A small congregation that was meeting in the district schoolhouse in Francisco, Mi., for nearly a year united on June 7th, 1876 under the name, "Evangelical Lutheran St. John's Congregation".

In 1879 they decided to build a church. A lot of 3 rods wide and 9 rods long was bought for $35.00. The small group pledged $400.00 in their first community meeting and canvassed the surrounding communities for additional funds to bring their vision for a new church to reality. The $1300.00 needed to build the church was completely covered. The result - a plain frame beautiful church - 48 feet long and 28 feet wide.

The church fittingly personified the simple values of the rural farmland that it now adorned and the dedicated individuals that were to fill its pews.

In April of 1957 ground was broken at the rear of the church to begin a project that had long been a dream of the congregation: to build a fellowship hall. It was completed December 29, 1957. This provided the perfect spot for what would soon become their highly acclaimed monthly Carry in dinners and Annual Swiss Steak Suppers.

The members that have served God by means of this church throughout the decades have been rich in resourcefulness and adaptability. Their faith and commitment to God remained deep and consistent as the name on the front of the church went from Evangelical Lutheran St. John's to St. John's Evangelical and Reformed Church and then to the current St. John's United Church of Christ.

Over the years the congregations that have met to worship God at 270 Bohne Road, have been blessed to be led by many diverse and devoted men and women of God's great calling. As testimony to their legacies and to the spiritual foundation that each of them built upon, St. John's United Church of Christ is filled with warmth, love, rich traditions, and a fierce dedication to grow and change as God wills.