“All are welcome; all are welcome, in this place.” These words are the chorus to a hymn from our worship book, but they also capture the vision of the church we hold here at the Lutheran Church of Saint John the Evangelist. We intentionally seek to be a welcoming and inviting community of Christians. 

Sunday 8:00AM and 9:30AM Worship
 

Our Story- Our Belief -Our Heritage

Our Story -                             

This Lutheran community of faith was founded on September 23rd,1882 on a plot of land at 231 State Street in Nanticoke, PA.

God likes stories! The story of Saint John's begins in Genesis in a garden where God has made all things and they are good. It is a story of covenant, a testament, both old and new, which reached cosmic fulfillment in the person of Jesus. It is a story of a people who are inevitably linked as part of one global family.

The story of Saint John's in one of a diverse group of people who continue in the tradition of the apostles. "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers". (Acts 2:42)

Our particular story is linked to places like Wittenberg and Augsburg. In later centuries we have come from places as diverse as Estonia and England, Slovakia and Italy, Poland and India. Today we are a growing congregation with roots from all parts of the world, embracing many who are not "native Lutherans".

But our story is not complete. We are on a continuing journey. Refreshed and renewed in our life together, gathering afresh to hear God's promises, to seek ways to live out the faith and to offer our God-given gifts in service to others. Together we witness, share our joys and sorrows, join in worship and play in that ever homeward-bound journey toward the welcoming arms of a waiting God.

Our Belief- Grace alone! Faith alone! Scripture alone!

We confess our belief in the Word of God as the sole rule and norm for Christian doctrine and in Jesus Christ, the Son of God as understood in the major Lutheran Confessional writings and creeds.

Saint John's Church confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Saint John's Church confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the Gospel as the power of God, which saves all who believe.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.

The proclamation of God's message to us as both Law and Gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by the Holy Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God's revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them, God's Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.

Saint John's Church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.

Saint John's Church accepts the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of the church.

Saint John's Church confesses the Gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the Church for God's mission in the world.
 

Our Heritage:

Lutheran churches around the world can trace their roots directly to the Protestant Reformation that took place in Europe in the 16th century. Martin Luther, a German monk, determined that there were differences between the Bible and church practices of the day. His writings, lectures and sermons inspired others to protest these church practices and join him in calling for their reform.

Luther wrote that a clearer understanding of Romans 1:17 helped him resolve the conflict tormenting his conscience: "Then finally, God had mercy on me, and I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that gift of God with which a righteous man lives, namely, faith, and that this sentence - the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel - is passive, indicating that the merciful God justifies us by faith . . . . Now I felt as though I had been reborn altogether and had entered Paradise".

On October 21, 1517, Martin Luther posted a challenge on the church door at Wittenberg University to debate 95 theological issues. Through these 95 Theses, Luther's hope was that the church would reform its practice to be more consistent with the Word of God as contained in the Bible.

By the late 1500's the Reformation had spread throughout Europe. Followers of Martin Luther's teachings were labeled "Lutherans" by their enemies and took the name for themselves as a badge of honor. Lutheran beliefs soon became widespread, especially in Germany and the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.

In its principle confession of 1530, the Augsburg Confession, Lutherans expressly defined themselves, not as a separate denomination, but as a confessional movement within the one Holy Catholic Church.

While we still consider ourselves as a reforming movement within the church catholic, Lutherans seek to preserve as much of that catholic tradition as is consistent with the Gospel. Centered on the biblical Word and the sacraments instituted by Christ himself, the Lutheran Church strives to be faithful to the Good News that our salvation before God is purely a gift from God in the person and the saving life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.