SJD 2030
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
On December 3, 1939, the Rev. Thomas Sumners led St. John the Divine’s first worship service at River Oaks Elementary School. From that humble beginning, God has used our church to Change Lives for God in Christ in Houston and the world.
As we look forward to 2030 and imagine the possibilities for St. John the Divine to be 'A Light for the City', brimming with new believers on a discipleship journey with Jesus that equips them take their faith into the world, we have an opportunity to prepare our campus to be a vital piece of ministry for St. John the Divine in 2030 and beyond.
SJD Master Campus Plan
As we discern God’s vision for SJD 2030 and into the next generation, we have an exciting opportunity to imagine new possibilities for our strategically located campus. We want to be bold, creative, and inclusive in considering how our facilities and location will reflect our call to be 'A Light for the City' with more people gathering in Christ, growing together, and going forth for others.
In 2024, we engaged Merriman Holt Powell Architects to work with us on a master plan. They held many meetings with key ministries and three public town hall meetings.
Sunday, April 27, 6 pm in the Hall Life Center
Master Campus Town Hall #4
Please join us to for an update on our Campus Master Plan followed by a period for asking questions.
Master Plan Goals
- Deliver a campus Master Plan that supports The Church of St. John the Divine’s Mission of Changing Lives for God in Christ, as parishioners Gather in Christ, Grow as Disciples, and Go on Mission.
- Create inviting architecture that harmonizes with the existing campus and that reflects SJD’s values as it aims be a “Light to the City” and is committed to bringing God’s love beyond its campus.
- Provide facilities that serve a multi-generational congregation, attract new young families, and allow for SJD to grow by 100 parishioners per year for the next ten years.
- Carefully steward SJD’s property, by making spaces multi-purpose when possible, and by increasing the utilization of the North Lawn.
- Design a campus with spaces that build community, gracious hallways that allow intuitive flow, and prominently located assembly spaces that are easily accessed from primary circulation.
- Transform the Westheimer face of the campus to make it more visible and inviting, projecting the image of SJD as a vibrant and outward-looking church.
- Provide additional parking on the campus, enough to accommodate a typical Sunday attendance.
- Create a clear and gracious weekday main entrance and Welcome Center, and improve campus security by limiting the number of other entrances.
- Consolidate each ministry area on the campus to improve travel time and foster greater fellowship within them.
- Plan staff spaces that facilitate collaboration, group teams together, and that do not interfere with ministry programming.
- “Future proof” the campus as much as possible, through flexible spaces, accessible technology, proven MEPT systems, and durable, maintenance-friendly materials.
QUESTION ABOUT THE MASTER CAMPUS PLAN?
Frequently Asked Questions
As we work towards our SJD2030 vision, we have a wonderful and important opportunity to better align our facilities with our mission of Changing Lives for God in Christ as parishioners Gather in Christ, Grow as Disciples, and Go on Mission. With the exception of the church renovation in 2005, we have not significantly improved our facilities to support our ministry needs in over thirty years.
Our architects and members of our Master Plan committee interviewed representatives from each of our ministries to understand their current and long-term space needs. Those needs will be summarized in a space program, which will function as the needs basis for the Master Plan design.
The Campus Master Plan design is complete and approved by the vestry to advance into the detailed design phase. This phase will last 14 months and lead to the creation of final construction documents ready for city permit approval. The permitting process is expected to take about 8 months, and if all goes smoothly, we could be breaking ground as soon as late 2026. From there, construction will take approximately 20-22 months, with the entire project set to be completed by the 3rd quarter of 2028.
The Master Plan design will include the improvements to our campus that are needed to support our mission and fulfill the Master Plan goals. We do not know yet what the exact nature of the campus improvements will be. They may include new buildings, renovations, or both.
While the North Lawn is owned by SJD, it is platted separately from our main campus and must comply with the deed restrictions of River Oaks Property Owners (ROPO). We are exploring the possibilities for the North Lawn that would allow it to better serve our ministry needs, and plan to discuss those possibilities with ROPO to help determine our options.
Parking is often an issue, particularly during the week when we have many programmed activities. While available parking is not currently a significant hindrance to attending our worship services and Sunday School, it is not ideal, and we believe it will become an increasing problem as we grow over time. With this in mind, we believe it will be important to add parking to our campus while we continue to partner with our neighbors to satisfy a portion of our parking needs. We are now exploring ways we can consider adding parking to our campus.
No, we have decided not to construct an underground parking garage during this phase of the project. Given the substantial cost involved, we are prioritizing our budget to build new facilities and enhance our existing spaces. We plan to add ample surface parking to meet the city’s parking requirements. In Phase 2 of the project, we will evaluate the possibility of adding a parking garage or additional parking spaces.
The Julia Garden provides a wonderful respite from the city and offers a beautiful and inviting image of natural beauty as a foreground to our church-facing River Oaks Boulevard. As we balance all our campus needs, we may consider options to reconfigure, or perhaps relocate the Julia Garden to another area of our campus.
In the current design, there is a pathway in the same location, on the center axis of the Church, that will connect the Church through the reconfigured circle drive, and to the relocated Julia Garden in the North Lawn.
While we cannot guarantee that the SJS classrooms in the courtyard just to the west of the HLC will continue to be available on Sundays for small group meetings, we have an excellent working relationship with SJS where they use our space and are confident that the school will continue to allow us to use the classrooms.
This timing will be determined by the continued growth and space needs of the church after Phase One has been completed.
At this point, we believe a reasonable range is $50 million. That said, our design is far from final, and the range is likely to change. We will update parishioners as we progress with the design and cost.
None - the Episcopal Diocese of Texas does not fund the construction or refurbishment of buildings on parish properties.
Master Plan Committee
Merriman Holt Powell, Architects
| Jim Powell, President and Principal |
SJD Committee
| Chap Hutcheson, Chair | Kenny Meyer, Vice Chair |
| Leigh Spruill, Rector | Herschel Hamner, Sr. Warden |
| Suzanne Boué | Alicia Summers, Jr. Warden |
| Ross Adams | Elizabeth Galtney |
| Ted Gobillot | Candy Knudson |
| Jeff Megow | Larry Neuhaus |
| John Rosson | Howard Schneider |