Our Mission

Live God’s love in the world.

Our Vision

A vibrant urban church centered in enthusiastic and inspirational worship, grace-filled service,
and rich opportunities for spiritual growth.

Our Core Values

We are attentive to God’s word,
prayerfully discerning God’s will
to do God’s work
with grace
in trust
by faith
through action.

Our Mission, Vision and Values in Action

When we commit to and live into the mission, vision, and core values of our congregation, we believe that God will bless our efforts. We therefore call upon the leaders of the congregation to do the necessary planning and preparation and execution of our goals so that we will be equipped to transform our visions and dreams and hopes into reality.

Commitment

We are St. John’s Lutheran Church, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and part of the Sierra Pacific Synod.  As Lutherans, our faith is built around a strong belief in God made known to us in Jesus Christ. We practice our faith through worship, service and education. And we embrace the mission of the ELCA: “God’s Work, Our Hands.”

• We will continue to be a church with a commitment to benevolence at home and abroad, courageous and resourceful and involved, with a dedicated staff and lay leaders and diverse talents among our volunteers.
• We will grow as a place where healing is high on the agenda and reconciliation can be found; a place where actions on behalf of the homeless and the hungry are priorities and where we are involved in solutions; a place where poverty, the violation of human rights, and domestic abuse will be confronted.

Hospitality

• We exist for God’s purposes for the world, not for ourselves, and believe that, with God, all things are possible. We are a congregation willing to take risks to fulfill God’s mission and vision for us.
• We will look at the future through the prism of a missional congregation rather than one devoted to the maintenance of the status quo.
• We will grow our average weekly worship attendance and our active membership every year, responding as a priesthood of believers to the growing and changing population in our community. 
• Our efforts to share the vitality of our congregation will be marked with hospitality and compassion and care.

Worship

Our worship, which is the centerpiece of our life as a congregation, shapes and grounds our identity and calling and shall always receive our highest attention.

• We will be intentional in our spiritual growth, and strive to be a Book of Faith congregation, a home for emergent worship, and a place where God’s people of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds can connect their faith and their gifts in communion with each other.
• We will continue a variety of worship services and strengthen our evangelism outreach in the community. We will add to our rich musical history, to build our musical depth and become a leader in liturgical music, taking advantage of new opportunities to use our music to reach deeper and farther into the community.
• We will support the L17 Community Arts Foundation as an instrument to enrich the performing arts in our region and provide performances of the highest qualities to the widest audiences possible; and, through these initiatives, provide assistance for various charities in the region.

Change

We believe that God is in the change business and we celebrate change, growth, and transformation.  We do not fear change, but we always ask how it will help us to better accomplish our vision and how we can grow individually and collectively in a changing congregation.

• We will direct the ideas of change into the realities of service in our congregation and in our community, but never allow the conflicts of change to cause any form of paralysis in our actions.
• We will work to ensure that as we go through the adaptive change that lies ahead we will not lose any of the vitality and enthusiasm we are experiencing at St. John’s.

Leadership

Our congregation is a movement in Christ whose mission and ministry are shared and owned by everyone. The accountability and responsibility for the success of that mission lies with us all.

• We will build on the vitality and enthusiasm we are experiencing and always endeavor to be a joyful, creative and fun-filled place, maintaining a willingness to try new things and new ways to do old things; and we will celebrate our successes and learn from our failures.
• We will recruit and train a core of new leaders to join the current leadership as we continue to create an environment of imagination and excitement and accomplishment.

Community

We understand that growing as disciples of Jesus Christ and helping all in their walk of faith is a team effort; that sharing the Good News and being an inviting, welcoming, gracious community of faith is integral to our health and vitality.

• We will maintain a team supportive of one another — staff, lay leaders and members —setting aside personal issues and creating a transparent communication system, using old media and new technology so that no one will be excluded. 
• Through the dedicated work of our nurses and our Stephen Ministers we will faithfully care for the wellbeing of members in body and mind. As an authentic congregation in Christ, we will hold each other accountable for speech and actions that foster respect, patience and kindness for all.
• We will affirm that the partnership between the paid and unpaid servants among us is based on a united, dedicated and devoted commitment to our shared vision. 
• We also believe that lots of laughter and humility should mark our life together.

Discipleship

Apart from regular participation in worship, we believe the primary and most effective medium for faith development is the home.  It is our responsibility to equip parents and all who care for youth and children to fulfill their privilege of faith formation. We strive to raise all of our children, adolescents and young adults to become healthy, hopeful, giving and faith-filled servant-leaders.

• We will pass on a clear blueprint for ministry and an understanding of God’s word and of discipleship in this world to our children and young people, reinforcing our obligation to create home-based faith development activities for all of our families.
• We will seek to build on our educational programs so that we will reach more and more children and young people each year. Through education available for all ages, we will raise our relationship with God. And we will search for additional opportunities to develop The Refuge into a safe environment for people of all ages.

Generosity

Faithful stewardship is at the center of our identity as Christians, both as a congregation and as individuals. And we recognize that the true meaning of stewardship is what one does after one says, “I believe.”

• We will continue to discover the joy of a generous spirit, of being trustworthy stewards, of understanding that stewardship is at the center of our identity as Christians.
• We will set a goal of giving in our congregation that will exceed 10 percent of the collective household income of our members. We will seek to expand both our benevolence and our endowment.
• And, as  “our journey continues,” we will remind ourselves that we are the keepers of the dream of those who came before us, the stewards of their vision, and the inheritors of their mission; and that we owe a debt to those who will come after us. Our goals are large, but they are not larger than our hearts, or as deep as our appreciation for all the blessings and gifts that we have received from God.

Service

We stand with the poor, the powerless, the aging, the voiceless, the dying and the disenfranchised with the compassion of Christ that has no limits or boundaries.

• We will actively recognize our duty to reach out to and participate in the larger community, embracing God’s mission in the world, supporting the involvement of every member in some form of service, and contributing generously to the missions and ministries beyond our walls. Our reach is as far away as Rwanda, a genocide-torn country that is restoring its soul, and as close by as the Central Downtown Food Basket in Goethe Hall. The St. John’s Shelter Program for Women and Children, Habitat for Humanity, Family Promise, Francis House, Loaves and Fishes, Lutheran Social Services, Safe Ground, and men and women taking the next steps on their road to rehabilitation, are and will remain among the many causes we support through the generosity of our members.
• We will answer the call to help those in need whenever and wherever a disaster strikes and leaves a path of destruction and devastation in its wake.