St John's Episcopal Church

General information

At Saint John's, we believe that faith is a verb.

Since 1956 the people of St. John's have responded to the love of God and have worked to bring to fruition the mission of the church, "to restore all people to unity with God and one another in Christ," through the faithful practice of a Christian life.

What do we mean by the "practice of a Christian life"?

We mean that faith is not devoid of action, and action is not devoid of faith. Both faith and action are dependent on the other; in fact, they are so dependent that they each help shape the other: faith shapes practice, and practice shapes faith. This is an ancient philosophy from the early church where prayer and practice defined the life of Christians for nearly 70 years before the development of a formal creed/statement of faith, and nearly 350 years before the establishment of a canon of Christian scriptures. During those early years faith was lived out in practice and practice was lived out in faith - and at St. John's we are serious about reclaiming the practice of the Christian faith.
While there are many many ways to practice the Christian faith, we emphasize five specific practices:

We Worship

With so much to be thankful for, we gather together to celebrate the mystery of God's love in creating this universe and all that is in it, in redeeming humanity through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and for sustaining us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We Pray

The practice of prayer is a daily discipline that can be as simple as a few minutes of spontaneous, intentional, formal, and defined prayer or as involved as regular "offices" of prayer at regular intervals throughout the day. No matter how, prayer includes speaking and listening.

We Learn

Together, we seek to understand the Truth behind our faith. In fact, it was one of the saints of the church, St. Anselm, who said that the Christian life is lived as a life of "faith seeking understanding." Indeed, we seek to understand the who, what, when, where, and whys of God, of his Son, of the Holy Spirit - even as we seek to understand the same questions about human beings. We specifically emphasize Biblical literacy at St. John's and we offer Bible Study every day.

We Give

Someone once said that Christian stewardship includes everything that follows the words, "I believe." At St. John's we believe that this is true: once we accept the Truth of God's love into our lives, we also accept the truth that everything was created by God and therefore belongs to God. Psalm 116 asks the question, "What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?" The practice of giving, for Christians, is a response to that question. We are called to support the work of the Church, not only with our presence at prayer and programs, but by returning to God a portion of what already belongs to Him.

We Engage

As a Christian church we believe in Jesus Christ and understand His ongoing life and ministry to be participatory: we are blessed to be called into ministry with Jesus. As we worship, pray, learn, and give, we discover the many spiritual gifts that God has given to us through the Holy Spirit, and the practice of engagement is how we use those spiritual gifts - in the church and in the world. At St. John's there are opportunities for those with spiritual gifts for leadership, teaching, mercy, healing, administration, knowledge, service, evangelism, faith, hospitality, and much more. Whether you are called to help paint a wall on a parish work day, or perhaps called to larger - long-term ministries of outreach and mercy, we can help you find a ministry that is engaging and fulfilling.