Our Vicar Rev Kevin Browning
Welcome to St John's we are a friendly Anglican Church in the heart of South Hornchurch, east of London in the borough of Havering.
We are centered around the word of God - we celebrate diversity and look for opportunities to connect with people whatever their background and culture in our local community, so together we can learn to discover the people God has called us to be.
A note from Rev Kevin Browning 3rd June 2020 - It seems such a long time since we have all been together and chatted over a coffee in Church, infact it has been 11 weeks, since we met together to worship God. These seem very strange times and I’m not sure how I feel about this enforced time in the same 4 walls with one other person!
For me I was classed as vulnerable because I was on Chemo tablets at the beginning of the lockdown, but because I couldn't go to the hospital for a blood test they decided to stop them and to be honest I had taken 5 months of the 6 months prescription as a preventative measure, so the consultant said it was fine and I don't need any more. But because i was vulnerable I couldn’t go out to buy food and had to be careful walking the dogs, at the beginning our son did all our shopping and I missed all the joy of queuing for entry into a supermarket.
To
survive my need for outside company I had to be satisfied with Zoom meetings,
which was not without its teething problems but now I am on around 3 per day!!
Fortunately the weather has been so good that I have spent a while in the
garden losing myself and distracting my urge to go out and meet people!
I’m
sure many of you have struggled with this enforced time of isolation, its
especially hard if you are living on your own, with only the TV to keep you
company and maybe the occasional family FaceTime meeting or a text from a loved
one. It is particularly difficult if you don't have a good computer which works
well or that you don't feel confident using social media, so things get missed
and there is no fellowship available to encourage you in your faith.
Now that we are all emerging from our isolation and can meet with 6 people outside, things are at last looking better, but Church however will take a while to return to some sort of normality. The ‘new normal’ as it has been coined.
At
present it is uncertain as to whether we able to open the Church from early
July. When we can meet for public worship we will need to keep 2 metres apart
and not be allowed to worship together in song as we might cause the spread of
the virus. This may mean that we will have to have several services with less
people or maybe just have an open-air service in the car park, it is another
month away so Im sure that by then things will have become much clearer
and then we can form a plan.
One
of the things I have noticed the most in this time of lockdown is that I have
had more time to focus on and consider my relationship with God. I’ve had far
more conversations with Him because I have made the time and it has been a good
discipline for me to just spend more time with Him and hear what he is saying
to me about my life and the Church. I hope that you have used this time wisely
to lean more of what God is saying to you and read the bible more, perhaps pray
more often and see things differently to how they were. I have had a number of
conversations with members of the church family where they have felt a nudge or
even a calling to do something new as a result of this time
One
thing, which I will expand upon later is that we are finding ourselves in a new
season - a season of preparation of getting ready to do things differently.
Whilst there is always the tendency to go back to what we know - we will simply
get the same results. I believe we are in a new season where we can plant seeds
and plan for both the present and the future. For instance the way we
communicate our worship services - when we are able to gather together it will
be good to video the service to obtain a wider following as many outside the
church family have been listening and watching the links we have put out each
week.
When
we return to Church I thought it would be good if some of us could share some
of the things we have learnt during this time of enforced isolation. It maybe
you have become more creative and you have made something which you can show us
or that God has inspired you to write poetry or prose, or you may have have
used this time in other practical ways.
Either
way we know that whatever Church looks like when we get back it won’t be the
same and sometimes its difficult to go through change, but the one thing that
we all can hold on to is that Jesus is the same today as He was in the bible
and He can always be relied upon to get us through whatever storms we encounter
in this life.
My prayer is that you will keep safe and well and I hope to meet up with you soon…….Kevin
Corona Virus update for St John's Church South Hornchurch
As at Monday 15th June 2020
The Church is now open for individual prayer:
Tue/Wed/Thur and Sat between 10.00am - 12.00pm, so please come down and use the
building and tell others about it too (especially those who don’t use social
media and are on their own).
This is a great opportunity for people to just come in if they are struggling with life and want someone to pray with them.
There are several prayer stations for people to sit at and of course we must adhere to the strict Covid19 government guidelines with hand sanitizer and disinfectant to wipe down surfaces and handles after people have left.
Sunday Service 9th August 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 6th August 2020
Sunday Service 2nd August 2020
Sunday Service 26th July 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 22nd July 2020
Sunday Service 19th July 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 15th July 2020
Sunday Service 12th July 2020
Sunday Service 5th July 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 1st July 2020
Sunday Service 28th June 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 24th June 2020
Sunday Service 21st June 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 17th June 2020
Sunday Service 14th June 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 10th June 2020
Sunday Service 7th June 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 3rd June 2020
Sunday Service 31st May 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 27th May 2020
Sunday Service 24th May 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 20th May 2020
Sunday Service 17th May 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 13th May 2020
Sunday Service 10th May 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 6th May 2020
Sunday Service 3rd May 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 29th April 2020
Sunday Service 26th April 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 22nd April 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 15th April 2020
Easter Sunday Communion Service 12th April 2020 Rev Kevin Browning
Words of the Confession:
Our
Father, we are sorry
For
the wrong thoughts we have had
For the wrong words we have said
For the wrong things we have done
We admit we have loved ourselves more than You
We have love ourselves more than others
We ask You to forgive us
Help us to live new lives in Your strength
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Friday 10th April 2020
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Thursday 9th April 2020
Message from Annette Browning Wednesday 8th April 2020
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Wednesday 8th April 2020
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Tuesday 7th April 2020
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Monday 6th April 2020
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Sunday 5th April 2020
Message from Annette Browning 1st April 2020
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Sunday Service 29th March 2020
Message from Rev Kevin Browning Wednesday 25th March 2020
60 Minute Prayer Guide: Praying for the Coronavirus Pandemic
(As mentioned in Kevin's message above).
Click here to view