The Community Of St John The Divine
Charity 210254
Overview
Summary
The Community Of St John The Divine appears to be a religious community whose present role is organised around healing understood broadly: not only care for illness, but also spiritual renewal, pastoral support, hospitality and attention to poverty and marginalisation. Its historic charitable purpose is explicitly nursing- and midwifery-led, while its stated activities suggest a contemporary model centred on a worshipping community that receives and accompanies others. This combination may make it a distinctive bridge between faith-based care, retreat provision and social concern.
Operational geography
Coverage: Neighbourhood
Operational areas:
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Remaining uncertainties
- The available current evidence places the Community's active house, worship, hospitality, retreat and pastoral activity at St John's House in Marston Green, which is outside the supplied Birmingham ward and place list. It therefore does not support assigning a current Birmingham operational area.
- The Community previously operated from Alum Rock, but St John's House in Alum Rock states that the Community moved to Marston Green in June 2016 and that the current Alum Rock operation is run by a different charity. There is no evidence of an ongoing operational site or material delivery partnership there.
- The Community's hospitality and retreat offer may attract visitors from beyond its immediate locality, and its Associates form a wider network, but the evidence does not identify where visitors, Associates or people receiving pastoral support are based. This is insufficient to classify current delivery as Birmingham-wide, regional or national.
- The organisation's official website remains publicly available, but its most recent substantive news item was dated 2023 and its page says it no longer publishes annual reports in the former format. This limits confidence about any activities added after that period.
Additional evidence needed
- A current trustees' report, activity report or service schedule identifying the locations of hospitality, retreats, pastoral accompaniment, grants or outreach delivered during and after the year ended 31 March 2025.
- Confirmation from the Community of whether it currently runs, commissions or regularly delivers any activity in Birmingham wards, including Alum Rock.
- Evidence identifying any formal current partnerships through which the Community delivers services beyond St John's House in Marston Green.
Areas of work
- General Charitable Purposes
- Religious Activities
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
Who they help
- The General Public/mankind
How they help
- Provides Services
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
Healing appears to be the organisation’s unifying idea
The available evidence suggests that nursing, worship, retreat, spiritual accompaniment and care for marginalised people are connected through a broad understanding of healing, wholeness and reconciliation.
Why it matters
This helps explain why activities that might otherwise seem separate are held within one organisation. Its role may be less about delivering a single specialist service than creating a faith-based setting where practical, emotional and spiritual care reinforce one another.
Show evidence
“The community seeks to establish a centre of worship and prayer within the ethos of healing, wholeness and reconciliation.”
Source:Organisation“Provision for sick nursing and midwifery among the poor, in hospitals and private families.”
Source:Charity Commission
There may be a significant shift from clinical vocation to accompaniment
The objects retain a direct commitment to training and employing nurses and midwives, but the stated activities foreground hospitality, retreat, worship, spiritual accompaniment and pastoral care. This may indicate that its current public-facing model has broadened beyond clinical service delivery.
Why it matters
Understanding this possible shift is important for identifying suitable relationships: the organisation may be more complementary to health, wellbeing, faith and community-support providers than its formal nursing-focused objects alone suggest.
Show evidence
“Training and employment of nurses and midwives.”
Source:Charity Commission“We offer a ministry of spiritual accompanyment and pastoral care.”
Source:Organisation
Hospitality may be its main point of connection with the wider public
The organisation appears to use shared worship, rest, retreat and renewal as a means of opening its communal life to others, rather than serving only a defined membership or client group.
Why it matters
This suggests a potentially distinctive civic role as a place-based resource for restoration and pastoral support, including for people whose needs may not fit conventional health or poverty services.
Show evidence
“We exercise a ministry of hospitality for people to come for times of rest, retreat and renewal and to share in our life and worship.”
Source:Organisation“The General Public/mankind.”
Source:Charity Commission
- Whether nursing, midwifery, nurse training or clinical care are currently delivered in practice.
- Which marginalised groups are prioritised and how support is provided.
- Whether retreat and pastoral services are local, residential, referral-based or broadly accessible.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports or service descriptions showing current programmes, staffing and beneficiary reach.
- Information about partnerships with health providers, churches, social-care organisations and poverty-relief services.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
The community seeks to establish a centre of worship and prayer within the ethos of healing, wholeness and reconciliation, we exercise a ministry of hospitality for people to come for times of rest, retreat and renewal and to share in our life and worship. We offer a ministry of spiritual accompanyment and pastoral care, and seek to respond to the needs of the poor and marginalized.
Charity objects
PROVISION FOR SICK NURSING AND MIDWIFERY AMONG THE POOR, IN HOSPITALS AND PRIVATE FAMILIES. TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT OF NURSES AND MIDWIVES. OTHER WORKS OF CHARITY NOT TAKING PRECEDENCE OVER VOCATION OF NURSING.