Vicar's Blog
Pastoral letter regarding St John’s church re-ordering – September 2025
Dear Friends,
For many years, we as a church have been discerning how our building can best serve the mission God has given us. Our vision is simple but profound: “Loving Jesus, one another, and our neighbours.” This means that we long for our building not only to be a place of worship on Sundays, but also a place of welcome, hospitality, and community throughout the week.
Our Gift Day at St John’s, on the 14th September, will be dedicated to our giving towards purchasing chairs to replace the pews. This is not really about furniture – it is about people, mission, and welcome. It is about creating a space that reflects our values of Transforming Hospitality – where everyone belongs; Faithful Growth – where we are rooted in prayer and praise; and Purposeful Living – where we give, love, and invite.
Why chairs matter
Replacing the pews with high-quality chairs will give us the flexibility to use our church building in ways that are simply not possible at present. Pews limit us; chairs release us. They will help us live out our mission: to grow new disciples through community with Jesus at the centre.
With chairs, we will be able to:
• Help newcomers feel at home. When someone comes to church for the first time – whether for a baptism, wedding, funeral, or a seasonal service – chairs allow them to choose where to sit and to feel at ease. A flexible layout makes the building less intimidating and more welcoming, creating an atmosphere that is warm, hospitable, and personal.
• Run events such as our Good Friday Craft Day, Light Party at Halloween, Summer Fair, and Christmas Fair more easily. We can move furniture freely and set up spaces that are inviting and practical.
• Be truly accessible: With chairs, we can create space for wheelchairs, walking frames, prams, and buggies, ensuring that no one feels excluded or awkward.
• Offer flexible hospitality: We can clear space for coffee mornings, lunches, Alpha evenings, church celebrations, and gatherings where food and friendship go hand in hand with faith. With flexible space, we can offer quiet and reflective days, show films, hold exhibitions, creative flower festivals and community events - turning our building into a true hub for both faith and community life. We could create space for art classes, poetry readings, and other creative events.
• Deepen our schools’ work: We will be able to welcome larger groups of children and families for seasonal services, creating an environment where the young people feel at home in church and not as restricted.
• Be creative in worship: From café-style services and prayer stations, to church concerts and drama productions, chairs allow us to use the building in ways that meet people where they are.
In this way, our church becomes not only a house of prayer and worship, but also a vibrant hub for both faith and community life, exemplifying our vision of loving our neighbours.
Pews have served us faithfully for many years, but they do bring restrictions. They fix us in rows, make it difficult to adapt the space, and limit how we can use the building for worship, fellowship, and community events. Chairs, on the other hand, offer freedom and flexibility. They allow us to shape the space to fit the occasion, to create layouts that feel welcoming and inclusive. In this way, chairs help us put people first and live out our calling to be a church for all.
The process we must follow
Significant changes in church buildings are overseen by the faculty system. It recognises that church buildings are places of worship. And it allows us to balance mission, worship, and wider community use, with care and conservation. As part of this process, the Chancellor has directed that the chairs must be of a particular standard – robust, long-lasting, and fitting for the dignity of worship. This does make them costlier than some alternatives, but it also means we are investing in something that will serve us well for generations.
How you can help?
We know this is a big undertaking, and not easy in challenging times. Yet we trust that God will provide as we step forward together. Each chair costs £190 to buy (we need 112 of these) and each chair with arms costs £288 per chair (we need 28 of these). We also require 4 dollies to stack and store the chairs costing £270 each. Perhaps you might consider purchasing the chair you sit on – and maybe the one next to you. Or you may prefer to support the project gradually, by spreading your giving over several months. Every contribution – large or small – is part of making this vision possible.
As Paul writes: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Walking together in unity
We also want to acknowledge that not everyone will feel the same about this decision. For some, pews carry history, beauty, and symbolism. Their removal may feel like a loss. But our unity as a church family is more important than furniture. We are called to walk this journey together, to listen to one another, and to remain united in our greater purpose: to love Jesus and our neighbours.
As the psalmist reminds us: “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). Our unity in Christ is a witness to the gospel – and it will matter far more to our community than the furniture we sit on.
An opportunity before us
At last, we have the chance to act on the vision we have carried for so long. By replacing the pews with chairs, we create a multi-functional, flexible space that allows us to welcome the outsider, to be fully inclusive and host community events with joy.
This is about more than comfort or convenience – it is about mission, discipleship, and hospitality. It is about being the kind of church where everyone belongs and everyone is welcome.
This is why we are asking you to join us prayerfully and sacrificially on our Gift Day, on the 14th of September. Together, we can shape our church so that it is ready for the future – a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can come to know the love of Jesus.
Thank you for walking this journey together in faith, hope, love, and unity. May the Lord guide us as we step forward, and may all we do be for His glory.
With every blessing,
Graeme