About St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church
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At St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Sudbury in Massachusetts, we believe in The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, Spirit. Three in one. That is, God the Father: Eternal. Creator. Loving. Life wouldn't exist without Him. Jesus: The only Son of God. He died on the cross for our sins. He rose from the dead. We can have eternal life through Him. And The Holy Spirit: God is active in the world through His spirit. God gives His spirit to live inside of those who follow Jesus. We live in a universe that's been created and designed by God. God allows evil to exist because He allows free will to exist. Everyone has been separated from God because of sin. We all need to be saved. God offers salvation through Jesus. Anyone who accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior can receive salvation. We take the Lord 's Supper every week. This is a time we come together to remember Jesus and what He has done for us. Be ready, friends. Jesus will return and we won't know when. Heaven and Hell are real. Anyone who accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior can have eternal life in Heaven. Everyone else will be eternally separated from God in Hell.
God has graciously disclosed his existence and power in the created order, and has supremely revealed himself to fallen human beings in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. Moreover, this God is a speaking God who by his Spirit has graciously disclosed himself in human words: we believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. We confess that both our finitude and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing God's truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can know God's revealed truth truly. The Bible is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God's pledge, in all that it promises. As God's people hear, believe, and do the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel.
About Receiving Christ: We believe the Biblical pattern for receiving Christ includes acknowledging that Jesus Christ is God's Son, repenting from personal sin, and inviting Christ to be Lord of your life. (1 John 1:8-9; Romans 6:1-7)
About Separation of Church and State: We believe that each local church is self-governing, and must be free from interference by any external ecclesiastical or political authority; that every human being is ultimately responsible to God in matters of faith and life; and that each person is free to worship God according to the dictates of his/her conscience. We further believe that governments are established by God; that Christians, as good citizens, should be subject to governing authorities insofar as possible, recognizing our greater allegiance to God and His kingdom in matters wherein human authorities conflict with clear, biblical mandates.