Welcome to our website.

We are a parish in the Anglican Diocese of Armidale and are committed to following the Lord Jesus Christ and sharing the Good News of His incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension, through the study, exposition, proclamation and application of His Word.

Scroll down through this page to get a quick feel for who we are as a church. You’ll find information about our numerous services, beliefs, aims, ministries, our leadership and ways you can get connected.  

However, the best way to discover who we are is to join us at one of our services. We hope you’ll visit soon. If you have questions about our faith community or would like to speak with one us, please fill in the contact form in the ‘Contact Us ’ section.

We hope this website serves as a helpful introduction to who we are and we looking forward to meeting you in person.

May God continually ground you in His Word, nourish you by the Sacraments, and quicken you in Christ!

Joshua Bovis – Vicar

Sundays

Here at St John's we believe in expository preaching from God's Word (the Bible) and each term our sermon series mainly follows a book of the Bible to help us understand and apply God’s Word today so that we can glorify God and be effective disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have two services every Sunday morning, each with a different style.

8:30am COMMUNION Service

 A traditional Prayer Book Anglican service. Each time we meet together we devote a good amount of time to readings from Scripture, (with readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, Gospels and Epistles). This service also has Holy Communion (also known as the Lord's Supper), using the 2nd Order Service from the Prayer Book of Australia. This service tends to run for an hour and fifteen minutes. There is a genuine warmth of friendship and fellowship among congregation members and we share in morning tea together immediately following the service.

10:30am Family Service  

A contemporary service for all ages. We sing mostly contemporary worship songs and celebrate Holy Communion most Sundays.  It is important to us that our children are exposed to what ‘the grown ups’ do in church, so our a children stay in church for the duration of our service. (Scroll down to ‘OUR MINISTRIES pager for more on children in worship). Following the service we have morning tea together.

9:30am Combined Service

On the fifth Sunday of each month both congregations come together for a Combined service of Holy Communion. At this service we normally have elements of the two services, so we have children’s ministry and a combination of traditional hymns with our organ and choir and contemporary spiritual songs with our 10:30am band (which consists of the Vicar!)

Wednesdays

10:30am Mid Week Holy Communion Service (BCP 1662)

At this service Holy Scripture is read and explained, with an opportunity to confess our sins and be reminded of God’s wonderful grace as we share in Holy Communion together around the Lord’s Table. We also sing hymns and there is also an opportunity for those who would like to be anointed with oil and ask God for healing, (whether it be from sickness, sin, addictions, or various other trials). This service uses the liturgy from the BCP 1662.

WE ARE AN ANGLICAN CHURCH...

and we stand on the Scriptures, (God's Word written) as the final authority in matters of faith and practice therefore we affirm:

1. A belief in the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; three distinct Persons co-equal in Glory and co-eternal in majesty and of one substantial Godhead, such that there are not three gods but one God.

2. A belief in the Holy Scriptures as divine revelation, inerrantly inspired by God, carrying the full measure of His authority, containing all things necessary to salvation, and to be submitted to in all matters of faith and practice of life.

3. A belief in the One Saviour of mankind, Jesus Christ, who in His person is both fully God and fully man; of one substance with the Father in regard to his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us in regard to his manhood.

4. A belief in the perfect obedience of Christ, His true and actual suffering, His substitutionary and atoning death on the cross, and His bodily resurrection and ascension as the only means given for our salvation and reconciliation with God.

5. A belief in faith alone as the only grounds for the merits of Christ being imputed to us for our justification before God (justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone).

6. A belief that God’s Holy Spirit is given to all believers at conversion, so they might be convicted of their sinful nature and need for Christ as their saviour. And that God’s Spirit dwells within the Christian to cause ongoing repentance, increase in holiness and the ability to live lives that please God.

7. A belief in the return of Jesus Christ in glory to judge the living and the dead, and a belief in the bodily resurrection from the dead of all people and their entrance into either eternal damnation or everlasting blessedness.

8. A belief in the one, holy, catholic (universal), and apostolic Church as those souls that have been redeemed entirely by the work of Christ and called out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of error into truth, out of death into eternal life.

9. A belief that the visible church exists to worship the Triune God and to lift up the Saviour Jesus Christ before all people through sharing the Good News of His life, death, and resurrection; through the study, exposition, proclamation and application of His Word, the Bible; through prayer and song, and through the faithful administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (also known as Holy Communion).

10. A belief in the historic creeds of the Church as accurate representations of the essence of the Christian faith, and in the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church, as a coherent and concise expression of Anglican doctrine. We also hold to The Jerusalem Declaration as a statement of contemporary orthodox Anglicanism.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Col 2:6-7

At St John The Evangelist, our desire is to see God's people grow in Christian maturity,  so we aim as a church to model and encourage God's people in:

Worshipping God in Spirit and Truth

We seek to Worship God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that worship is not primarily about us, nor measured by how good we “feel” when we leave the service on Sunday. It is measured by our discipleship throughout the entire week. Our feelings or emotional highs are transient and secondary in importance to obedience to Jesus’ teaching of the Great Commandment: “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.”

Living Out God’s Word in Our Whole Lives

We seek to study, digest, and then apply the truths of God’s Written Word – the Bible - in our church life, our family life, through our vocations, and by serving God at all times and in every place.

Serving God’s People in Caring Community

We desire to grow into a community of grace, where we serve one another in love, in supportive and accountable relationships. Accountability to others in our community is a vital part of what makes Church of the Holy Spirit a safe place for children and their families.

Renewing God’s Church in Word and Spirit

We seek to raise up and equip leaders from every generation for gospel ministry, to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God, that God will use each of us for the service and building up of God's church until Jesus returns. 

Reaching God’s World with the Gospel

We want to introduce people to Jesus and help them home to heaven. The way to do this is to tell them of who Jesus is (the Saviour of the World) and what he has done (died on the cross for their sin and rose from the dead) and why he has done it (to save or rescue us from the penalty of sin and the sting of death).

Children in worship

Corporate worship is corporate; the entire body gathers. As the congregation sings, all the voices of the church unite. When God’s people read the confession of faith, (The Apostles’ Creed & The Nicene Creed), they confess the same truth in unity. When God’s people hear the public prayers, they voice a loud “Amen” together. Children benefit from witnessing and participating in this unity. This is why our children stay in church for the duration of the service.

Our children also learn that God is for them. When we include children in worship, we communicate that they can worship the one true God. Christianity isn’t an adults-only religion, and worship isn’t adult-only either. God calls on all people to worship. When we exclude our children from worship, we communicate that the things of God and his story aren’t for them. 

Children pay special attention to their parents. They learn by observing their parents and discerning what their parents deem important and what gives them delight. Bringing our children into worship lets them observe the importance and delight of corporate worship in the life of their parents. If they aren’t in worship, they won’t ever see that delight, and few things have greater effect on our children’s spiritual lives. We work to provide parents and carers with tools to assist and encourage this process. This is currently facilitated with periodical resource for the children entitled Rev’s News, which contains activities, puzzles, an age approprate Bible study and aids to help them engage with the sermon.

 Bible Study Groups

Christianity is meant to be relational—first, on a vertical axis between ourselves and God and, second, on a horizontal axis between ourselves and those around us. Small group Bible studies move us from being spectators in a weekly church service to active participants in a like-minded community dedicated to spiritual growth.

As we encounter God’s Word together, we have an opportunity to share our different perspectives and insights and are broadened because of the interaction. More information is retained when there is active involvement, so biblical literacy is enhanced. Application and accountability bring understanding that moves God’s Word from the intellect to the heart. Transformation is encouraged (Romans 12:2), and our lives are changed. When our lives are changed, the lives of those around us are changed as well. Various groups are held throughout the week. Contact the church office for more details.

Ladies - Mondays 1.30pm - 3.30pm    

Young Adutls - Tuesdays 5.30 - 6.30pm
@ The Tamworth Hotel 

Wednesdays - 7.30pm  

Men - Thursdays 9.30 - 11.30am

Ladies - Thursdays 10.00am  
@ St John’s Church Hall

Sundays - 12.44pm  meets fortnightly 
@ St John’s Church Hall

OP-SHOP & OP-SHED

 Held in the Parish hall at 102 Carthage Street on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9am-12:30pm, and staffed by volunteers. Both are stocked with various clothng items, fashion accessories, bedding, books, novels, DVD’s, and other assortments of goodies.

A Collaborative Effort

Ministry at St John's Anglican Church doesn’t rest on the shoulders of any one person. We all have a place of belonging and service here.

Oversight and pastoral care for our clergy is the responsibility of our Bishop, the Right Rev’d Rod Chiswell. Local spiritual oversight is the responsibility of the Vicar, Rev’d Joshua Bovis. A group of elected lay leaders, called a Parish Council, works with the Vicar to tend to the financial and tangible needs of the parish while also providing the Vicar with wise counsel. 

The Role of Ministers

The role of Ministers is to lead by serving and shepherding. The Lord Jesus set the tone when he said about himself, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The job of ministers is not to direct attention to themselves, but to point the people continually toward the person and work of the Lord Jesus, his life, teaching, death and resurrection, and they do this through the study, exposition, proclamation and application of God’s Word, the Bible.

Our VICAR (Senior Minister)

Joshua is married to Melanie and they have four children (three Adults and one in High School) and two Cavalier King Charles spaniels who are constantly hungry. Joshua graduated with a B.Th from Sydney Missionary & Bible College and earned an M.A from Ridley College in Melbourne. He has previously served in churches in the New England, Upper Hunter, Newcastle and Falkirk (Scotland). To relax Joshua enjoys weight training, fitness, reading (History, Theology, Biographies). He aspires to visit the coast for a surf whenever possible as waves are rather scarce in Tamworth and the New England.

Church Office Hours:

9am-3pm Monday to Wednesday

Church Phone Number

(02) 6766-2170

On Line Form

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