St John the Divine was originally a mission church in the parish of St Botolph Heene, but became the church of a separate parish in 1955. The first building was designed in 1900 by G J Hagger, the same architect who later added a porch and chancel in 1913. This original church was adapted to form the south chapel of a larger one in 1936 under the instruction of the eminent church architect NF Cachemaille-Day. Its dimensions determined both the unusual breadth of the aisles and the low proportions of the new church, which is built of grey brick and flint.
The low proportions of the church are most obvious in the arcades, though the overall effect is unexpectedly spacious. The windows are less than traditional in appearance, notably the star-shaped ones in the east and west gables of the nave. There is a lower east sanctuary which inside is faced in stone with an elliptical roof, but it has no east window; instead there are three niches containing painted figures behind the altar. The broad tower at the east end of the north aisle is also low, but though intended from the first, it was not built until 1964. The spire that surmounts it is a broach with squat proportions reminiscent of many mediaeval ones in the Sussex downland. In 1966 the south porch was added, the interior altered and the font moved.
The stained glass illustration in the star-shaped window at the east end of the nave was designed by C Webb, 1937, to exploit the star shape and uses exceptionally vivid colours. The statues in the East niches are painted and gilded of Christ, St John and St Richard. The statue outside under a flat circular canopy on the angle of the exterior of the tower is St John by J Lawson and is carved in teak.
The Church of St John the Divine West Worthing is a Grade II listed building, for the following principal reasons:
* The church was designed, complete with fittings, by the eminent church architect NF Cachemaille-Day to harmonise with the local Sussex landscape
* It is a significant example of an inter-war church, completed to an original design, in 1966
* The development of the church site is significant to the history of the area.
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