St. John’s exists as a living part of the body of Christ, as a vibrant part of our community, as a dramatic presence at the corner of 17th and L streets, and as a home of God’s gifts of grace, peace, love, tolerance, generosity and hope.
St. John’s is an inclusive Christian community, a vibrant urban
church with an unbreakable commitment to transform its mission
and vision and values, its dreams and its hopes of a world
filled with God’s love, into realities.
We believe that when the Bible says “for God so loved the world
that He gave his one and only Son” those words really speak of
the whole world. Of everyone. Regardless of your age, gender,
race, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation, or
any other characteristic, we invite you to be a part of our
community.
St. John’s members understand that diversity is about
inclusiveness and tolerance and giving all people an opportunity
for spiritual growth; about helping to build a bridge across the
abyss of our differences that has too long separated us; about
recognizing all of our cultural backgrounds and all of our ideas
and experiences so that we, as children of God, can better serve
our neighbors wherever there is a need.
In August, 2009, our denomination, The Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, passed an historic
Social Statement on Human Sexuality. The two major aspects of
this social statement were to allow local congregations to
recognize same-gender unions and to allow for ordination of
pastors in committed same-gender unions.
While we welcome the social statement, recognition of equality is
nothing new to St. John’s. As a congregation we are a Reconciling
in Christ community, explicitly welcoming members of the GLBT
community. After all, the doors of our community of faith
have been opened to all for nearly 150 years.
We hope that you’ll join us because diversity makes each of us
stronger as together we learn more about living God’s love in the
world and doing God’s work with grace, in trust, by faith,
through action.
The Rev. Martin E. Marty, Lutheran theologian, author and
teacher, answers that question quite simply: “A Lutheran is a
follower of Jesus Christ, a member of the Christian Church. He or
she would be defined as an evangelical Christian. The term
“evangelical” refers to a term Protestants like to use to point
out that their faith centers in the good news of what God has
done for people in Jesus Christ.”
