St. John's is an Evangelical Lutheran Church, a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. We have been serving the people of the Fox Lake area since 1904.
The word evangelical means "centered on the Gospel." The Gospel is the good news that Jesus, the Son of God born a real man, lived a life of perfect obedience to God's Law in our place, died on the cross as the all sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and bodily rose back to life on the third day as the sure guarantee that all our sins have been forgiven. We call ourselves an "Evangelical" church - that is an "all about the Gospel" church - to remind ourselves that what Paul said is also true for us, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).
By identifying ourselves as Lutheran we are saying something about our Scriptural position. Perhaps the three phases that have come to be identified with Martin Luther and the Lutheran church are: Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone. The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). This good news that God has saved us by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus is revealed to us in the Scriptures alone.
In the Bible a church is not a fancy building but a group of believers gathered around the Gospel in Word and Sacraments. As we gather to hear, study, learn, teach and share the Gospel the Holy Spirit is strengthening our faith and keeping us close to Jesus. As we hear God's Word and receive God's Sacraments the Holy Spirit makes us all the more sure of God's love, forgiveness and promise of eternal life and so also makes us all the more eager to live for and share our Savior until we live with Him forever in heaven.
The word synod literally means to "walk together." Our Wisconsin Synod is a group of congregations united by a common faith walking and working together to share Jesus with the world. We are called the Wisconsin Synod because our synod was organized in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1850. Our Wisconsin Synod has congregations throughout the United States and is not just in Wisconsin.
