Staff

Click here to go to the staff page.

Church Photo Directory

Click here to go to the St. James Church Directory.  A username and password is needed.

Pictures of St. James

Click here to see pictures of St. James

Mission Statement

The mission statement of St. James Lutheran Church is "Reflecting the Light of Christ in Crystal." We take this to heart in everything we do. We truly are a community church.

History

St. James Lutheran Church was started in 1955 by Pastor Palmer & Ruth Wold, with the first worship services held in the gymnasium of Forest Elementary School. In 1956, the first St. James building was completed across the street from Forest. This space would later be rented out to Evergreen Montessori school.

With the ever increasing numbers moving to the suburbs during the late 1950s and early 1960s, St. James added a new worship center in 1964. The addition of the Life Long Learning Center was completed in 1997.

St. James has a book called If the Walls and Floors Could Talk: Stories of St. James, written by Kristine Nymoen that tells the stories of St. James through the eyes of the people who were there at St. James' birth, adolescence and maturity.

St. James is a member church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Minneapolis Area Synod.

What's a Lutheran?

We are so glad you asked! Lutherans are followers of Jesus Christ who accept the teachings of Martin Luther (1483-1546). At the heart of these teachings, we hold that:

          We are saved by the grace of God alone - not by anything we do.

          Our salvation is through faith alone - we trust as Jesus showed us to trust.

          The Bible is the norm for faith and life- it's the cradle of the Living Word!

Lutheranism is a faith tradition open to all. St. James is one of 10, 500 Evangelical Lutheran Churches (ELCA) congregations across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

So, do you have faith questions? Do you long to hear God's grace for you? Do you want to live from that grace...to have that kind of trust? You don't' have to knock on our door; it's already wide open for you.