church has played an important role in the area's development, and when you think about how it all began, in somebody's parlor, with twelve German families and a missionary from Waco, well… that century was earned one move at a time.

What the marker says

A United Church of Christ, this congregation was chartered October 1882 under the direction of the Rev. F. Werning, a pioneer missionary from Waco. It grew from early worship services in the home of Mr. and Mrs. H. Raab, conducted for twelve families of German descent. The Church's original sancturary was built on Calhoun Street, but was moved to the corner of Texas and Taylor streets before being relocated here in 1915. For over a century St. John's Evangelical and Reformed Church has played in an important role in the area's development.