Pressing matters for the Mayor of Barnet
Barnet's Mayor, Councillor Alison Moore joins in and helps to press surplus apples at an Incredible Edible community garden event outside St Johns. The free apple pressing event attracted more than 50 people who brought their apples to be juiced. The pulp will be used for compost.
Pictures show the Mayor assisted by Thomas aged 7 and by the Reverend Julian Templeton, Minister, St John's United Reformed Church , New Barnet.
Saturday 1st October 2022
Double congratulations at St John’s
St John’s congregation had a double celebration in church on Sunday 27 February 2022 with cakes and congratulations on outstanding achievements by both our Minister and our former Church Secretary.
Our minister, Julian Templeton, seen here on the right, was recently recommended by two examiners for the award of PhD. His doctorate, which will be awarded by the University of Chester, took as its subject the work of the eminent Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth.
His doctoral dissertation was 85,000 words in length and took Julian more than 7 years to complete alongside his work as a United Reformed Church minister first at Highgate URC and later at St John’s Church.
“I’m delighted that my examiners commended my work as an original investigation of the critical but neglected theme of feeling in Barth's theology” Julian says. “And I want to thank my family and the church for their support."
More congratulations were also due to St John’s former Church Secretary for 17 years Tony Alderman, on the left of the picture, who has been given a London Borough of Barnet Civic Award for Lifetime Achievement. This is in recognition of his extensive voluntary service to the United Reformed Church, to many charitable trusts and to further education in the local community.
He served as Chair of Governors of Barnet College, chaired the Governors' Council of the Association of Colleges, and served on the boards of numerous charities including Eleanor Palmer Trust, Valentine Poole and The Insurance Charities. Tony will be given his award by the Mayor of Barnet in April.
St John's Church participated with other churches in New and East Barnet in the outdoor Service and free Community Fun Day on 2 June.
St John’s Celebrates 50 years of our wonderful building
St John’s United Reformed Church in New Barnet is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of our church building in May 1969. The church, which is on the corner of Somerset and Mowbray roads in New Barnet, won a Civic Trust Award in 1970 for its striking modernist style.
Pictured is the special 50thanniversary cake.
The Minister, Julian Templeton, said: “We are so grateful to our church congregation in the 1960’s who had the vision to build a church whose unique design still stuns visitors when they enter for the first time” “We look forward to another 50 years as a church in New Barnet.”
St John’s United Reformed Church is unusually constructed on the retained lower walls of the original St Augustine’s Presbyterian Church.
The design, influenced by contemporary Scandinavian architecture, was based on the concept of a tent in the desert, resulting in few vertical or perpendicular walls. Due to the steeply sloping site, the ground and lower ground floors can both be accessed off street level.
The architect, Jon Finlayson, was a member of the congregation and only in his late twenties when he took on this project as his first major commission.
The Christmas Story
as portrayed in Art by the Old Masters and music by J.S.Bach
Saturday 5th January 2019 at 4 o’clock
Christmas Day Service 2017 at St. John's
There is a part of us that never wants Christmas to change…….
But when God’s son, Jesus Christ, came to this earth, everything changed, and nothing is ever the same again! It means God coming into our time and into our space and into our lives and into our comfort zone and shaking things up and recreating them in a new way. It also means challenging us to face up to this change and to be active in doing something, being co-creators with God in the world around us.
Carols by Candlelight, 17 December
On Sunday 17 December we had a ‘Jazz’ Carol Service at St John’s with the traditional Christmas readings read by members of the church. An enthusiastic congregation sang along to traditional carols led by ‘The King/Cave Project’. This group of musicians included Ewan King (leader and pianist), two female vocalists, drums, and multi-talented Matt Redman (not the writer of Christian songs!) on acoustic guitar, double bass, accordion and piano. They also performed several carols as a group including ‘Angels from the realms of glory’ complete with Andrews Sisters harmonies; a gentle, folk-style ‘Away in a Manger’; ‘Hark, the herald angels sing’ to a reggae beat, and sang an a capella ‘Angelus ad Virginem’. A very different Carol Service to normal, but it was good to hear these carols in a fresh way.
Gift Day Service 10 December
Unexpected heavy snow in New Barnet on Sunday 10 December didn’t stop some of our Church members from mostly walking to Church for our Gift Day service.
Snow was still falling but around twenty hardy souls including Dorothy, our oldest member at 101, battled through thick snow and brought gifts for the Barnet Refugee Service to give to children of refugees for Christmas.
The service was led by Tony Alderman with assistance from David Paul and lessons were read by Meg Hardy. Tea and coffee after the service were even more welcome than usual with great fellowship and swapping of snow stories.
Letter from Barnet Refugee Service
Presents donated from our Gift Day Service were passed onto the Barnet Refugee Service. St. John's received the following letter.....
Many thanks to all the kind people in St.John's for your generous support. The toys you donated to us brought a smile to many children who came to BRS office to collect their present through Santa Claus. It is encouraging to know that there are people like you who actively care about the situation of those driven to seek asylum and your generosity gives enormous strength to our team and also, most importantly, to our clients.
Wishing you a Happy New Year with the hope that you will have many blessings to come.
For more information of the work of : Barnet Refugee Service
Rededication Service on Sunday 3 December 2017
Left to Right: Julian Templeton, Val Duschinsky, Andrew Prasad
More than 70 people including the Deputy Mayor of Barnet attended a special rededication service at St John’s United Reformed Church, Somerset Road, New Barnet on the morning of Sunday 3rd December.
During the building works in the Sanctuary, worship was held in the Large Hall.
Record of St John’s New Barnet 50th Anniversary celebrations
Dates: Friday 26 April to Sunday 28 April 2013
Service of Celebration
Anniversary Dinner
Barnet Borough Times article on 50th Anniversary...... more
Sunday Worship at 11:00am