About Us 
The Church
Mission Statement
Worship at St. John's
Groups at St. John's
Sudbury
History of the Methodist Church in Sudbury
The Church
St. John's Methodist Church Sudbury is part of the world wide Methodist Church, and is in the Bury St. Edmunds Circuit in East Anglia. There are twelve churches in the Circuit around the Bury St. Edmunds, Sudbury and Stowmarket areas. The Circuit has three ministers and a community worker based within the Sudbury section.
The minister at St. John's is Rev. Marion Bright - pictured on the right - who has been with us at St. John's since 2001. Working with Marion in the Circuit are Rev. Stephen Yelland (Superintendent Minister), Rev. Valerie Spencer and Deacon Hilary Smith. Marion is also the minister to two neighbouring churches, Glemsford Methodist Church, and Bradfield Methodist Church. For more information on these churches, please take a look at our Church Friends page. |
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Worship takes place at St. John's every Sunday at 10.30am, and is an opportunity to share with others, praising and thanking God for all He is and does; to listen to His word and learn how he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to show us how to love. We expect to be challenged to respond to all we have heard.
Our music is led by an organ, piano, and sometimes a music group formed by some of our young people - we use our own songbook with nearly 200 worship songs in addition to the hymn book. We have a Loop system in place for those who are hard of hearing.
The children and young people leave part way through the service, and go to their own activities in the hall. On the first Sunday in every month we have a service when people of all ages come together to worship. The young people are frequently invited to take more active roles within the service during these times of worship. Twice a month there are communion services - at 9am on the first Sunday of the month and in the main service on (usually!) the third Sunday on the month.
After every service refreshments are served in the hall, and all are invited to share these. We also have a Fairtrade stall where fairly traded goods can be bought. |
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Groups at St. John's
Within the church, there are several smaller communities who meet regularly. These vary from groups for children (toddlers upto and including teens), to a healing group, sports groups, hobbies groups, house groups and much much more. For more information, please go to the Services/Diary page within this site.
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Sudbury
Sudbury is a small, ancient market town, which dates back to Saxon times. It is found in the county of Suffolk, on the River Stour, 15 miles from Colchester and 60 miles from London. For centuries the weaving and silk industry has prospered here and many great houses and churches have been built. It has been used for television locations, most significantly for BBC's Lovejoy. Sudbury is surrounded by attractive countryside often painted by Constable and Gainsborough, and also by quintessentially English villages, such as Long Melford.
Sudbury is centered around the Market Hill and North Street, with the town hall close to their meeting place, and opposite St Peter's church. At the side of the church is the (real) drinking trough where the 101 Dalmatians took a drink when they crossed into Suffolk. In front of St Peter's church is the statue of Thomas Gainsborough which overlooks the market place. For more information, please go to the Sudbury homepage, look at the Wikipedia entry for Sudbury, or go to the Chamber of Commerce Sudbury website.
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History of the Methodist Church in Sudbury
1863 - Foundation Stone laid for Primitive Methodist Chapel in Gregory Street (now the Apostolic Church)
1800's - Wesleyan Society meet in North Street Hall
1897 - Land at the corner of York Road and Melford Road purchased at auction on 7th December for £240
1901 - Foundation Stone laid for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Melford Road (now St. John's Methodist Church)
1902 - Wesleyan Methodist Church opened April 10th
1932 - Uniting of Primitive and Wesleyan Congregations to worship at St. John's Methodist Church
1933 - Foundation stone laid for the new Sunday School Hall at St. John's
1934 - St. John's new Sunday School Hall opened
1964 - The Sudbury Circuit amalgamated with that of Bury St. Edmunds and became The Methodist Church Bury St. Edmunds and Sudbury Circuit (today known as The Methodist Church Bury St. Edmunds Circuit)
1993 - Extension of the Church Hall and the building of The Link completed and re-named St. John's Community Centre
2002 - St. John's celebrated its first centenary and looks forward to continuing its presence in Sudbury by working together with other congregations in Sudbury and District to worship God and witness to Jesus Christ within the community through effective use of people and property, time, skills and money.
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