History

Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church of Cedar Rapids, Iowa has roots reaching back to the 1920s, when Greek immigrants who had made their home in the Corridor region of east-central Iowa first began gathering together for worship and community life. The congregation was formally established by the Cedar Rapids Greek immigrant community in 1938, the fifth Greek Orthodox congregation to be founded in the State of Iowa, a milestone that reflected the steady growth of Orthodox Christian life across the heartland.

Construction of a church building began in 1940, with space left in the structure for the installation of a cornerstone bearing the date 1940 A.D. The building was consecrated that same year, giving the Cedar Rapids community its first permanent house of Orthodox Christian worship and completing a journey from informal immigrant gatherings to an established parish with a building of its own. The church at 501 A Avenue NE has served the faithful of the Cedar Rapids area in the decades since, witnessing the community's evolution from a congregation of first-generation Greek immigrants into the diverse, predominantly English-speaking parish it has become.

From its Greek immigrant origins the parish has grown into a welcoming community of approximately fifty families representing many different backgrounds, with the vast majority of each service conducted in English, reflecting a deliberate commitment to making the ancient Orthodox faith accessible to all who seek it in the heart of Iowa.

Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church at 501 A Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the Cedar Rapids area as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.