Welcome
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.
- 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)
- Night prayer with a short reflection (St Michael’s)
- Tuesday 26th March - Holy Tuesday
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- 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
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- Wednesday 27th March - Holy Wednesday
- Night prayer with a short reflection (St Michael’s)
- 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)
- 2pm - Time at the cross (with music and reflections)
- Saturday 30th March - Holy Saturday
- 8pm - Service of Light and Easter Vigil (St Michael’s)
- 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*
- 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
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.
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.
Please return your form to either Lucy Earle (the electoral roll officer) or Rev Kathryn by 11th April.
- PCC and churchwarden elections
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.
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
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
- 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.
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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
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
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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