Pastor's Message Thank you for your interest in us! St. John's Lutheran Church is a mid-sized congregation of Christians that has gathered in the Blueberry area for worship and fellowship and service since 1911. The congregation was established by the pioneers who first opened up the Stony Plain area and who came to this area from the Lutheran districts of Central and Eastern Europe. Although some descendants of the first settlers still call this our church home, our congregation consists of a number of people who moved onto acreages in the area. We also are the church home of members who live in Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, and as far away as Edmonton! We are a local gathering of people who have come into a healthy relationship with God through the special attention of God that came to us through Jesus Christ. We are the same as other groups of Christians in that we believe that God created the entire universe and is still active in making sure that everything continues to exist. We believe that God provides everything that we need to support this body and life and does this for everyone, whether they believe He exists or not. We also believe that God, although one God, is very complex, and shows Himself in the form of three distinct persons. The First Person is known as the Father. The Second Person, Jesus Christ, took on human flesh so that He could suffer the consequences of our arrogance and pride and general disobedience and endure the punishment we all deserve. He had to shed His blood so that evil could be overcome, but was raised from the dead to rule with the Father forever. He will always be both God and man at the same time. The Third Person is the Holy Spirit. It is only through the Holy Spirit as He comes to us through the Bible that we can come to faith and grow in our faith. We are confident that everyone who believes in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as each of us has been given the gift of faith by God Himself, is a Christian, no matter what church they go to. At the same time, faith is more than just believing, but it is also about living a life that is in keeping with God's forgiveness and love. God gives us strength and purpose and direction for doing this by reaching out to us through His Word and through special things that He has commanded us to do, such as Baptism and the Lord's Supper. At the same time, God gives local groups of Christians opportunities to support one another with God's gifts and to reach out to others and provide help and support to them in the name of Jesus Christ. For this reason, we have our church building and our worship services and for this reason we are organized as an association with our own local leadership. What makes us distinctive as a group of Christians is that we believe that God's Word calls us to gather around His clear teachings. The Bible is true, and we can trust that entire book to direct us to a clear understanding of who we are as people, what God does to change us, and how we are to serve Him in response to everything He has done for us. While some Christian groups gather around worship styles, others are gathered around personal testimonies and still others agree to follow a particular authority figure, we gather around a summary of the Bible's teachings, known as the Lutheran Confessions. In this way, we always have clarity in understanding what the Bible is saying and we don't have the teachings of the Bible pulled out from under us through changing religious fads and fashions. We are also in association with others who share our understanding of how congregations are gathered and organized. Our association is called Lutheran Church Canada, which has congregations in all regions of Southern Canada, except for Newfoundland. We resemble many Evangelical groups because of our conviction that the Bible is God's Word and that it has no mistakes, and also because we use an informal worship style on some Sundays. Then again, we resemble many Mainline church groups, like the Anglicans or the Roman Catholics, because we still use traditional church customs, like robes, altars and a formal worship style on some Sundays. When all is said and done, you will find that we are a unique Christian community that is situated in the Blueberry area, while also a part of the entire Church of God on earth. We look forward to each day knowing that God has a purpose for us all, but we also look forward to that time when God's promised new Heaven and new earth have come and we will be with God forever. |
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