Moving to North London?

Why not make St John’s your new home!

• What’s distinctive about St John’s?
• Would you feel at home at St John’s?
• What brings other people to St John’s?

London has lots of good churches! And in fact many people joining St John’s have already benefited from teaching and fellowship, praise and worship, small groups and training opportunities at other big churches, including All Souls Langham Place, St Helen’s Bishopsgate and Holy Trinity Brompton.

Many more come to St John’s after graduating from university towns to begin their working lives in the capital. Others are moving to London from abroad, typically for a two to five year period in the capital. Still others are already living in north London, perhaps near Hampstead, and are just looking to get involved in a local church.

What’s distinctive about St John’s?

We are glad to be: 

A local fellowship... which not only saves the hassle of commuting to a church but - importantly - enables us to serve a mixed and varied local community. So we also aim to be...

A heterogeneous fellowship... where singles and married couples, people with children and without, young and old, rich and poor, tertiary educated and primary educated, British and Asian, black and white, Jew and Gentile, are a single fellowship where the barriers that Christ brought down (to ‘create in himself one new man', Eph 2:15) stay down! But we recognise that different people benefit from ministries that focus on people’s specific situations. So we also aim to have...

A focussed fellowship... which enables men, women, children, and young people to receive Christ’s word in the most effective way possible. Click here to see what’s on offer.

Would you feel at home at St John’s?

There is only one way to answer this conclusively and that is to come along and find out! Inevitably, different people are looking for slightly different things from their church, but we are aiming to grow a fellowship that:

Saves... because ‘what must I do to be saved' (Acts 16:30) is the central question of our existence.

Feeds... because we need to proclaim Jesus, who declared that he was ‘the bread of life.' (John 6:35)

Equips... because we need to serve and proclaim Jesus Christ with the gifts he has given us. Jesus said, ‘Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' (Mark 1:17)

Sends... because people going out into the world of work, or ultimately away from London, need to be ready and able to serve Christ wherever and whenever he directs them: ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations...' (Matthew 28:19)

For more information on what we’re here for, click here.

What brings other people to St John’s?

Here are some of the aims and objectives that draw people to St John’s:

Truth and Love

• Truth:  We aim to make a priority of the clear explanation and exposition of God’s word in Scripture. You may like to listen to some recent sermons to get a feel for the kind of teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.
• Love: Our aim, under God, is to be a fellowship of His people who love one another. Generally, it’s the quality of personal welcome and warm relationships that strikes those who visit St John’s.

Opportunity and Responsibility

• Opportunity: Our conviction is that people grow as Christians by being involved in an area of service, and of course the whole body of believers is also built up as each member plays their part. Opportunities for service fall into two broad categories of ‘speaking‘ and ‘serving’, or ‘proclamation‘ and ‘organisation’. But in practice, many are involved in both.
• Responsibility: We believe there is great privilege in belonging to a local church, and we believe that we have a responsibility for bearing witness to Christ in our local community.

Vitality and Accountability

• Vitality: We seek to make a priority of corporate prayer. And prayer forms a part of all our Midweek Fellowship Groups. In addition, we hold a monthly Fellowship Dinner on Wednesday or Thursday evenings to share a meal (and sometimes the Lord’s Supper), to share news (including of people and places away from St John’s), and to pray. Members of the fellowship produce a termly Prayer Diary to help us in our praying.
• Accountability: We aim to grow numerically, but depth is more important than breadth. And we believe this is helped by giving everyone the opportunity to be a part of a small fellowship group during the week (an evening, day time or Saturday morning).

Local and Regional

• Local: We are a local church working in a small area, so that only a few people commute significant distances to St John’s. We praise God for many para-church gospel initiatives, but we have confidence that the local church continues to be a primary means to the ends of proclaiming Christ and incorporating believers into the church of Christ.
• Regional: Although we function day by day as a local church, we believe that we are strengthened by collaboration with, rather than isolation from, other churches and ministries. We enjoy a special partnership with a number of other local churches in north London, and join together for an annual conference called Faith in the Local Church (to download a brochure, click here).

Congregational and Connectional

• Congregational: We enjoy real autonomy as a local church. We own our own buildings and, financially, are entirely self-supporting.
• Connectional: Historically, St John’s has enjoyed a close association with the Church of England, and at present the Minister is an ordained Church of England clergyman. The real fellowship and partnership is not, however, narrowly denominational (with the Church of England), but with all those whose biblical ministries hold forth the same biblical evangel, or good news.