Hi and welcome to the website of St John's Folkestone. We hope you'll find what you need here, and that if there's any way we might be able to help you, please do get in touch with us.

Our aim? To become the best church in Canterbury Diocese: the biggest, the best, the deepest and the closest. All offers of help gratefully received.

Happy browsing!

John Leach, Vicar of St John's

A couple of weeks ago, as a reponse to the snowy conditions, we moved the 10:45 service into the Hall. Initially this was simply about comfort and temperature, but very quickly people began to comment, as they did this time last year, about the positive benefits of being physically closer, how the singing sounded better, and so on. Others, though, have missed being in the 'proper' church for services.

Now that the snow has melted our plan is to stay in the Hall for one more Sunday, and then to move back into church on March 4th. But the move has raised some issues which the PCC would like to discuss at its meeting on March 12th. As well as the advantages of warmer temperatures and warmer fellowship, there are some downsides: chairs have to be put out while All Stars are enjoying their coffee, we have missed out on recording the whole service on cassette, and we are at the kind of capacity which in time will prevent any further growth.

So we'd love to hear from you - if you have any views to feed into the PCC discussion, please let a PCC member know. Otherwise there's only one way to find out ...

Do you stand by the traditional definition of marriage, which is 'the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others'? Do you want to resist any attempts to redefine marriage to include same-sex relationships? If so, sign the petition organised by the Coalition for Marriage here.

Grateful thanks to the army of people who helped make the club such a success. Click here to see some photos.

Our Lent theme this year follows the Diocesan material on Finding Welcome, and will give us a chance to share experiences, good and bad, of welcome both at St John's and elsewhere, as well as taking a good look at just how we are perceived by visitors. Read more about the Lent Course here.
As part of this project we shall be using some diagnostic questionnaires, which you can download here.

Mark Hope-Irwin, Director of Hospitality at Birmingham Cathedral, and former head of customer services for the John Lewis Group, gave an inspiring talk to a recent Diocesan Synod in Ashford. You can download the text of his talk here. Highly recommended!

... when we have to get ready for our Annual Parochial Church Meeting, and in particular to revise our Electoral Role, the list of church members entitled to vote at the APCM.

You can be on the Electoral Roll if you live in the parish, and/or have been a regular worshipper at St John's for six months or more. all you need to do is to fill in a form, which you can get from the back after services, and return them to the office. you have to do this before March 4th, after which the Roll is closed until after the APCM on April 29th.

As we think about the nature of 'church' we have bought a few books which will help our thinking. Do have a browse through the new display. And talking of books, you can order Grove books (including one or two by your Vicar!) online by clicking here.