A historic Black church in Missouri City has secured a major court victory, ensuring its land and legacy will remain in the hands of its congregation.
St. John Missionary Baptist Church, which celebrates its 156th anniversary later this month, defeated a nearly two-decade legal battle aimed at stripping the church of its property.
The case is significant, members say, because it represents more than just a property dispute. It is the latest chapter in a 19-year struggle involving arson, intimidation and lawsuits—all in what church leaders and their attorneys describe as an attempt to take valuable Black-owned land.
“This is very historic because this church was founded by freed slaves,” said Ben Hall Law Firm Attorney Taren Marsaw, who led the church’s legal team. “They had just come out of the Civil War and under the leadership of Reverend Dave King, they bought this property at first for $84. They built a community, a church and a school when Black people had nothing. So now, 155 years later, that they’re continuing this mission is something worth everyone knowing about.”
A legacy rooted in faith and education
Though founded in 1869, St. John was first established on land purchased in 1900, and in 1935 moved to its current two-acre site on Oilfield Rd.
Pastor Gerald Rivers explained how the land was obtained through a deed arrangement with a local plantation owner.
“This church had two acres of land off Highway 6,” explained Rivers. “There was an old plantation owner named George Dew who convinced the church to swap that two acres for this two acres (the church’s current location),” Rivers said. “But, he had a deed restriction. As long as you have a church and don’t abandon the property, the property is yours.”
The original 1935 structure was more than a sanctuary.
“They added an extra space onto it to make a school out of it because in this area, Blacks did not have a school to go to,” Rivers said. “So, the church not only had worship service, they also educated the Black kids here.”
Today, that same land sits in the heart of Riverstone, one of Missouri City’s most affluent neighborhoods, where the median home price exceeds half a million dollars.
Attacks and intimidation
For nearly 20 years, St. John faced challenges that went beyond the courtroom. In 2006, arsonists set the church ablaze. The building, though damaged, remained standing until it was finally demolished in 2020.
“It started back in 2006, when an arsonist set the church on fire and burned most of it down,” Rivers recalled. “Right after that, a person who alleged to be the heir of the old owner of the property started showing up every Sunday morning to see if the members were actually having church.”
The harassment didn’t stop there. Members endured drive-by shootings, illegal surveillance cameras and even dirt piles dumped in front of the entrance to block worshippers.
“The church had been set on fire, someone had shot it up two or three different times and they vandalized it,” Rivers said. “It was just horrific acts of violence.”
Yet the congregation never abandoned the land. Even without utilities from 2006 to 2020, they worshipped outdoors, using port-a-potties and a generator hooked up to a pickup truck.
“When we came, we noticed even in the gaming camera footage illegally placed on the property that the church was still praising and worshiping under tents and lawn chairs,” Marsaw said. “It was a story of perseverance and real faith under fire.”
The lawsuits
The legal battle formally began in 2017, when Rivers sought a quiet title deed to affirm the church’s ownership. That sparked the first lawsuit by alleged descendants of George Dew, who claimed the church had “abandoned” the property when its name was changed from St. John Colored Baptist Church to St. John Missionary Baptist Church.
“That suit lasted until 2018 or 2019,” Rivers said. “We appealed it to the Texas Supreme Court. They sent it back to us. We basically still had the deed, like it was no change.”
The second lawsuit came in 2019, when Justin Renshaw, son of the woman who had monitored the congregation after the fire, argued that tearing down the arson-damaged building constituted abandonment.
“Fortunately, Mr. Ben Hall, our attorney, did a great job in representing us. And we won that case, over five years later, in the district court,” Rivers said.
A historic win
The court’s ruling marked a decisive victory for the congregation.
“Yes, I was present. And the reaction was as we expected, jubilance,” Rivers said.
Member Dorceal Duckens described the relief.
“I was hollering Hallelujah in the courtroom. It was just a weight lifted. We knew God was going to work it out, and He did it that morning,” said Duckens, a member of the St. John music ministry.
For Marsaw, Rivers and others, the win is about more than one congregation. An attempt by whites to take Black land, multiple scholars argue, is quintessentially “American.”
Attorney Jamal Hicks of the J. Hicks Law Group and a member of the trial team, agreed.
“[The victory] shows that we still have a voice,” said Hicks. “We can maintain our historical markers, cultivate our communities, keep them safe and whole. This is a huge victory not only for St. John, but for the Black community of Houston, as well.”
What’s next for St. John
With the case behind them, the congregation is looking ahead.
“The next move is our 156th church anniversary on the fourth Sunday of this month,” Rivers said. “We are temporarily having service in the Quail Run Community Center until we can get this building fixed up. Then we’ll start raising funds to build a permanent structure.”
Though developers may see St. John’s location as prime real estate, Rivers sees it as so much more.
“If you look around this area, this is a very prestigious community. It’s a harvest field that’s waiting to be harvested,” he said. “This is the only African American church within miles of this area.”
For a congregation that has survived fire, bullets, lawsuits and nearly two decades of intimidation, the future remains rooted in faith. As Duckens put it: “We were trusting God anyway. We didn’t know how, but we knew He was going to do it.”
