Welcome to St John’s United Reformed Church, Orpington
St John’s mission is to be a caring community of God’s people where each person is encouraged to grow in faith and to share with others through worship, service, witness and lifestyle. One of our primary priorities is to serve our local community with particular emphasis on children and their families and young adults.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION – Following advice from the URC Synod Moderators, Bishop of London and Mayor of London, the Church Elders decided to close the church for worship for the present. We will keep the situation under review. In the meantime we are offering Online Services and these can be found by clicking HERE.
If you need help, support, advice or can volunteer to help the community then we have an information page HERE
What’s on for Young People and Parents
Getting Involved
Each week we welcome a large number of people of all age groups to our church services and mid-week activities. We create a space and some time for people to ask questions about God, about life and about themselves. We offer a place and an opportunity to be still, to find help and to make friends.
If your questions are ‘what is there to do in Orpington?’, ‘what is there to do with the kids?’, ‘where can I go to say a prayer?’, ‘how do I go about making friends?’, ‘what activities are available for retired people?’, where can I find a way of doing some good? or ‘How do I find out more about faith?’.
St John’s and the Community
Finding Us
Support & Guidance
We have been providing young people in Orpington with guidance and support for many years. From babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers, all through the school years to young adults, St John’s offers its children a wide range of facilities. Indeed many of our current congregation have included their children in our Baby group, preschool or toddler group or our Guiding and Scouting Units.
Community & Care
St John’s offers Christian care and support for its children and young people through exploration of faith and life, teaching and pastoral care, fun and friendship.
Our Scouting and Guiding groups include: Beavers, Cubs, Scouts for the boys; Rainbows, Brownies, Guides for the girls and our Explorers group offers a programme for adolescents and young adults, with an emphasis on personal challenge and adventure.
During this difficult time we have brought together some information on getting help, support or advice HERE
Services & Prayer
There are many opportunities for adults to share in the life of the church community, including House Groups for learning through discussion and friendship, Musical activities, the offering and receiving of pastoral care, working together to maintain the church premises, taking the chance to be involved for social action for the needy (such as Foodbank) and for the Wider World (such as Christian Aid).
For retired people we offer a weekly Friendship Club and a fortnightly Men of Leisure Group. There are special celebrations at Christmas, Easter, Harvest Time and Remembrance Sunday, as well as smaller group meetings for prayer, stillness and discussion.