From GoodGoodGood – thanks to Pam P. (Ed note: Is this perhaps a new way to worship?)
St. John’s Lutheran Church has sat on a downtown corner of Madison, Wisconsin — just three blocks from the state Capitol — for nearly 170 years.
But its leaders are now working to demolish it.
“St. John’s has always been a place focused on refuge, serving the poor, and meeting people where they are,” the church’s pastor, Rev. Peter Beeson, said in a fundraising video.
“Today, we’re looking at adapting our building in the most audacious way yet: by tearing it down to build 110 units of affordable housing, plus worship and community space.”
In the place of the old building will be a brand-new 10-story redevelopment, as Beeson described, home to a new worship space, offices, community spaces, and over 100 mostly low-income apartments, with a parking garage underneath.
The idea came about from conversations around how the congregation could best give back to the community, and now the $58 million project is about to break ground, with the goal to be completed in the next two years.
“We were realizing more and more people were struggling with finding housing,” Beeson recently told Wisconsin Public Radio. “And if they were able to find housing, were paying 50, 60, 70% of their income for housing costs.” (continue on page 2 or here)