Help us build a sustainable reserve for the care, repair, and future of our historic church home.
Your gift to the Capital Campaign is above and beyond regular tithes and offerings and will help establish a sustainable reserve for the care and future of our historic church home.
Why are we launching a campaign now?
St. John’s is blessed with a beautiful historic campus that is home to our liturgical life and a wide variety of ministries. However, the historic nature of the building also requires us to plan for major repairs before they become emergencies.
Our regular tithes and offerings cover the ministries and services of the parish, as well as benevolence, regular maintenance, and repairs.
However, recent engineering assessments have identified several significant needs that we should be prepared to address in the near term and that fall outside our standard operating budget.
It has become clear that we need to build capital reserves that will allow our space to continue to support our ministries and parish life.
Your gift helps us:
Address urgent needs.
Stabilize our buildings.
Build a sustainable reserve.
Prepare responsibly for the future.
where will my donations go?
Address Immediate Needs, Prepare for the Future
Our parish faces several significant building and grounds needs that require timely attention. Some pose immediate health and safety concerns, while others could become far more costly if left unaddressed. A few examples of the pressing needs include:
Barn roof and structural repairs. A 2025 engineering assessment identified significant sagging in the Barn roof and recommended further investigation and reinforcement. The roof has now begun to leak, making prompt action necessary to prevent further structural damage.
Parsonage moisture and black mold. Years of recurring moisture problems have led to black mold in the parsonage, posing a health risk to its residents. Addressing the mold and its underlying moisture problems is an urgent priority to protect the health of those living there, as well as to prevent further deterioration of the building.
Orleans Street retaining wall. The large stone wall behind the Fellowship Hall has developed a significant outward bulge. A structural engineer has recommended repairs to prevent further movement and potentially more extensive and costly damage down the road.
While this remains outside the budget of the present campaign, it needs to be planned for in the future.
These issues above represent only a portion of our parish's overall building and grounds needs.
Our immediate goal is to raise the funds needed to address urgent health and safety concerns, stabilize our buildings, and prevent further damage while ensure we retain enough reserve to continue our regular ministries.
This first phase will give us the financial footing to respond to pressing needs while developing a comprehensive, long-term capital improvement plan.
Working with the Parish Council, we will assess our broader building and grounds needs, establish priorities, and prepare a detailed plan with a full budget for presentation. We will discuss and vote as a parish on what comes next at the February 2027 annual meeting.
By acting now, we can address our most pressing needs while laying the groundwork for a thoughtful, financially responsible plan to care for our parish's buildings for years to come.
capital campaign task force
Ways to give:
1) Credit Card or ACH: Tithe.ly and select “Capital Campaign/Building Fund.”
2) Other Giving Methods: Contact Elaine Camacho at bookkeeper@sjww.org.
other ways to get involved:
There are many opportunities to improve and beautify our space through volunteer work within the parish.
We also welcome the input and participation of parish members in all aspects of this campaign.
If you have questions or want to get more involved, please contact Margaret Arbogast, Task Force Chair, at margo.arbogast12@gmail.com.
September 12, 2026
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Whether you're new to St. John's or you've been part of our family for years, we're so glad to have you with us. Our mission is simple: to grow together in prayer, fasting, and generosity through the worship and teachings of Christ's holy Church. Throughout the year, we share what God has given us through worship, classes, study groups, meals, charitable work, and social gatherings — and our Grant Park campus beats at the heart of all of it, giving us a real place to carry out this very real mission in the community around us.
Now it's time to make some much-needed repairs and improvements to God's temple. With the blessing of His Grace, Bishop Gerasim, the Parish Council and I have launched a Capital Campaign to support this work. As our parish continues to grow, we want to keep offering a welcoming, safe, and flexible space for worship, fellowship, education, and service — and with God's help, we can make that happen together.
Our first goal is to raise $35,000 by the end of December 2026, above and beyond our regular operating budget. We're off to a wonderful start: a generous donor has already pledged a matching gift of $35,000. If we meet that match, we'll be well on our way toward our broader goal of $110,000 by the SJWW Annual Meeting in February, 2027!
Our unique campus enables us to welcome a diverse community of adults, families, and children into our parish family. Please prayerfully consider a gift to the 2026–27 Capital Campaign, and keep this effort in your prayers as we move forward.
If you have questions, ideas, or would like help planning your gift, please contact Margaret Arbogast, Task Force Chair, at margo.arbogast12@gmail.com.
The Capital Campaign Task Force will share updates as we go.
Asking for your prayers,
Priest Gabe Aldridge | Rector
about sjww:
St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church is a diverse and welcoming community with deep roots in Grant Park and the city of Atlanta. Our parish began as a mission in Midtown in the 1970s, moved to Grant Park in the 1980s, and began the still-thriving Loaves and Fishes food program in the 1990s.