St. John's History


In 1927 Pastor G.H. Hillmer was granted permission by his congregation at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Riverside to conduct Bible classes and Services in Hemet. These services were held in member's homes.

The first formal service was held on December 31, 1927 at the home of Ross and Adelia Anderson, it was a communion service. On March 20, 1928 the Constitution of St. John's was adopted and the first officers of the congregation were elected. There were 23 communicant members on that date. During 1928 arrangements were made to allow Pastor Hillmer to conduct services at the First Baptist Church on Sunday afternoons.

The first Resident Pastor of St. John's, Hemet, was Pastor Oswald Skov who was installed in August 1928. In order to hold Sunday morning services, the meeting place was moved to the basement of the old Hemet Library. In 1937 land was purchased at the northeast corner of Buena Vista Street and St. John's Place and construction began in May 1937. Pastor Skov was the architect and construction supervisor.

On March 26, 1939 the new sanctuary was dedicated. Over 244 days of labor was donated. In 1957 two Sunday services were established to accommodate the rapidly increasing attendance. St. John's was the first church in Hemet to have two Sunday morning services.

In May 1961 it was resolved to purchase the present church site at 26410 Columbia St, Hemet, Ca. The new church site was dedicated in March 1965.

Since then we have had added onto the property with the Fellowship Center (named after one of our pastors, Rev. Martin Whal), the current church building and started the preschool, elementary and middle school.

God has truly blessed St. John's Lutheran ministries with so much and we are very grateful to continue His work and reach out into the Hemet/San Jacinto Valley and bring the Gospel to them!
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