In his letters to the early Church, our namesake, St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, repeatedly addressed his readers as "little children." St. Jerome tells us that, in his old age, John would be carried into the church to say to the congregation, "My little children, love one another!"   

Spiritually speaking, we are all "little children" before God. None of us knows all there is to know about God. We cannot do good deeds in his name without the power of Jesus Christ. We depend on him for everything. No wonder Jesus tells us that we must be like children to enter the Kingdom of God!

At the same time, we are also called to grow into greater maturity when we come to know Christ. We are never to stop learning, growing, moving on to the next thing Christ wants to show us so that we can be more like him, and grow closer to him.

St. John Lutheran Church is to be a Christian community where everyone can be welcome as little children, and where all are encouraged to grow into a fuller understanding of, and relationship with, Jesus Christ. Some of us might be life-long Christians who know the Bible back-to-front; others might be crossing the "stained-glass threshold" for the first time, and might not feel like we know anything. But all are welcome. We pray for one another, minister to one another, to our community, and to God's world, and as we do, we come to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. Whether you are a long-life Lutheran, come from another denomination, or have no faith background whatever, join others of God's "little children" at St. John, and grow in Jesus Christ!

"Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." -- 1 John 3:18