St. John's Episcopal Church/La Iglesia de San Juan

ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH is a small but growing, diverse, multilingual community of God’s people, serving the communities of Dover, Wharton, Mine Hill, Randolph, Rockaway and surrounding areas in the hills of northern New Jersey. We serve both the English- and Spanish-speaking communities as well as a small ministry for the deaf. Our congregation includes people proudly born in the U.S.A., Belarus, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Liberia.

Our members range in age from a few months to over 90 years.

The parish of St. John’s was formed in 1852. We worship in a historic sanctuary, consecrated in 1871, the oldest standing church in Dover. Our traditional building features a variety of beautiful stained-glass windows. We maintain a sanctuary dedicated to God, built and maintained by seven generations of Episcopalians.

Our traditions go back to the Cornish miners and iron-workers who formed the backbone of our local economy as far back as Colonial America. The area grew in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the railroads and the Morris Canal, which crossed in central Dover. In the 1950s and 60s, the neighborhood of the church was transformed by an influx of Puerto Ricans, creating a vibrant, commercial Spanish-speaking community in a business district of Edwardian and Victorian architecture. Later, immigrants from other Latin American countries found the area attractive as well, making the community widely bi-lingual.

The church also hosts a wide variety of community and health organizations. These include headquarters of the Diocese-wide support organization, North Porch, that offers pre-natal care and supplies for young mothers and infants. We host lunches, twice a week, by the Morris County Nutrition Center. We also host chapters of AA, SA and NA, and a community food pantry.