Set on Davidson Road in the city of Brookfield, just west of Milwaukee, St. John's Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that has long anchored its corner of Waukesha County with a simple rhythm of welcome, worship, and service. Its motto - "Following Jesus. Making Disciples. Serving the World." - hangs over everything the congregation does, from its livestreamed Sunday liturgy to its Tuesday-night Bible studies and its sister-parish friendships in East Africa and Central America. The church building, surrounded by an outdoor circle drive used for summer worship, is home to a Christ-centered preschool, a Memorial Garden and Columbarium, and a busy calendar of music, education, and outreach programs that touch every age group.
A Welcome That Reads Romans 15:7
St. John's describes its culture of welcome with a verse from Paul's letter to the Romans: "Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." The congregation states plainly that it welcomes all who are seeking God's love and grace - regardless of race, age or culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or relationship status. Physical or mental health, socio-economic circumstances, and the things that often divide people are explicitly named as things that do not stand in the way of belonging here. The congregation's unity is rooted in a shared commitment to the grace and love of Christ.
That welcome shows up in practical ways. Visitors are greeted at the door, not put on the spot. There is no expectation to give financially on a first visit, and no requirement to stand up and be introduced. Communion is open to all who come, including children whose parents decide they are ready, and gluten-free bread is available alongside the regular wafers. A "prayground" sits to the left of the sanctuary entrance for children three and younger, while a staffed nursery is also available for families who would prefer a quieter space.
What St. John's Believes
The congregation summarizes its beliefs around three commitments: following Jesus, making disciples, and serving the world. Five core values flow from those commitments. St. John's values serving locally and globally, inspiring worship and music that honor God, nurturing relationships with one another as Jesus walks alongside, growing in God's grace through education and discipleship, and engaging children and youth in the life of the church. As an ELCA congregation, St. John's sits within the Greater Milwaukee Synod, a regional body of more than 100 congregations in southeastern Wisconsin that share ministry and resources.
Worship on Sunday Morning
Worship at St. John's is the heart of the week. During the program year, from September through May, the congregation gathers for two distinct Sunday services. At 8:30 a.m., the early service follows a full liturgy, with traditional hymns led by organ, piano, instrumentalists, and the senior choir. At 10:45 a.m., the later service features the same liturgical shape but with music led by the Praise Band. Between the two services, a fellowship and education hour offers coffee, treats, and Sunday School classes for children and youth.
In summer, the schedule shifts. From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, the 8:30 service continues as a traditional indoor liturgy, while a Praise Band-led outdoor service is held at 10:00 a.m. in the church's circle drive. Parishioners are invited to bring a favorite lawn chair, though chairs are available for those who forget theirs. The 8:30 service is livestreamed each week on the St. John's YouTube channel, allowing homebound members and friends far away to worship alongside the in-person congregation.
Holy Communion is celebrated at every service. Ushers guide worshippers forward to receive bread and wine by intinction - dipping the wafer into the cup - with a gluten-free option always available. Children who do not yet receive communion are encouraged to come forward for a blessing. Visitors are explicitly invited to participate as their hearts lead them.
The music used in worship is covered by licenses with ONE LICENSE (#A-723015), CCLI (#849772), and Augsburg Fortress, with music and liturgy drawn from Sundays and Seasons. Sunday morning worship depends on a large team of volunteers - greeters, lectors, assisting ministers, communion servers, ushers, acolytes, audio/visual operators, and coffee hosts - all coordinated through Ministry Scheduler Pro.
Children and the Faith Story
Children are treated as full members of the body at St. John's. The Children and Youth ministry serves families from birth through eighth grade, with separate coordination for high school and young adult ministry. Joanna Salinas serves as Children's Ministry Coordinator for toddlers through eighth grade, and Stephanie Broussard leads the high school and young adult ministries.
Sunday School meets between the services, from 9:45 to 10:30 a.m., September through May. The morning opens with a large-group gathering for stewardship, music, and storytelling, then breaks into age-specific small groups. Classes are offered for toddlers through fifth graders, with curriculum built around the church year. The program is called "Origin Story: Where Our Story with God Begins," and a family registration form covers the entire year.
Two sacraments of initiation mark the early years. Baptism is described by the congregation as God's gift establishing a relationship that begins now and extends into life eternal. Parents and adult sponsors meet with the pastor before a baptism is scheduled, and the baptism itself takes place during one of the regular worship services. First Communion is offered whenever a child shows interest and understanding. The congregation welcomes children of any age to the Lord's Table, and a "Communion Class with Bread Baking" is offered two or three times a year so families can prepare together. About half of the children in grades K through 5 have not yet received communion when they join the class, the church notes, and no memorization is required.
Kids of the Kingdom (KOTK) is the church's children's choir, open to ages 4 through sixth grade. Rehearsals are held on Wednesdays from 5:15 to 6:00 p.m., October through May, followed by a shared dinner. Children sing, play instruments - including ukuleles, drums, chime bells, xylophones, and mini harps - and create dramatic presentations. They lead worship about once a month. Older youth in grades 7 through 12 are also invited to rehearse alongside KOTK with the music director. The program is free; families are simply asked to share a few meals throughout the year.
Vacation Bible School takes place in early August. Animal Encounters VBS runs Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to noon and welcomes children ages 4 through sixth grade, with seventh graders and up encouraged to serve as leaders. The week includes live animal encounters, crafts, snacks, and outdoor play, and closes with a Family Fun Night on Thursday evening. Registration opens in late spring with a sliding fee scale, and scholarships are available for families needing assistance.
Summer camp at Lutherdale, an ELCA outdoor ministry site in Wisconsin, is also promoted as a faith formation option for children and youth. Lutheran Dale offers a range of overnight and day camps throughout the summer.
Middle School, Confirmation, and High School
Middle school ministry is structured in three phases. Fifth and sixth graders gather twice a month on Sunday evenings from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. for a light meal and a Bible overview, with monthly social events added in sixth grade. Seventh and eighth graders continue meeting twice a month on Sunday evenings for a two-year confirmation curriculum built on Luther's Small Catechism, covering the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments. Older middle schoolers also serve as student leaders for Sunday School and in congregation-wide service projects.
The Affirmation of Baptism - what many congregations call Confirmation Sunday - is celebrated on the first Sunday in May of a student's ninth-grade year. The ninth-grade year includes a fall retreat, monthly gatherings that explore world religions and include visits to other faith traditions, independent community service, and regular participation in the high school youth group. Confirmation Eve, the evening before Affirmation Sunday, is a joyful family celebration.
High school youth group, for students in grades 9 through 12, gathers every other Sunday evening from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. for food, fellowship, conversation, and service. Each gathering opens with a shared meal and moves into a structured time that includes highs and lows, Scripture discussion, and prayer. Beyond the biweekly meetings, the group takes monthly outings for service projects and fun, and high schoolers take the lead on congregation-wide service projects between worship services once a month. Recent summer trips have included the ELCA Youth Gathering in 2024, Nashville in 2025, and Boundary Waters in 2026; the next ELCA Youth Gathering is planned for Minneapolis in 2027.
The College and Young Adult ministry, for ages 18 to 24, is built around the reality that many young adults are away at school or starting careers. The program offers online book studies, casual hangouts, and small group gatherings when students are home on break. High school youth help prepare care packages to send to the young adults of the congregation throughout the year.
A Lifelong Music Program
Music is one of the most visible ministries at St. John's, with nearly 100 members involved in various groups. The Senior Choir rehearses on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. and sings in worship two or three times a month. The Handbell Choir rehearses on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. and plays about once a month. The Praise Band leads the contemporary service each week, and a Brass Ensemble adds festive music roughly six to eight times a year on festival Sundays. Soloists and small ensembles round out the music ministry throughout the program year.
For younger singers, Kids of the Kingdom blends vocal music, instruments, dramatic presentations, and shared meals into a Wednesday-evening program that culminates in monthly leadership of worship. The bell choir and senior choir welcome older youth as well as adults.
Adult Life Together
Adults at St. John's have many ways to grow in faith and friendship. St. John's Academy is the congregation's adult education series, featuring occasional guest lectures on topics of interest. Recent sessions have included an ADRC presentation, a talk by Brookfield's mayor on "Leading through Chaos," and a series on "Chaos and the Life of Faith" led by ELCA pastors.
A wide range of small groups meet throughout the week. For women, there are two book clubs - the Women of Faith Book Club (third Friday evening, March through October; third Saturday morning the rest of the year) and the Tuesday Women's Book Club - as well as a Monday afternoon Bible study, a Tuesday morning Bible study for women mostly over 55, a Wednesday Morning Circle that meets for breakfast and a video Bible study, and a Faith Alive Bible study that gathers on the second and fourth Thursday evenings. A weekly yoga group meets on Mondays in the youth room.
For men, a Friday morning group meets by Zoom for weekly book study, a Saturday morning group meets in person for book and Bible discussion, and a Retired Men's Breakfast and Lunch Group gathers on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. The men also field a softball team that plays Monday nights from April through August in a 13-church league.
Co-ed groups include the Tuesday Night Bible Study, which meets for eight weeks in the fall and eight weeks before Easter, and the Sunday Couples Group, which uses DVD-based curriculum from authors such as Max Lucado and John Ortberg to discuss contemporary faith issues. The church library holds an extensive collection of books and DVDs on Christian living, parenting, Luther, the Bible, and biblical history, with materials available for small group study.
Caring for One Another
The Care Ministries at St. John's are organized around four simple commitments. The Faithful Friends group provides meals in special circumstances. The Funeral Meals team plans, prepares, and serves food for families after a funeral, working from a detailed brochure that walks through options from full dinners to simple desserts and coffee. The Hospitality Team helps mark the milestones of congregational life, and the Visitation Team makes monthly visits to shut-ins for conversation, prayer, and communion.
Local Outreach in Waukesha and Milwaukee
St. John's takes seriously the call to serve its immediate neighbors. Each Monday, members help prepare and serve a noon meal at the Waukesha Hope Center. Several times a year, the congregation also preps and serves a Loaves and Fishes meal for the homeless and hungry in Waukesha. Hope Center Project Move uses volunteer teams to pick up and deliver donated furniture and appliances to Hope Center clients, and St. John's maintains a team for that work.
The congregation supports three local partner agencies with donations of items, finances, and time: the Waukesha Food Pantry, the Hope Center of Wisconsin, and the Women's Center in Waukesha. Each summer, the congregation gathers school supplies through a bulk-supply and backpack drive that supports students in Milwaukee and at the Los Héroes sister church in El Salvador.
A long-running Quilt Ministry meets the first Tuesday of each month to make quilts for Lutheran World Relief; no sewing skills are required. A Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and crochets shawls for anyone experiencing loss, illness, or other need, with the group meeting the second Friday of each month. A Newborn Kits ministry collects and assembles supplies - blankets, hats, onesies, and towels - for Global Health Ministries to distribute through midwives and birth attendants in developing countries.
The congregation also walks with Bread for the World, a Christian advocacy organization working to end hunger at home and abroad. St. John's has sent an Offering of Letters through Bread for the World every year since 2006.
Global Partnerships in Tanzania and El Salvador
Through the Greater Milwaukee Synod's Companion Synod relationships, St. John's is paired with churches in two distant corners of the world. The congregation has been in partnership with Akeri Lutheran Parish in the Meru Diocese of Tanzania since April 2008, and with Nguruma Parish (once a sub-parish of Akeri, now a separate partner church) more recently. The wider Meru partnership links more than 20 Milwaukee-area churches with parishes in the Meru district, and St. John's has developed deep friendships with the pastors, elders, and parishioners of its partner churches over many visits and shared projects.
St. John's also shares a sister-church relationship with Los Héroes de la Fe (Heroes of the Faith) in El Salvador, a relationship that has been sustained since 1998. Updates from both partnerships are shared through dedicated Facebook pages so members and friends can follow the work even without personal social media accounts. The Greater Milwaukee Synod serves as a Companion Synod of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church, and St. John's congregation is one of the Synod's recognized top donors to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
Closer to home, All Peoples Church in Milwaukee is St. John's local partner congregation, a multi-cultural ministry in the urban core that the Brookfield congregation walks alongside through prayer, presence, and shared projects.
A Christ-Centered Preschool
St. John's Preschool, housed in the same building as the church, has been a ministry of the congregation for years and is described by its families as a second home. Teresa Bailiff serves as Preschool Director. The program is intentionally play-based, following a "Playing to Learn" philosophy that uses play as the primary method for teaching and learning. Teachers plan activities that nurture language, early math and literacy skills, self-regulation, social and self-help skills, large and small muscle development, art, music, and nature and science exploration. Prayers and Bible stories are part of every school day, and religious holidays are celebrated alongside secular ones.
Three classes make up the program. The Two-Year-Old Class meets Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., with an average size of eight to ten children; potty training is not required. The Three-Year-Old Class meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to noon, with an average of thirteen children, and includes a weekly music class. The Four-Year-Old Kindergarten (Get Kids Ready 4K) Class meets Monday through Thursday, with Mondays and Thursdays running from 9:00 a.m. to noon and Tuesdays and Wednesdays extended to 1:00 p.m. to include Lunch Bunch (children bring their own lunch) and theme-based activities. The preschool is peanut-free and tree-nut free, and a healthy snack is provided each day.
Parents consistently describe the program in warm terms - "a second home," "incredible partners," and "a love of learning" are phrases that recur in the preschool's published testimonials. In-person and virtual tours are available by appointment, with tuition processed through Brightwheel. The preschool's phone number is (262) 786-4298.
The Memorial Garden and Columbarium
In 2017, on All Saints Sunday, St. John's dedicated its Memorial Garden and Columbarium as a new ministry of the congregation. Set on the church grounds, the garden is a quiet place for meditation and prayer, with engraved pavers available for purchase in memory of loved ones and 72 niches in the columbarium for cremated remains. By spring 2025, 38 of the 72 niches had been sold, representing 62 people. A volunteer committee of couples and individuals from the congregation oversees the garden and offers guidance to sister congregations interested in building their own columbarium.
Members are encouraged to make advance funeral plans with the pastor. The process walks through hymns, scripture, communion, and the service itself, and the plans are kept on file in the church office for the future. The Memorial Garden and Columbarium are described by the congregation as a "loving path through the transition from life to eternal life," and the cornerstone of the garden includes an extended reflection on Psalm 23.
Leadership, Staff, and a Pastoral Transition
St. John's is currently in a season of pastoral transition. Pastor Frank Janzow serves as Bridge Pastor, shepherding the congregation through the call process for a new settled pastor. The Call Committee has prepared a Ministry Site Profile and held a town hall meeting with the congregation. A search for the next pastor of St. John's is underway.
The staff team includes Jason Hamilton as Office Manager, Dorothee Chen as Bookkeeper, and Pam Klink as Communications Coordinator. Becky Whelpley leads the music ministry, with Kenn Anderson directing the contemporary Praise Band and Heidi Bischmann directing the Bell Choir. Lisa Weiss-Cornelius leads Kids of the Kingdom, Teresa Bailiff directs the preschool, Joanna Salinas coordinates children's ministry from toddlers through eighth grade, and Stephanie Broussard coordinates high school and young adult ministry. Debra Holifield and Ethan Sitterly serve as custodians.
The 2026-2027 Church Council is led by Kathy Davis (President), Brittany Larson (Vice-President), Jack Shaffer (Secretary), and Pauline Shoemaker (Treasurer), with Members at Large Gregg Everts, Liz Roth, Patrice Krimpelbein, Bruce Campbell, and Lily Fuller. The Memorial Endowment Fund, established in May 2000, is governed by a five-member committee that awards grants to ministries and projects beyond the church's regular operating budget.
Weddings, Funerals, and Baptisms
St. John's hosts weddings, baptisms, and funerals as part of its life together. Couples planning a wedding can download a Wedding Guide and complete a wedding information form to check date availability. Baptisms are scheduled during regular worship services after a meeting with the pastor. Funeral planning is handled personally with the pastor, who helps families select hymns and scripture, coordinates with the funeral home, and offers the option of Holy Communion during the service. Funeral meals can be arranged through the church's funeral meal team.
A Culture of Generosity
St. John's frames giving as an act of stewardship rooted in the abundance of God's grace. The congregation teaches that everything - time, talent, and treasure - belongs to God, and that giving is a privilege and a joy. Gifts can be made online through Vanco, by PayPal, or by mail. Recurring gifts are encouraged for their dependability and predictability. The Mission Endowment Fund, established in 2000, invests gifts made through wills, trusts, life insurance policies, and other instruments; only the income earned is distributed, in the form of grants, to support ministries beyond the regular operating budget. The congregation also accepts stock transfers, IRA charitable rollovers, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, gifts of real estate, gifts of life insurance, and employer matching gifts. Thrivent members can direct Choice Dollars to St. John's through the Thrivent generosity program. The Inspire newsletter, published the first of each month, keeps the congregation informed about the life and ministry of the church throughout the year.
Worship on a Sunday morning at St. John's might look like an organ prelude and a hymn at 8:30, or a Praise Band set and a children's moment at 10:45. It might move indoors to the sanctuary or outdoors to the circle drive in the warmth of a Wisconsin summer. It might be joined from a living room through a YouTube livestream, or followed by a Sunday School lesson in Bible stories, or by a fellowship hour with coffee and conversation. In every form, the day holds to the same heartbeat: a community in Brookfield, gathered in the name of Jesus, learning to follow him, to make disciples, and to serve the world.