Created, renewed and empowered by God’s grace, St John’s Lutheran Church is a welcoming community in Christ that:
celebrates in word and sacrament God’s gracious actions in the world,
cultivates growth in faith,
encourages service and witness and
proclaims Christ as the hope of the world.
St. John’s mission statement, adopted January 26, 1997
St. John’s is made up of people of all walks of life. We are young and old. We are families and singles. We are children, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great–grandparents. But we are one in faith.
Lutheran Christians – Lutherans are a reforming movement within the Western Church whose roots trace back to the early Church and through the Reformation movement of the sixteenth century. We believe that the center of the Good News about God is that God has come to this world in Jesus and, through his life, death and resurrection, all people are given new life and are called to live in that new life of grace in and for this world. We believe that God’s love for the world is so great that we cannot earn it; we are loved by God freely and called into new life.
As Lutheran Christians, there are some characteristics we have as a congregation. We are:
Evangelical – Literally this means “Good News people.” We believe that God’s living Word for us and for the world is the risen Savior, Jesus Christ and that we are called to share the Good News of Jesus’ grace with the world, to be the body of Christ in and for the world.
Gracious – As people who believe God’s grace – God’s freely given, unearned love for us and the world – we seek to live God’s grace, to be God’s grace in the world. As our mission statement reminds, we are created, renewed and empowered by God’s grace to be welcoming people in Jesus’ name.
Scriptural – Lutherans cherish the written Word of God, the Bible and believe and teach that it leads us to the living Word of God, Jesus, who still moves among us through the Spirit and guides us. The Bible shows us God’s love and plan in Jesus for us and for the world.
Sacramental – We believe that God is truly present in the waters of Holy Baptism and in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. In these physical signs, together with God’s Word of promise and grace, the eternal God is with us and blesses us. These gifts are God’s embrace of us, signs of God’s willingness to be with humanity in the depths of our pain and our joy and transform both with amazing love.
Confessional – Lutherans are confessional people. We confess the truth of the Gospel – God’s Good News in Jesus – and hold it as the one thing needed for Christian unity, along with the Sacraments. As a confessing movement that grew out of historical contexts, we also continue to teach that the historical writings of the Lutheran Church (called “confessions”) are true and valid expressions of Christian faith.
Creedal – With Christians around the world for nearly 2,000 years, Lutherans teach that the three ecumenical creeds (Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian) proclaim true understanding of faith in the Triune God, the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.
Liturgical – When we worship, we use historical forms of praise and prayer based on Scripture and tradition, used by the Church worldwide and we use a variety of music styles, from the whole palette of God’s gift of music from ancient to contemporary.
Our Community
We are part of the community that is Northfield, Minnesota, land of “Cows, Colleges and Contentment.” We serve locally through Meals on Wheels, the Food Shelf, Community Action Center, Christmas Sharing and many other local ministries.
St. John’s is a Mission Founder congregation. We provided support to start in Frisco, Texas (north suburbs of Dallas). We also are a Mission Partner with El Milagro Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, a Spanish–speaking congregation of the ELCA. We have helped support a new ELCA congregation in our town, Rejoice. St. John’s also serves globally through mission sponsorships directly and through the ELCA. We currently support missionaries in Tanzania and Madagascar.
We support Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Volunteer Corps and Lutheran Social Services as ways of bringing Christ’s love to people in need around the world.
St. John's Lutheran Church | Northfield, Minnesota
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