Our History

In his diary entry for October 22, 1905, Bishop C.K. Nelson (then Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia) wrote: “ College Park ( St. John’s ): Held a meeting of Church people here and organized a Mission including 30 souls.” That first organizational meeting and worship service was held on the second floor of the old post office.  The building still stands at the corner of John Wesley Avenue and Main Street .  On October 14, 1906, Bishop Nelson returned to lay the cornerstone for a small stone church building on the southeast corner of Hardin and Main .

In the early days, the parish did not employ a priest, but Mr. C.K. Weller, a layreader who went on to be ordained to the priesthood, officiated at most services. 

As College Park , Hapeville, and East Point (the “Tri-Cities”) grew, membership at St. John’s increased until, in 1956, the parish built its current facility on the northeast corner of Hardin and Main (moving across Hardin).  The donated land had been a pecan grove, and the church continues to enjoy many majestic pecan trees on its property (as well as the pecans!).  The brick church is in an “English Gothic” style with beautiful oak pews and glorious stained glass from England . 

In 1964, the parish constructed an education building that is attached to the church and provides two floors of classrooms and offices.  St. John’s School , which operated until 1996 and changed the lives of many children and families, opened after the education building was built.

St. John’s was vibrant and active in the community.  The parish was famous for its festivals, dances, and fellowship, as well as its many outreach endeavors.  The most notable outreach enterprise was the founding of The St. John’s Bargain Shop in 1952.  The Bargain Shop continues to operate today (on Main Street in East Point ) and to date has raised over $1.1 million for good causes.  The parish also reached out in other ways to the poor in the community, as well as sponsoring refugee families. 

The Tri-Cities area was prosperous, and so was the parish.  By 1969, St. John’s rolls showed 1100 members.  The 1970’s, however, were difficult years for the area and the parish.  Hartsfield International Airport expanded, resulting in the condemnation of half the homes in College Park .  MARTA laid rapid transit lines along the railroad right-of-way in the middle of town, reducing the number of at-grade crossings and cutting down the many dogwood trees that had lined the tracks.  As the population in the area was reduced and the demographics changed, the parish began to decline. 

Today, however, College Park is referred to by Atlanta Magazine as “The Best Kept Secret in the Metro Area,” and increasingly, the secret is out.  The Historic District (of which the church is a part) is full of architecturally significant homes (the neighborhood is on the National Register) and features streets lined with sidewalks and beautiful old trees.  New housing developments are springing up, and many older homes are being renovated.  The downtown area has been renovated, and more plans are in store.  Developments at the airport will send a great deal of business toward College Park .  The situation is ripe for a renaissance of this town of 17,000.

As St. John’s celebrates its centennial, the parish is undergoing a renaissance as well.  After some years of conflict and difficulty, St. John’s has a renewed sense of its mission and is reaching out to the community while nourishing its members.  St. John’s is very diverse racially, ethnically, and in terms of sexual orientation.  In addition to operating The Bargain Shop, the parish runs “Begin Again,” a supervised visitation center operated in conjunction with the Fulton County Juvenile Court.  Begin Again is a ministry of hospitality and reconciliation for distressed families.  St. John’s also takes dinner to Holy Comforter and worships with our friends there.  We support Emmaus House in our budget and with special gifts at Christmas.  St. John’s supports work in Haiti .  We provide strong support for Family Life Ministries, a ministry to the poor in the area.  We are proud to have hosted an AA group for over fifty years.  We also provide space to Odyssey Family Counseling Center , which provides a variety of mental health services on a sliding-scale fee basis.  Odyssey operates its Child and Adolescent Center at St. John’s .  In recent years, we have resettled refugee families from Bosnia and Liberia .  We have helped a family move from a shelter to self-sufficiency, and we continue to support the Interfaith Airport Chaplaincy. 

The mission of St. John’s Episcopal Church

is to be a loving and diverse community

celebrating the Good News of Jesus Christ

by word, example, and service to others.

Rectors:

The Rev. C.K. Weller (1905-1913)

The Rev. H.R. Chase (1921-1932)

The Rev. W.E. Couch (1932-1943)

The Rev. S.M. Hopson (1946-1953)

The Rev. M.J. Ellis (1954-1955)

The Rev. B.W. Lafebre (1955-1957)

The Rev. J.R. Davidson (1957-1958)

The Rev. E.C. Coleman (1958-1965)

The Rev. Harold R. Bott (1965-1990)

The Rev. Frank Larisy (1992-1994)

The Rev. Stanley E. McGraw (1995-1997)

St. John the Evangelist: this window on the north wall (over the stairs) depicts at the top a chalice containing a serpent symbolizing the attempt made on St. John’s life by making him drink from a poisoned chalice. The Evangelist is shown holding the gospel that bears his name. The eagle, with it’s ability to fly very high and at great speed, symbolizes the spreading of God’s Word through St. John. The rainbow in the background symbolizes the Book of the Revelation, written by John.

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