St John The Baptist, Heaton Mersey

A welcoming and informal Christian church, St. John's is the Anglican (Church of England ) parish church of Heaton Mersey.

St. John's is the Anglican (Church of England) parish church of Heaton Mersey, right on the southern border of the Manchester Diocese, and actually part of Stockport. The parish was once a small village which got swallowed up in the urban sprawl of the last century, and sits on the bank of the river Mersey which is here a pleasant little minnow reach with fish and kingfishers.

The church is a big Victorian building which is in the throes of continual repair, as and when money becomes available. In fact, it's recently been decorated, following extensive ceiling repairs, and is now rather cool in colour. It's quite nice to look at from outside, set back from the A5145 in its own little circular road, with its own little circular churchyard, and an immense and intimidating lych-gate, which looks like some defensive fortification.

More importantly, it houses a friendly and welcoming Christian congregation, which strives to become a Christian community.

The feel of the worship is fairly easy-going, and pretty much standard Anglican liturgy. We're sort of low-of-middle in churchmanship, or maybe liberal(ish) evangelical.

(If that's gobbledy-gook to you, don't worry; basically it means that our worship and preaching is none too formal, but we're pretty orthodox in our understanding of the Christian faith. )

Our main focus is the Sunday worship, into which we try to put a fair bit of effort, but that may not show in the actual performance!

Like all churches, in our own way, we aim to enable Christians to grow in faith, to encourage others to join us in meeting with God as he comes to us in Jesus Christ, and to cope with being basically human - seeking God's help with the many areas where we fall short, and praising him for the bits where he helps us get it right.

The congregation is weighted towards those over 50, but with a fair (and increasing) number of families with young children.

Children are welcome at our services, and we have a special toddlers and babies area which is part of the main worship space. Older children tend to head for the Sunday Club for much of the service, but join in near the end.

Most of our regular children are communicants, and sharing together in the Eucharist is important for most of our families, as well as for the church as a whole.