Welcome

                       Photo large of St Johns Church

 

 

Please click on the link below to watch an aerial video of the church and listen to our bells.

Drone photography courtesy of https://www.upaerial.co.uk

 

Welcome, and thank you for visiting our website.

Our church is situated in the picturesque village of Lemsford, close to Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City and opposite Brocket Hall

We warmly welcome all visitors to our church and we would love you to come to one of our services or events.  We hope that you find what you are looking for in these pages, but if you have any questions and would like to speak to someone about the church, please do contact one of the team members listed in the Who's Who and Contacts page.

We look forward to seeing you.

 


WHAT'S ON AT ST JOHN'S IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS AT A GLANCE

   

 
  • Sunday 24th March - Palm Sunday - the start of Holy Week
    • 8am - BCP Holy Communion
    • 11am - Parish Holy Communion, beginning in the school car park with the Palm procession and liturgy of the palms, followed by a dramatised reading of the Passion in church.  
    • 4pm - Connect@4 - An Easter Adventure!*
       
  • Monday 25th March  - Holy Monday
    • Night prayer with a short reflection (St Michael’s)
       
  • Tuesday 26th March - Holy Tuesday 
      • 10am at St Michael’s - Lent Course Final Week - Your SHAPE for God’s Service
      • 7pm  at St John’s - Compline (Night Prayer) followed by Lent Course Final Week - Your SHAPE for God’s Service
         
  • Wednesday 27th March - Holy Wednesday 
    • Night prayer with a short reflection (St Michael’s)
       
  • Thursday 28th March - Maundy Thursday
    • 9am - School Easter Service*
    • 10am - **NO MORNING PRAYER**
    • 11am - Chrism mass at St Albans Cathedral (all welcome)
       
  • Friday 29th March - Good Friday
    • 2pm - Time at the cross (with music and reflections)
       
  • Saturday 30th March - Holy Saturday
    • 8pm - Service of Light and Easter Vigil (St Michael’s)
       
  • Sunday 31st March - Easter Sunday
    • 8am   - BCP Holy Communion
    • 11am - Parish Holy Communion
       
  • Monday 1st April - Easter Monday
    • 11am - Easter Monday pilgrimage to St Albans cathedral*
* Children are welcome at all our services, but these services and events are especially suitable for families and children (as well as people of all other ages!)
 

    •  Liturgy of the Palms:  
      Gospel
      : John 12:12-16 - to read click here (opens in new window or new tab)

      Liturgy of the Passion
      New Testament:  Philippians 2:5-11 
      - to read click here (opens in new window or new tab)

    •  


CAR PARKING

Because car parking at the church is becoming difficult, we are again opening up the school playground on Sunday mornings for everyone to use.  The playground is at the back of the school, and is large enough to accommodate about 30 cars.  Please do use this area to park in, but take extra care when exiting into the street as cars do tend to speed up and down the hill.



JOURNEY THROUGH HOLY WEEK

The Palm Sunday service on 24th March marks the start Holy Week. Below you'll see an updated version of our Journey through Holy week poster.

 
Our Palm Sunday service will begin outside in the school car park with the blessing of the Palms, and then there will be a procession into church - following in Jesus' 'footsteps', when he rode triumphantly into JerusalemThis is followed by our service which will include the reading of the Passion Gospel in dramatic form and Holy Communion.

 
  • Also on Palm Sunday at 4pm we have our Connect@4 Easter Adventure
      when we'll be heading off on an adventure towards the cross and the events of Easter. See below for details.


Between St John's and St Michaels there's something on every single day in Holy Week - see below.




 PALM SUNDAY (24th March) at 4 pm

CONNECT@4 EASTER ADVENTURE



Connect@4 is a periodic Sunday gathering at 4pm for people of ALL AGES to connect with God, each other, the community and creation in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.  Our action-packed Easter Adventure is suitable for all ages.    This is a space to have fun, explore, create, pray, worship and eat together.  There are not that many words and no pressure to 'sit still’!
 


 


LENT COURSE

 On Tuesday 26th March…. Week five of a 5-week Lent course designed to help EVERYONE take the next step on their faith journey.

If you're joining for the first time this week please contact Rev Kathryn  (revkathrynalford@gmail.com) for a catch up.

Would you like to:
- discover your gifts, skills and purpose?
- live a more joyful and fruitful life? 
- serve God and others more fully?
- grow more into the person that God made you to be?

Then come and take part in our Lent SHAPE course. Over 5 weeks we’ll use the SHAPE acronym to answer the following questions:

S - Spiritual Gifts – What has God gifted me to do?
H - Heart’s Desire – What do I have passion for and love to do?
A - Abilities – What natural talents and skills do I have?
P - Personality – Where does my personality best suit me to serve?
E - Experiences – What have I learnt
from my past experiences? 

It would be fantastic to see new people, as well as regular attenders, on this friendly, accessible course.  We’ll meet on Tuesdays - 10am at St Michael’s and 7pm at St John’s


 




 

MONDAY 1st APRIL - EASTER MONDAY PILGRIMAGE WALK TO St ALBANS CATHEDRAL



Friendship, faith and a chance to work off the Easter eggs!

A group are leaving St John's at 10am for the walk across the fields and via Sandridge.
Rev Kathryn is walking from St Michael’s church, leaving at 11am. This walk goes along the St Albans Way and picks up various other pilgrims from across the Hatfield team churches. If you’d like to walk that route, coffee and bacon sandwiches will be available from 10:30am at St Michael’s.

If walking isn't your thing then do join us for the procession and service at the cathedral from 2:30pm

 




 

CHRISTIAN EXPLORER START COURSE  (starting 22nd April) AND CONFIRMATION (8th June, 5pm)

Rev Kathryn will be joining Fr Darren for a six-week Christian Explorer course which is starting on 22nd April at St Etheldreda’s church.  This course is a great opportunity to explore the basics of the Christian faith either for the first time, or as a refresher.

At the end of the course there will be an opportunity to be confirmed on 8th June - however, this course is for absolutely anyone. Confirmation is a joyful service in which adults and teenagers confirm for themselves that they wish to accept the Christian faith into which they were baptised as a baby or small child. If you’re not already baptised, then you can be baptised and confirmed in the same service.

Please email Kathryn to let her know if you’re interested in attending the course and/or in being confirmed (revkathrynalford@gmail.com)
 



CHURCH SPRING CLEAN - INSIDE AND OUT


The BIG CHURCH SPRING CLEAN iside and outside will take place on Saturday 13th April, 9.30am - 12.30pm

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to love St John’s with the aid of a duster, hoover and spot of polish!  The more people can make it on the day the better.  Thank you in advance for any help you can give.



IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON ENABLING THE SMOOTH RUNNING OF OUR CHURCH

  • Electoral Roll

This is your annual reminder to join St John’s Electoral Roll, if you’re not already on it. 

The Electoral role is the parish church’s register of electors.  In the same way as being on the civic Electoral Roll allows you to vote of parliamentary and local elections, joining the Church Electoral Role means you can vote on church matters at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting and stand for election to the PCC.

Being on the Electoral does not make you a ‘member’ of the church; simply regarding St John’s as your spiritual home does that.  To qualify for the roll you must be aged 16 or over, baptised and either live in the parish of have attended church in the parish for at least 6 months. Forms can be downloaded here, or there are copies available at the back of church. 

https://www.parishresources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Application-for-Enrolment-Electoral-Roll.pdf

Please return your form to either Lucy Earle (the electoral roll officer) or Rev Kathryn by 11th April.


  • PCC and churchwarden elections 
At our Annual Parochial Council Meeting (APCM) on 13th May we will be holding elections for Church Wardens and Parochial Church Council (PCC) members. It’s been wonderful this year to have a mixture of long-serving members and newer people on the PCC, so please do think about whether you’d like to join the group responsible for the strategic oversight of the church.  Meetings are held approximately 6 times a year, between 7:15 and 9:15pm, and are a great opportunity to get involved with the life of the church. 

Nigel does an absolutely amazing job as covering the work of two church wardens at the moment, but it would be wonderful if someone could step forward this year and share the responsibilities with him. The role of churchwarden is both rewarding and vital to the running and flourishing of the church, so please do prayerfully consider whether is something that God’s calling you to do. 

For more information on both the PCC and the role of churchwarden you might light to take a look at the PCC handbook, which is a cracking read! Click on the image on the left to download the pdf of the handbook.
 


 

 THE FEBRUARY / MARCH PARISH MAGAZINE





You can download a pdf by clicking on the picture of the magazine on the left, the printed magazine will be in church on Sunday too.  the £1 on the cover is of course only suggested to help us with the printing costs.




 
 






100 CLUB - FEBRUARY RESULTS

The February '100 Club' draw took place on the 23rd February in the presence of two PCC members. 115 numbers were in the draw.  The winning numbers were:

1st:  Number 18 (winning £103.50)
2nd: Number 87 (winning £62.10)
3rd:  Number 57 (winning £41.40)

Thanks to everyone, parishioners and friends, who are supporting the '100 Club'.  The next draw will take place on Friday 29th March 2024.

If anyone who has not yet signed up to the '100 Club' would like to do so, please contact the Promoter Nigel Johnson whose email address is najofwgc@gmail.com
 




Could You be a St John's School Foundation Governor?

St John’s school currently has vacancies for up to three Foundation Governors. Foundation Governors are nominated by the PCC, represent the Church of England on the Board, and help ensure that the Christian ethos of the school is maintained.
 
Please pray and think about whether you - or someone you know - would make a great governor. They don’t need to be a member of St John’s church, but would need to be able to fulfil the role description above.

As a governor myself, I promise you that it’s an extremely rewarding (and often fun) role, and is manageable alongside other responsibilities.

Please contact me if you’re interested.

Rev Kathryn

 



FOOD BANK

Our local Food Bank at the New Zion Christian Fellowship church would appreciate receiving donations of food and other things from us now and all year round. It would be wonderful if you could support them by bringing various things in on Sunday mornings, and placing them in the big plastic box which will be placed in the porch. The sort of things the Food Bank would like to receive are:
  • All food with good sell by dates (tins of fruit and veg, jams, packets of cereal, coffee, tea, long life milk and so on)
  • Toiletries such as shampoo and conditioner and toilet rolls
  • Cleaning products (kitchen and bathroom cleaners etc)

We are asked not to donate clothes.

Nigel will arrange to take our offerings to the New Zion church every Wednesday morning.
 
 



Please sign up for a spot in the Cleaning Rota


Still slots to fill!

"The Cleaning Rota" did not run during Covid and instead the Churchwardens Jenny and Nigel cleaned and disinfected per Covid best practice, but now it's time to ask for your help with getting the rota started again.

Jenny will be contacting people who have previously taken a turn with cleaning. More volunteers are needed to help us. All the  materials you'll need are provided. All that we need is your time!

Let's spread this load between us all!! Please contact Jenny if you would like to take a turn with cleaning. 
You can choose a date that suits you!
 


The violence in Israel and Gaza
A message from the Archbishop of Canterbury & the Archbishop of York

“We are grieved and deeply concerned at the violence in Israel and Gaza, and we unequivocally condemn the attacks by Hamas. We pray for those who are mourning, those who are injured, and all those fearing for their safety. We pray for restraint on all sides, and renewed efforts towards a just peace for all. The way forward must be for both sides to build confidence in a secure future through which Israel and its people can live in security within its internationally recognised borders, and Palestinians have their own state and live in their lands in security, and with peace and justice.”

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury & Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York

 


We continue to think of Ukraine:

Update - John Blanch emailed me to say that the "Taste it Polish Restaurant" in Hatfield is no longer taking donations of clothing for Ukraine.  However this doe snot stop our efforts.

Bishop Alan says we can pray, and practically we also have an option to donate to the Red Cross Appeal which I again repeat here:

To see their appeal details, please copy and paste this link into your browser: https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal.  You may donate any amount you wish, and your cash will go towards helping people who are being affected by the crisis, by supplying them with food, water, first aid, medicines, warm clothes and shelter.  Donations may be made direct to the Red Cross appeal, or alternatively, you may care to donate using the QR code below.  The QR code will also be displayed in church.

If you don't do QR Codes then clicking this link on your computer goes to the same "give-a-litte" link: https://givealittle.co/campaigns/753bbfac-510a-47d8-86cf-f6a707ddc585
 



Zoom Chat has moved to Mondays at 7pm


We've moved our Zoom chat to Monday at 7pm and the first one went well. If you've found you couldn't get to the Sunday 4pm one, or never came to any, this is your chance - see below for joining link and details.

Topic: Coffee and Chat
Time:  Monday at 7pm - use this link


Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81951586866?pwd=Z1ZhTjEycElnQjJmSWtrRkRBaWg0UT09

Meeting ID: 819 5158 6866
Passcode: 904402

 

Church Giving.   We are now passing the offerings plate at services.  I know that many of us are happiest giving cash rather than scanning QR codes or tapping payment cards or smartphones, so this is good news indeed.
But, if you like the QR Code, you can point your Smartphone’s camera or QR app at it, and it will let you give, or from your PC/Mac you can just click this link: https://givealittle.co/campaigns/10cd954f-25f7-46d9-8813-634634729bfa.    You can also give via the new (easy to use) card payment device – both at the back of the church - these donations go to St Johns funds.  We are planning to make the QR Codes easily accessible from the pews too.

 



Friendship Teas - every second Tuesday of the month at 2:30pm in the Annexe!
The next one is this Tuesday 13th February 2023 at 2:30pm
 


 

 HOME INSURANCE

If you need to take out, or renew, a home insurance policy, please think of using Ecclesiastical Insurance as they will donate £130 to the church through their Trust 130 Promotion.  All you need to do is to say that the donation is to go to St John's Church, Lemsford.  Find out more at www.ecclesiastical.com/trust130 or call their team on 0800 783 0130 and quote Trust 130.

 


 

2024 PCC meeting dates


15th January at 7.15pm

13th February at 7.15pm

16th April at 7.15pm

30th April via Zoom 7.30pm

APCM - 12th May at 12 noon

4th June at 7.15pm

10th July ay 7.15pm

7th September at 7.15pm

14th October at 7.15pm

  


    

 

 


PLEASE CAN YOU HELP

 

WE COULD REALLY DO WITH YOUR FINANCIAL HELP IN THIS DIFFICULT TIME.

PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING IF YOU CAN TO SUPPORT OUR CHURCH AND OUR WORK IN THE COMMUNITY.

EITHER

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR QUICK DONATION PAGE

CLICK HERE


  OR

ALTERNATIVELY WE CAN NOW RECEIVE DONATIONS VIA TEXT MESSAGE BY TEXTING THE WORD LEMSFORD FOLLOWED BY A SPACE AND THEN AN AMOUNT OF YOUR DONATION, TO 70085.  FOR EXAMPLE, TO GIVE £5 TYPE LEMSFORD 5, TO GIVE £10 TYPE LEMSFORD 10.  THEN SIMPLY SEND YOUR TEXT TO 70085.  TEXTS WILL COST YOUR DONATION AMOUNT PLUS ONE STANDARD RATE MESSAGE.

MANY THANKS

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

IMPORTANT REQUEST TO REGULAR GIVERS FROM THE FINANCE COMMITTEE

 

If regular givers would prefer to make their payments by bank transfer, the bank details of the church are:

HSBC Bank.  Sort Code: 40-46-08 A/C No: 51431609

Many thanks

 

 

 

Choir practice every Sunday at 9.30 am 

Bell ringing practice every Monday evening at 7.30 pm

 

 

To email us either click the button below or go to the Who's who and Contacts page and click on the person you would like to contact.  Alternatively please use the form at the bottom of the Who's who and Contacts page.