News

September 28
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

8:00 am – Morning Worship
10:15 am – Morning Worship
10:45 am – Connect3
11:30 am – Fellowship
– Book Rummage Sale
2:00 pm – Blessing of the Animals

October 5
World Communion Sunday

8:00 am – Morning Worship
9:00 am – LOFTy Potluck Breakfast
– Praying Hands Stitchers
10:15 am – Morning Worship
10:45 am – Connect3
11:30 am – Fellowship

eHerald

Herald pdf

Famine is now at unprecedented levels in Gaza. Help us support World Central Kitchen as they seek to scale up production to one million hot meals a day. The church will match the first $1,000 contributed.

Click here to make a tax-free gift online now. 

Or mail a check to:

St. John’s UCC, 500 W. Main Street, Lansdale, PA 19446

Donate to Gaza

September 14
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

8:00 am – Morning Worship
10:15 am – Morning Worship
10:45 am – Connect3
11:30 am – Fellowship
– BOOK RUMMAGE SALE

September 21
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

8:00 am – Morning Worship
10:15 am – Morning Worship
10:45 am – Connect3
11:30 am – Fellowship
3:00 pm – Rev. Dr. Linda’s Installation

eHerald

Herald pdf

Welcome to Inside the Red Doors – Stories from the St. John’s Archives!

As we approach St. John’s 150th anniversary in 2026, we are digging deep into the church archives to connect with the stories that shaped us. John Hendricks, our Photographer and Archivist, has worked faithfully for 15 years to maintain and share important pieces of our history. Leaning on his extensive knowledge and storytelling ability, we are excited to share these artifacts and anecdotes as a way to honor the past and imagine what the next 150 years could bring.

Stories from St. John’s Celebration Sunday!

photo: Rev. Sue Bertolette on the steps, Celebration Sunday 1998. 

On September 7th we will observe ‘Celebration Sunday’. This is traditionally the day we return to our full calendar of activities after summer break and vacations. Did you know this tradition goes back over 100 years at St. John’s?

August 31
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

9:30 am – Sunday Morning Worship
9:45 am – Connect3
10:30 am – Fellowship

September 7
Water & Celebration Sunday

9:00 am – Praying Hands Stitchers
10:15 am – Sunday Morning Worship
10:30 am – Connect3
11:30 am – Fellowship

eHerald

Herald pdf

Welcome to Inside the Red Doors –
Stories from the St. John’s Archives!

As we approach St. John’s 150th anniversary in 2026, we are digging deep into the church archives to connect with the stories that shaped us. John Hendricks, our Photographer and Archivist, has worked faithfully for 15 years to maintain and share important pieces of our history. Leaning on his extensive knowledge and storytelling ability, we are excited to share these artifacts and anecdotes as a way to honor the past and imagine what the next 150 years could bring.

Summertime is St. John’s VBS Time!

by John Hendricks, St. John’s Archivist

image: photocopy of a July 6, 1951 newspaper photograph captioned “The 1951 Vacation bible School at St. John’s Reformed Church, Lansdale, held its final session this morning, and the children are shown as they leave the church on their way to a picnic.”

Vacation Bible School (VBS) has a long history at St. John’s. In fact, we celebrated our 100th VBS during Fellowship on August 6, 2023! In looking through the St. John’s archives, we learned some interesting facts about St. John’s VBS history.

“For we are God’s handiwork,

created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”

Ephesians 2:10.

What an honor to witness the handiwork and good works happening at St. John’s! In September, we begin our 8:00 am worship service. Over the course of the month, we will be blessing everything from water (Sept. 7), to backpacks, students, and educators (Sept. 14), to canines, cats, and creepy-crawlies! (Blessings of the Animals at 2 pm on Sept. 28). On Tuesday, Sept. 9, we’re flinging open the doors to share the music and message of Bobby Jo Valentine with the community on Sept. 9 as a prelude to our 10th Anniversary of being an Open and Affirming community.

We have created a corner of the sanctuary for our “soft worship space” where both kids and adults can engage their bodies in ways that allow them to be more present in worship. Our Boards and committees and volunteers and staff are doing what they do best, and are doing it well.

On Sunday, September 21 at 3:00 pm, we will be holding an “installation.” An installation takes place after a church has called a settled pastor. After five months, I am starting to feel a little more “settled” and our North Penn Association and the Penn Southeast Conference of the UCC have said it is time for me to be installed at St. John’s.

Read The Full Enlightener

Artist Series Information

Mini Golf Update

by Kay Peebles, Office Manager

At approximately 5:30 pm on Wednesday June 18, I get home from work. Mike, a 16-year-old I refer to as “The Teenager” in my phone, my anecdotes, and to my colleagues and friends and family, but who internally I refer to as “little brother,” is lying on his bed with an arm behind his head and his phone in his hand. This, I’ve surmised, is one of The Teenager’s four main states of being (at the gym with headphones, on the couch with Xbox controller, on a bike with friends, and in bed with phone). I announce that today, he said he would go mini golfing with the new youth group at my job. This, of course, is news to The Teenager (if you have one, you likely must remind them several times of things). This is because the average Teenager must juggle a million details that are only vaguely related to one another and it is easy to drop one or two with 999,998 more in the air, and prioritizing comes only with experience.

I sidestep his confusion and hesitation with more enticing details—free mini golf, fun with other teens, and free ice cream—and rush to get changed from work clothes to mini golf–appropriate clothes. When I return, The Teenager is standing, now in a black T-shirt that happens to match mine, his phone in his hand, and a peculiar look on his face. I recognize this look, these nerves, and try to get ahead of them with a timeworn babysitting solution: immediate and efficient distraction.

“You can bring anyone you want, as many as you want,” I say. “How about…” I list off some teens I have driven to Wawa or Wendy’s, teens whose smiles, yelling, and laughter I recognize from the pickup line at North Penn High School, the parking lots of apartment complexes, the sidewalks and back roads of Lansdale. Then I offer a trump card – a friend whose parents I am sure will say yes to a church event.

Read the September Enlightener

August 17
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

9:30 am – Sunday Morning Worship
9:45 am – Connect3
10:30 am – Fellowship

August 24
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

9:30 am – Sunday Morning Worship
9:45 am – Connect3
10:30 am – Fellowship

eHerald

Herald pdf