We acknowledge that St. John's Lutheran Church and the Greater Sacramento Area lie within the sacred and cherished ancestral homelands of the Nisenan, Maidu, Miwok, Me-Wuk and Patwin Indigenous Peoples. These lands were never ceded. By the grace of God, we endeavor to form new and ongoing relationships of honor and respect with these lands and peoples.

A land acknowledgment is a public recognition of the Indigenous Peoples who have been dispossessed and displaced from their ancestral homelands and territories. This statement acknowledges that St. John’s Lutheran Church was built and operates on Indigenous Peoples’ ancestral homelands. Land acknowledgments are not about placing blame. A land acknowledgement is a first step towards building an inclusive future that confronts the ongoing erasure of Indigenous Peoples’ voices, lives, cultures and history. Land acknowledgements provide an entry point and pathway, and an opportunity for increased learning, education, and respect within our faith community and with our neighbors.