St John's Methodist Church

Our church is a beautiful Grade II* listed building set in the Ashbrooke Conservation area. The church was built in 1888, at a cost of £14,500, founded by prominent citizens as part of the 19th Century expansion of Sunderland. The tower and spire, at 148 feet high, are the tallest in Sunderland and are visible from many points of the city. When the Red Arrows visit the city they use the spire as a navigation point! 

Robert Curwen, a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott (designer of the Albert Memorial), was the architect of the building. St John's is a rare surviving example of Robert Curwen’s work. 

There are a number of significant examples of stained glass work in St John's, including: 
- the striking east window that was designed by John Duncan and produced by Reed Millican in 1927
- the west window which is dedicated to Thomas Coke Squance (named after John Coke, founder of Methodism in America) and was created by Powell Brothers of Leeds in 1898
- a stained glass window in the south wall of the church is in memory of Ivy Maybray-King, wife of Horace Baron Maybray-King, the Speaker of the House of Commons

Another prominent feature at St John's is the brass handrail of the pulpit that takes the form of a serpent. The scales and teeth are alarmingly lifelike, with each single scale worked into the brass, a magnificent example of workmanship. It is thought to be a reference to the snake in the Garden of Eden. John Wesley identified the serpent as the 'prince of devils' and viewed its curse, crawling on its belly and licking dust, as a symbolic representation of Satan's defeat by the Redeemer.

The church contains an 18th century portrait of John Wesley in the Upper Hall corridor. There are a number of war memorials from closed, local Methodist churches.