Seward’s St. John Lutheran Church is studying its options for a major school and church expansion and update in a four-phase building project.
The congregation now has renderings for the project and has engaged the Steier Group, an Omaha-based capital campaign fundraising consulting firm, to help them assess the feasibility of the plans and fundraising. Congregation members are involved in meetings to learn about the project and what it would mean for the church’s ministries.
Architectural plans created by Sinclaire Hille came out of a master planning and visioning project begun in 2023 that identified congregational goals for operations, facilities, engagement and youth. These include creating spaces to welcome people and support growing ministries, understanding and directing time, talent and treasure toward the church’s ministry goals, guiding people into deeper relationships with Jesus, one another, and the congregation’s ministry, and guiding youth in grades seven through 12 into Christian adulthood.
Greg Stennett, a member of the St. John Board of Trustees building committee, said when talking with church members about needs, the biggest concerns were updating school facilities and making the whole school more accessible.
The updates would also improve the facility’s technology capabilities and appearance.
St. John Pastor Scott Bruick said the school now enrolls around 190 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, with one class per grade level. The new facility will accommodate two classrooms at each grade level. He noted that the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is the second largest parochial school system in the United States.
The building at the south end of the church complex has been maintained and improved over the years, but planners say it is time to retire the 1929 Building’s 96-year-old boiler, offer Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility throughout the school and bring classrooms into the modern age.
That building is slated for demolition and replacement by modern classrooms and a second, larger gymnasium.
Andy Langewisch, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees and building committee, said the additions and remodeling would improve sight, movement and technology throughout the school.
“It is a sensible plan,” he said.
Bruick said if the congregation’s response to the feasibility study now underway is positive, the church could soon be launching its capital campaign.
Langewisch said St. John is well positioned for fundraising because it has no building debt, the child development center is in a good place with the facility constructed in 2016, and the congregation is fiscally responsible.
“A lot of good things have happened here, and we have been blessed in many ways,” Langewisch said. “Everybody is anxious to see a new building.”
Bruick said today’s congregation of around 2,600 members will improve facilities for future worshippers and students, just as past members expanded St. John’s school in the 1950s and built the church in the 1960s for those who came after them.
The school preceded the church at North Columbia and Hillcrest streets, Bruick said. The St. John Lutheran church was first located in the small church at Third and Seward streets, then had a larger church at Fourth and Seward streets for many years.
There was also a Lutheran school south of Seward. That school and the church at Third and Seward were torn down.
The school began as a laboratory school for Concordia University and in the 1960s, the church built its new church on North Columbia.
The trustees and building committee expect the Steier Group’s report later in March. If that report is favorable, they expect the Steier Group to help the congregation move into a capital campaign.
Brian Albright, another trustee and building committee member, said the demolition of the 1929 building and preparation for construction could take about a year.
The congregation is looking at the plan in these four phases at this time:
Phase 1 – Replace the 1929 building with a three-story, 34,567-square-foot modern education facility including a dozen new classrooms, an elevator, creation of a dedicated youth space for the church, locker rooms, concession area, main corridor extension, multi-purpose space, and two curb cuts on Columbia Avenue to provide a turnout lane at the school’s new entry.
Phase 2 – Provide a second, larger gym with expanded sidelines and seating, a youth commons space and a dedicated space for band and piano.
Phase 3 – Expand and upgrade the existing gym, lunchroom and kitchen, providing increased accessibility to the gym.
Phase 4 – Add a small chapel seating around 70 people for more intimate worship and services, renovate and expand church offices and meeting areas and improve organization and resource management with centralized storage.
