Unless you know where it is, you might never find St. John Baptist Church.

The 284-year-old brick church was started in an arbor in 1735, long before there was a United States.

It sits among pines in the sandy soil of southern Lexington County at the end of Old Wire Road in Dixiana.

This Sunday Pastor Patricia Simmons Lowman and her congregation plan to celebrate 284 years and the Christian faith which has sustained them.

The church gained national newspaper and TV publicity and biracial community support after teen vandals all but destroyed it on New Years Eve 1985.

Lexington County deputies caught the vandals, and, with Christian charity, the congregation forgave them.

They asked prosecutors and the court for sentences of community service only.

10 years later, another group of vandals burned the white concrete block sanctuary and Sunday school building to the ground.

National publicity attracted a building contractor and his crew from Texas. With help from local volunteers they built a brick church.

4 years ago, vandals shot out the church windows and desecrated graves in the St. John church cemetery.

Throughout these times of trauma, the congregation’s size dwindled as members feared for their safety.

A hearty few hung on.

Rev. Lowman, whose brother Willie had long been an active St. John leader, has lead her congregation through changes, additions and improvements.

Under her leadership the “Thanksgiving Basket Project” has donated food to needy members and community residents.

The Youth and Men’s Choirs and Vacation Bible School were started.

The church cemetery is now lighted from dusk to dawn through donations and hard work from volunteers and members.

The anniversary celebration will begin at 11 am in the sanctuary at 1311 Old State Rd. in Dixiana.

Rev. Lowman invites the community to join them.

For details call 739-2393.