Visiting for the First Time

Planning to visit St. John’s?  No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, our deep desire is to meet you where you are and share God’s love with you.”  Here is some information to help you plan your visit – we hope to see you soon!

 

On Sunday mornings at St. John’s, we hold one worship service opportunity at 10:15 am(One service 9:30 am in the summer.)  We seek to blend traditional and current approaches to worship in such a way as to enable persons of all ages to resonate with what is offered.  See our “Worship” page on this website to read more about each of our two services.  On Wednesday evenings (Labor Day to Memorial Day) we hold an informal worship service at 5:30 pm as part of our ‘Wednesday Night Live’ program (see webpage).

 

Finding Us  We are located at 500 West Main Street (Route 63) in downtown Lansdale at the intersection with Richardson Avenue – watch for the sign pictured below. There are bright red doors leading to the sanctuary on Main Street, Richardson Avenue, and our front courtyard.  For those with special access needs, there is a glass doorway in the front courtyard with an elevator to the sanctuary, and in our parking lot behind the church is a ramp leading inside the same floor as the sanctuary.  The evevator can also take you to our accessible restrooms on the ground floor.

 

Parking  There are two parking lots on the west side of the church (on both sides of our labyrinth & meditation garden) with a lighted walkway leading to the elevator court and front doors, and another lot on the east side directly across Richardson Avenue from the church. There is also limited street parking. There are a number of parking spaces in the lot at the back of the church designated as ‘handicapped parking’ on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.  

 

 

Preparing For Your Visit  No matter your church background, all visitors are invited to participate in all aspects of our service, including communion.  There is no ‘dress code’ – some people like to get ‘dressed up’, some prefer ‘business casual’, others dress casually as ‘come as you are’ – it’s up to each person, and no one is judged on their clothing choices!  You may wear a mask if you prefer, but they are not required.

 

If you are not familiar with our ‘traditional’ style of worship, our service takes place in a large auditorium-like room that churches call “the sanctuary”. A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a safe haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety.  We hope this serves as both meanings for you.  The room has 2 rows of padded benches, or ‘pews’ – feel free to sit anywhere, including the seating area to the right front side of the sanctuary and our balcony. The left side facing front is the ‘pulpit’ side – the pastor will preach the sermon from the pulpit or podium on this side.  The right side is the ‘lectern’ side – the pastor will read from the Bible from the lectern or podium on this side, as well as read announcements.  Please feel free to sit wherever you are most comfortable.

 

Worshiping With Us  Upon entering our sanctuary, you will be greeted by our ‘hospitality team’ and you will find a bulletin on a table just inside the doorway that will provide the complete order of worship and announcements and hymn sheets in large print.  You may also leave your offering at that time; the offering plates are also on the table in the back of the sanctuary and the offerings dedicated near the end of the service.  Feel free to sit wherever you like.  There are special ‘cut-out’ pews to accommodate wheelchairs.  If you are not familiar with our style of worship service, your bulletin will walk you through the order of worship including all the responses and prayers.  Most hymns come from the UCC “New Century Hymnal” on the rack in front of your pew, or are printed in the bulletin.

 

Please fill out on of our visitor cards found in the racks in the pews.

 

Questions?  When you arrive, speak with any of our Hospitality Team members, “Umbrella Greeters” or our “Elder of the Morning” – they will be happy to help you with any questions to help you prepare to worship with us!

 

Accessibility  For those with special needs, please see the ‘Accessibility’ tab for more information.   Click to learn about our accessible facility