Our History
In 1884, James King, a pioneer farmer and owner of the Farm "Gowrie" donated a piece of land to the community of Nottingham Road for the building of a church and as a cemetary.
The idea of a having a church building soon excited the Christians and work was soon begun on a wood 'n iron structure, and in February 1885 the building was completed.
By 1990 the need was felt for a separate building which could serve as a Sunday School venue. This was duly completed. Prior to this the children used to meet in the local primary school for their Sunday School classes.
In 1992 an old church building was "discovered" when Bob de Laborde of Inzinga offered the de-consecrated Inzinga Methodist church building to St John's. De Laborde was using the building as a holiday cottage at the time. This building became what we now refer to as our "Harvest Hall."
At about the same time an old church building (which had previously been moved from the Dargle) was found at the Midmar Dam site near Howick. The miracle of this particular "find" was that one of the members of the congregation - the Late Jeff Ford - had seen a building in New Zealand and after making a model of the proposed addition to the Sunday School building, it was found that the "Midmar" building fitted in perfectly.
The extended building is now used for our Sunday services with the Sunday School meeting in the Harvest Hall. The original church, now a National Monument, is not currently used but plans are in place for it's refurbishment and recommissioning as a chapel.
An artist's impression of the original church building
