St John's is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Muthuraj Swamy to join their clergy team. Dr Swamy begins his ministry in September, when ordinations take place at Ely Cathedral.

Muthuraj Swamy is from Tamil Nadu in South India, an international Christian scholar, writer and educator. He works as Director of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, lectures at the University of Cambridge, and works with the Anglican Communion Office in London. He studied for his PhD at the University of Edinburgh, and has taught at the Serampore University in Pune, India. Dr Swamy’s particular interests are inter-religious dialogue, reconciliation and peace-making.

Rev. James Shakespeare commented: “Living in a City as diverse as Cambridge, with residents from all over the world, including different Christian traditions and Faith traditions, it is a joy to be welcoming Muthuraj, with his cross-cultural perspective, Indian background, and expertise in reconciliation and peace-making. I am confident that his work will strength our capacity, as a local Christian community, to work with diverse communities, religious and secular, to explore the place of faith and serve the common good.”

Reflecting on his work, and this exciting new opportunity in Cambridge, Dr Swamy said: “Coming from the Church of South India, I am enthusiastic to learn about church and ministry in the UK context and in the Church of England, particularly in the Diocese of Ely... and to embrace new opportunities, like focusing on the younger generations to promote creative ways of Christian spirituality, and encouraging Christian witness through everyday lives – learning from world churches as they have engaged and negotiated with contexts of religious plurality as well as fragile socio-economic and political situations.”

You can watch James' announcement of Muthuraj's appointment, along with an introduction from Muthuraj in our service from the 11th July, here:

From 11th July we are able to resume gathered worship on a Sunday morning. For full details of services and guidelines about how we will be keeping all worshipers COVID-safe, please follow this link.

Following the latest government announcement, we are pleased that St John's is now open for limited hours for individual (private) prayer. The St John's Centre remains closed, but the main church building will be open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings, from 10am - 12noon.

Alongside this limited opening, we continue to be church together - both through our online Sunday Services, our Zoom Bible Study and Home Groups, Zoom Morning Prayer on a Wednesday and through our daily 'Thought for the Day'. We also continue to show our faith in our communities, through acts of loving service. 

Our ministers continue to be available for pastoral support - please do find their details here.

We have launched our own 'Dial A Sermon' service. For anyone who isn't able to access our video worship, you can phone 01223 643887 to hear the latest sermon from St John's. Please do recommend to anyone you think would appreciate it.

The Church of England has also produced a free dial-in worship service phone line.

We are pleased to announce that the winner of our Messy Church Easter Bonnet Competition was Alex (10). The judges said they chose it because they liked the “representation of the tomb & tombstone on it's crown. Also it looks like they've harvested fresh spring flowers which is a sign of life.”

She wins a yummy cake made by Anne.

Families arriving at St John's will discover our new Children's Area, which the Children and Family's Team recently installed. This sacred space is designed to support the spirituality of the youngest members of our congregation and includes books, toys and resources, which can be used alongside all elements of the service.