St John's logo

News and updates

Online Service!

Our online service is now available: click here. See our blog page for previous weeks services.

Dial-a-Sermon!

We have a number for those without internet access to dial and hear St John's sermon recordings. The number is 01946 550259.
Do you know someone who might appreciate it? If so, please spread the word, we hope that this means more people will be able to listen to God's Word being preached.

The number is charged at normal call charges from your provider. So, to take an example, if a person has free evening and weekend calls from a land line, it will be free to them at that time. Contact your phone provider if you are unsure about charges.

St John's Church Closure

16 January 2020

The St John's church council (PCC) has taken the decision to close the building for Sunday and Wednesday services for the time being.

You will all be acutely aware of the reasons! It is 'with a heavy heart' that we do this, as one of the PCC members expressed it. God has called us in Scripture not to give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25), and we all know the value of being together to sing God's praise, to hear his word, to bring our prayers to him, and to encourage each other. But for the moment circumstances mean, we feel, that a temporary closure is the wisest and best course of action. But we are not, of course, proposing to 'give up meeting together' - indeed we all long to meet again as we once did. Rather what we are doing is pausing our physical meeting while we maintain a kind of fellowship online and in other ways, looking for and praying for the time when we can begain again to meet in Jesus's name.

Let me outline the reasons for closure that we explored as we made this decision:

1) The NHS is under pressure, and we are potentially adding strain to that by inadvertently providing opportunities for the virus to spread (although we have been taking great care when we meet, many risks remained because lots of people were in reasonably close proximity)

2) The bishop's most recent briefing mentions two things. It curtails even further how we can do music in church, and it contains a strong plea from Bishop James at the end which I think is suggesting we should err on the side of caution rather than live up to the permissions of the law. Just because we're permitted to do something doesn't mean that we should.

3) The final issue for me is to do with our life in the world. When everyone else is told they must stay at home and not go out - and certainly not take part in any communal leisure activities, they can see us arriving at church for what they consider to be a leisure activity. It feels maybe that we are indulging our wish to meet over against our care for our community and our witness to Christ. There is the danger that our behaviour could have long-term repercussions on our witness in Hensingham.

The PCC has agreed to close our church building for services until (and including) 21st February. We have a PCC meeting scheduled for the 3rd Feb, and we will review things then.

Our online services, etc, will of course continue as usual

Yours in Christ's service ,
Fergus

Rev'd Fergus Pearson
Vicar, St John's Church, Hensingham

9 May 2020 (Updated 23 January 2021)

Pre-church live worship 9.30am

Join our zoom session and sing with us in praise to God, with prayer also. Anyone can join; please place your mic on mute though! Because of sound delay you will only hear the leader sing and play but hopefully it will create a sense of singing together. Please feel free to join at 9.20am to say hello to others, hope to see you.

Meeting ID: 844 1633 8648
Passcode: sing
Click here to join zoom session

21 December 2020

Yusef's Story

An imaginative story of a boy caught up in the Christmas events of the nativity, as he looks back from his old age.
By Neil Smalley, a member of St John's and read by his grandson.
https://youtu.be/xvwO6TZTRAk

15 October 2020

Christianity Explored

What's the best news you've ever heard?

At this time when COVID-19 has brought the world to its knees Christianity Explored is your chance to find answers.

For more information click here.

Prayer letter from Eloise Marsland

12 September 2020 (Updated 11 October 2020)

A prayer letter from Eloise Marsland. Pray for her as she settles into being a ministry trainee in Sheffield, especially with the added complications of rising infection levels.

Prayer Letter October 2020
Prayer Letter September 2020

6 August 2020

We would like to recruit a female leader for CYFA, our 14-18s work. Could you serve in this way?

We are in great need of a female leader in order to keep running the group in September. We would like someone to join us who is a committed Christian and could help with leading the group, along with Si Walker and the two other team members. Responsibilities include: helping to organise sessions, contributing to some of the teaching (for which we can provide assistance if needed) and helping with pastoral care for the young people.

We meet on Sunday evenings, 6.30-8.30pm (although there may be more online meetings in the future, initially).

We would like to emphasise that there is no age requirement, and we would welcome interest from those who may not have done youth work for some years. Or you may not have done youth work before, but feel up for a new challenge.

For an informal conversation, please get in touch with Si Walker (contact details). The role is voluntary and subject to our safe recruitment policy and DBS, as laid out in our Safeguarding Policy.

24 March 2020. Updated 4 April

Prayer Meeting

In times of uncertainty, especially now that we have been told to stay at home, we have to draw strength from our heavenly Father. The best way to do this is to continue to meet up remotely and pray with one another. To this end, we are going to see if we can hold a prayer meeting via the online platform, Zoom. Everyone is welcome to join in, all you need is access to the zoom app (smartphone, iPad or laptop) and pray with us in the comfort of your own home. We plan to have a a prayer session every Sunday at 8:30 pm. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Fergus, Si or Nigel.

25 May 2018

Data protection privacy notice

The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation, (the “GDPR”). This new data protection regulation is effective from 25th May 2018.

You can access our Privacy Notice from the Contact Us page.