A Welcoming Servant in the Heart of the City: In an average week, approximately 600 people come through our doors. About 130 of those people come for worship and congregational meetings. The other 470 come for shelter in either the day or night shelters, or for financial assistance, (last year we gave $38,000 in direct assistance to those in need), or for refugee settlement, or for an AA meeting. In many ways St. Johns is a center for service and mission as well as a vital urban congregation in downtown Madison. Currently 850 members consider St. John's their church home. It is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Online Giving: Beginning in 2012, you may use this link for an online donation to St. Johns Lutheran and its programs, using traditional credit and debit cards. If you have questions about this kind of giving, or are interested in other gifting possibilities, please contact the church office at 608-256-2337. The first time you use the online contribution service, you will be asked to create a profile.

Worship at St. Johns: On Sunday mornings worship begins at 9:30. Coffee fellowship, adult forum, confirmation, and Sunday Learning Place follow worship All are welcome to receive the bread and the wine for Holy Communion. Please join us.

The Epiphany Season: Inclusion is a natural theme for epiphany this year as we remember the foreign sages who brought gifts to the manger. On January 16, we will use prayers in worship stressing the public inclusion of all. Following worship, we’ll view a documentary on the life and message of Martin Luther King, Jr. January 22 is the day to recall the 156th anniversary of the congregation. We will shape our worship and prayers to recall our heritage. Following worship, we will have an inter-age activity to help us remember one of the most challenging periods in our congregation’s history: World War I, a time when German Americans faced exclusion. January 29 continues the theme of epiphany inclusion with national Reconciling in Christ Sunday. St. Johns has been a Reconciling in Christ congregation for several years now, and we will use some of the RIC prayers in our worship service. All are welcome in this space.


St Johns is a Reconciling in Christ Congregation. In 2006, the congregation overwhelmingly voted to become affiliated with LC/NA, Lutheran Concerned in North America, a group of primarily Lutheran congregations dedicated to openness to all regardless of race, background, gender or sexual orientation. In 2004, the congregation adopted a resolution opening the door for the formation and affirmation of household covenants.

Winter Indoor Congregational Picnic on February 5: On February 5, we’re having a Ground Hog’s Day indoor Sunday potluck picnic, following our worship service. The morning is patterned after our September picnic each year at Burrow’s Park, only indoors here at church. The morning begins at 9:30 with Sunday Learning Place holding a Queen Esther Party in honor of Purim coming in March. Worship then begins at 10:00am, followed by a potluck in the gathering space, followed by a screening of the movie: Ground Hog’s Day for those who are interested in staying. Ground Hog’s Day is not a major religious festival, and in Wisconsin we’ll have six more weeks of winter regardless of the shadow; but this is a good time for the warmth of mid-winter fellowship. The movie lifts up one of the most important themes of the epiphany season: wisdom or learning to be the person God wants us to be, as we are caught in the web of time. We won’t have a formal discussion period after the movie, but if folks want to talk about how we are given days to find the graceful love that finally frees us from our sense of being trapped in time, or how we finally see the light, that’s ok too. The Super Bowl is not until 6:00pm, and we should be done with the movie by 2:00pm. Please remember to bring a potluck dish to pass, and if you would like to help with the coordination of the meal, please let Pastor Ken know.

Contact Information: Our Office Phone is 608-256-2337, and our address is 322 E. Washington Ave, Madison, Wi 53703. Staff Email: You can email staff directly using the following links: Deb Cook Dick Gundlach Kristie Halverson Pastor Ken Smith

 

 

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I John 4:11: Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.