Where we are
St John’s Scottish Episcopal Church (Anglican/Methodist), St John’s Church Office, Lovers’ Walk, Dumfries, DG1 1LW.
Charity Number SCO 07742
Contacts
Rector: Rev Janice Aiton
Phone 01387 254 126
Church Office (Hours – Monday, Wednesday & Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm)
Phone 07908 046284
Email enquiries@stjohnsdumfries.org
Website www.stjohnsdumfries.org
Regular times of worship
- Sundays: 8 am, (1st and 3rd Sundays 9.15) All Age Communion, 11 am (main service), 6 pm
- Tuesdays: 6.30pm
- Wednesdays: 10.30am
The church is open daily from 9.30am to 5pm for individual prayer. For more details, including Daily Prayer service times and monthly services held in St John’s, Maxwelton Chapel (Moniaive), Charnwood Lodge Nursing Home and the Crichton Memorial Church.
[In partnership with the Church of Scotland Parish of St Michaels & South. St Johns contributes to the regular service of worship at the Chrichton Memorial Church, Bankend road, DG1 4TA at 9.15 on Sundays],for more details see St John’s own website.
Our mission, ministry and social action
We seek to praise God in meaningful and inspiring worship which glorifies God, helps people respond to God and draws from the best of traditional and contemporary sources.
We want to serve Jesus Christ in joyful, obedient discipleship, recognising that we are on a journey of constant discovery about the nature of God and His call to us.
We have a desire to see the church renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit, every member empowered to minister, and to make our church inviting and relevant.
We want to engage with our local community and wider world with the gospel of God’s accepting, forgiving and transforming love, expressed in evangelism, social and pastoral care and in a commitment to justice, peace and the renewal of creation.
We are a Fairtrade Church.
We are active supporters, both financially and with our volunteers, of various organisations, in and about Dumfries, concerned with food banks and support of those in need, particularly the homeless. Internationally we support the work of “Let the Children Live” a Colombian charity helping homeless children.
Activities
St John’s has a very strong musical tradition and its choir of approximately 30 men, women and children, together with the rebuilt pipe organ, support the worship of the church and welcome new members joining from the community. A Choir Welcome leaflet is available in the Church. St John’s has a Handbell Choir which plays occasionally in Sunday morning services. Participation is open to older children through to adults.
St Johns Church has installed a ring of 8 bells for full circle ringing. Further information can be found on the Church website.
Organ recitals in aid of charities are held regularly and St John’s is also a regular venue for concerts and recitals of the Dumfries Music Club and other organisations.
Groups such as St John’s Children’s Church and Youth Group, Dumfries Flower Club and Youth Befrienders make use of St John’s facilities. The church, hall and meeting rooms can be booked for community events.
St John’s hosts the annual Christian Aid Lent lunches, which are an excellent example of ecumenical cooperation to which we are committed as an ecumenical church.
History
Our commitment to ecumenism is in response to the history of Christianity in Scotland since the Reformation of the 16th century which often features division. In this present age St John’s seeks to foster unity amidst diversity which is the challenge the Anglican Communion, of which St John’s is a part, is also addressing. St John’s is in a Local Ecumenical Partnership with the Methodist Church and is rebuilding links with St Michael’s Church of Scotland, the oldest church in Dumfries, out of which the St John’s congregation came in 1690.
A fuller explanation of the history and the link with the Methodist Church is on the St John’s website. St John’s people strongly support the DCN’s role in fostering dialogue between the Christian traditions in Dumfries.
St John’s, as part of the word-wide Anglican Communion of Churches, including the Churches of England, Ireland and Wales, seeks to provide for all traditions within the broad range encompassed in Anglicanism while preserving its distinctive Scottish identity.