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.
WHAT'S ON AT ST JOHN'S IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS AT A GLANCE
- Thursday 7th December
- 9 am - School Collective Worship*
- 10am - Morning Prayer
- Friday 8th December
- 7pm - Concert: The Music of Christmas with Welwyn Garden City Male Voice Choir featuring Lemsford School Choir
- 7pm - Concert: The Music of Christmas with Welwyn Garden City Male Voice Choir featuring Lemsford School Choir
- Sunday 10th December
- 8am - BCP Holy Communion
- 11am - Holy Communion (with Sunday Club - see below for a message from Jo and Faye)
- 4pm - Carols by Candlelight for everyone*
- Tuesday 12th December
- 2:30 - 4pm - Friendship Tea
- Advent Course - Living Together in Love (even when it’s really hard) - Week 3
- 9.30am - St Michaels
- 7pm - St Johns
- Thursday 14th December
- 9 am - School Collective Worship*
- 10am - Morning Prayer
- Friday 15th December
- 6pm - Carol Singing, Crooked Chimney - see below for details
- 6pm - Carol Singing, Crooked Chimney - see below for details
- Sunday 17th December
- 8am - BCP Holy Communion
- 11am - Nine Lessons and Carols
- Tuesday 19th December - Advent Course - Living Together in Love (even when it’s really hard) - Week 4
- 10am - St Michaels
- 7pm - St Johns
Bible Reading and Collect for The Second Sunday of Advent

Gospel: Mark 1.1-8
Concert: The music of Christmas - Friday 8th December 7pm
We're really looking forward to hosting this concert tomorrow (Friday) 8th December at 7pm. It will feature not only the wonderful WGC Male Voice Choir, but also our very own St John's school choir! To find out more, including how to book tickets (£10), please see the poster below. You can also get tickets from St John's School.

CHRISTMAS SUNDAY CLUB
Jo and Faye write:
"Hi Sunday Clubbers
I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking it's getting awfully busy and beginning to look a whole lot like... Christmas!
We have Sunday Club this week at 11am. Last time Faye showed us that love comes from God, that we love because of his love. This week will be remembering the Christmas Story - the ultimate expression of God's love, when our creator came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem, with stars and angels and shepherds and kings, to show us how much he loves us, his precious children.
There'll be dressing up, singing, baking & making as well as the usual fun and games.

Sunday is a busy day as we also have carols by candlelight in the evening at 4pm (sorry if this means you will need to choose - we'll sort it out next year) - look forward to seeing you soon!"
Jo and Faye
CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT - THIS SUNDAY 4pm
**Not long now!** Why not take a break from the shopping, cooking and Christmas adverts, and come along to our much-loved Carols by Candlelight for EVERYONE at 4pm on 10th December (This Sunday). This service is suitable for all ages, and is a wonderful chance to think about the meaning of Christmas, with the help of a beautiful candlelit church, popular carols, and short, accessible readings. We've been experimenting with the rather stubborn Church lights this year and have found a nice subdued low setting.
This is followed by festive refreshments, including mince pies - yum!

Not persuaded you yet? Here's a selection from the Carols we'll be singing: Once in Royal David’s City, School Choir - Something special is happening, O Little Town of Bethlehem, The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came (choir), Away in a Manger (children first verse), Hark the Herald Angels, O Come All Ye Faithful (of course!)
ADVENT COURSE - Week 3 - This Tuesday!
We're in week 3 of the course now, but even =if you haven't attended so far you're still very welcome to join in at either 9.30am or 7pm.

To help us prepare for the coming of God’s love at Christmas, we're going to be exploring this Advent: what it means to live together in love within our church communities; what can sometimes get in the way of that; and how we might apply this thinking to the rest of our life.
Expect - discussion; Bible study suitable for everyone; worship; laughter (I hope!), refreshments and more.
If you’ve never been to an Advent course before, it’s a great way of ensuring you hold onto the meaning of Christmas amongst all the hustle and bustle of the season.
All very welcome – no prior knowledge necessary.
Email Revd Kathryn if you’d like more details.
CAROL SINGING, CROOKED CHIMNEY - Friday 15th December, 6pm
The Crooked Chimney pub has invited us to lead them in carol singing this year, which is great news!
We need lots of voices to make this a really special event, so please do come along.
100 CLUB - NOVEMBER RESULTS
Nigel says: The November '100 Club' draw took place on the 24th November in the presence of two PCC members. 120 numbers were in the draw. The winning numbers were:
1st: Number 67 (winning £108.00)
2nd: Number 23 (winning £64.80)
3rd: Number 41 (winning £43.20)
Thanks to everyone, parishioners and friends, who are supporting the '100 Club'. The next draw will take place on Friday 29th December.
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
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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. |
2023 PCC meeting dates 6th February 2023 at 7.30 pm 13th March 2023 at 7.30 pm 3rd May 2023 at 7.30 pm 10th May 2023 at 7 pm - this will be by Zoom or email APM and APCM Sunday 28th May 2023 at noon 17th July 2023 at 7.30 pm 10th October 2023 at 7.30 pm 4th December 2023 at 7.30 pm |
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