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.

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

   

           
  • Thursday 9th July
    • 10am - Morning Prayer
       
  • Sunday 12th July
    • 11am - CELEBRATION SERVICE - we welcome Revd Dan as our new curate, followed by a bring and share lunch (and candifloss!) in the school grounds.*
    •  
  • Tuesday 14th July
    • 2:30-4pm Friendship Tea
       
  • Thursday 16th July
    • 10am - Morning Prayer
       
  • Sunday 17th July
    • 8am - Quiet Communion (BCP)
    • 11am - Reflective Worship
       
  • Thursday 23rd July
    • 10am - Morning Prayer
    • 6:30pm - An Outdoor Summer Taizé-style Communion Service. A Hatfield Team service held at St Michael’s, Birchwood
* 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!)
  

    • Readings 

      Sixth Sunday after Trinity 

                First Reading: Isaiah 55:10-13 - to read click here (opens in new window or new tab)

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23  - to read click here (opens in new window or new tab)

  
CAR PARKING

Because car parking at the church is becoming difficult, we are  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.


SUNDAY 12th JULY at 11am - CELEBRATION SERVICE - we welcome Revd Dan as our new curate

At 11am it's our CELEBRATION SERVICE - where, jointly with St Michaels, we welcome Revd Dan as our new curate. 

Come along this Sunday for a special celebration service as we welcome Revd Dan as our new curate!  There will be something for all ages. 

After the service, we’ll be heading over to the St John’s school grounds for a bring-and-share picnic lunch and outdoor games. A huge thank you to St John’s for letting us use the space!

If you’ve never been to a bring-and-share picnic before, don’t worry — just bring anything that can be shared: a quiche,  cake, sandwiches, salad, pudding, fruit, or whatever you’d like to bring.

Please bring your food into the Annexe before the service starts at 11am, and we’ll arrange for it to be taken across to the school. Cool bags or boxes could be helpful if you have them, but don’t worry if you don’t.  

Gazebos will be up to provide shade, but you may want to bring a camping chair or picnic blanket if you have one.

Most importantly, bring yourself and enjoy! 





Photos from Dan's Ordination on 5th July at St Albans Abbey


Dan (in the white tee-shirt) with his fellow candidates prior to the ordination service
The diocese offered the following prayer for the ordinands:
God our Father, Lord of all the world,
through your Son you have called us into the fellowship
of your universal Church:
hear our prayer for your faithful people
that in their vocation and ministry
each may be an instrument of your love,
and give to your servants now to be ordained
the needful gifts of grace;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Revd Kathryn and Revd Dan following the service

 


Tuesday 14th July, 2:30-4pm - Friendship Tea



All are welcome.
 
Wednesday 22nd July, 1-3pm Coffee Afternoon in aid of Isabel Hospice
Come along and support this amazing local charity by eating cake. It’s a tough job, but we know you can do it!

 

Thursday 23rd July, 6:30pm 
An Outdoor Summer Taizé-style Communion Service
A Hatfield Team service held at St Michael’s, Birchwood

St Michael’s would love you to join them for this service of simple music, space for silence and reflection, and the informal sharing of communion in the gardens of St Michael's.
A chance to pause and be renewed on a summer’s evening.
You don’t need to be familiar with Taizé music to join in. Just come and enjoy. 
Followed by fizz with new and old friends from across the Hatfield Team


 


June/July Parish Magazine

The June/July Parish Magazine is available in Church and also available as a pdf version, in full colour as usual for those who prefer to read it this way.
It's got lots of great articles as usual, with quite a lot on the Fete and a welcome to our new curate Dan Ide.  To download it click here.




Enjoy!


 

THE YEAR OF SPIRITUAL RENEWAL AND WELLBEING
This year, St Albans Diocese invites us all to embark on a journey of reconnecting with our faith and discovering the renewing life of the Holy Spirit. There’s a wonderful new website full of opportunities, including retreats, quiet days (some specially for churchwardens), pilgrimage walks, talks, online accompanied prayer weeks, courses, and a special summer Cathedral celebration.

You’ll also find resources for prayer, as well as helpful guidance to care for your own wellbeing.

Why not take a look? You can book events directly, but if something catches your eye and you’d like some company, let us know, and we can see if others would like to join in too.

Visit: year.stalbansdiocese.org


 

'IOO CLUB' JUNE DRAW WINNERS

The winning numbers of the May '100 Club' Draw were:

1st prize:  Number 106  £86.40
2nd prize:  Number 24  £51.84
3rd prize:  Number 57  £34.56

To join the 100 Club please contact Nigel.

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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.




COULD YOU BE A ST JOHN'S SCHOOL FOUNDATION GOVERNOR?

St John’s school currently has a vacancy for a Foundation Governor. 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




CHURCH GIVING

We greatly value, and desperately need, your financial support to help with the running of St John's Church.  We are always delighted to receive weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual or ad hoc donations, and these can be made in the following  different ways:

  • By bank transfer or Standing Order.  Our church bank account details are:  HSBC Bank, sort code 40-46-08, account number 51431609.
  • By cash into the church plate during services.
  • By using the contactless card machine near the main door of the church.
  • By using the link from this QR code:
This code is also printed into many of our church service leaflets.
  • By using our Quick donation page via this link
CLICK HERE

  • By text.  Just text the word LEMSFORD followed by a space and then an amount that you wish to give, to 70085, e.g. to give £10 type LEMSFORD 10, and send to 70085.
  • By using the Parish Giving Scheme, which is a direct debit scheme.  Please ask the Treasurer or a Church Warden for more information.

MANY THANKS INDEED




 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.

 



Please sign up for a spot in the Cleaning Rota or to help with refreshments after our Sunday services


More volunteers are needed to help us. All the materials you'll need for church cleaning are provided. All that we need is your time.

Please contact the churchwardens if you would like to take a turn with either cleaning or by helping with refreshments 
You can choose dates that suit you.




 

2026 PCC meeting dates


2nd February 2026 at 7.15 pm

20th April at 7.15 pm

APCM - 10th May at 12 noon

16th May 2026 Away morning at Codicite Church at 9.30 am

14th July 2026 at 7.15 pm

29th September 2026 at 7.15 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.