THE STORY SO FAR

The adventure first began in the 13th Century with Church at St John’s, a daughter church to a church in Slaugham. For us it began in the summer of 2017 when we were sent out from St Peter’s Brighton with a small team. In the September we started a new service at St John’s, alongside the existing traditional services. From that first Sunday we have been blown away by the amazing people of God who have joined us on the journey.

We are part of the HTB Network, which has a big vision, to play our part in the evangelisation of the nations, the revitalisation of the church and the transformation of society. For us here in Crawley, that means we love Jesus, love church, love people and love Crawley. Alpha, Sundays, Social Action and Discipleship are core to this vision, but what’s really important to us are the steps we take on the journey.

Our vision for St John’s is to see the building open 24/7 as a House of Prayer, for any of the many passers-by to drop in at any time, pray and light a candle. We’re excited to see the traditional services continue to grow at St John’s with the beginning of a choir and a group of young adults regularly serving as acolytes and preaching at our 9am Eucharist.

OUR VALUES

At our core we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We are humble, not thinking too highly or too lowly of ourselves, knowing our identity is secure in Jesus. We are hungry, hungry to grow in relationship with Jesus, to serve, hungry for Crawley. We are home, a welcoming place where everyone is seen, heard and loved, a place of both comfort and challenge.

From humble comes aspiring for excellence, bringing our best as we honour God with our skills and abilities. From hungry comes generous, pouring out all we have, giving our time, energy and resources. And from home we want to be risk takers for the kingdom of God, not taking ourselves too seriously but taking God really seriously. We know we’re not risking our reputation but God’s, and He’s so big He can take it.