About The Order of St John
St John is a working Order of Chivalry (since 1888) and a modern organisation delivering first aid, healthcare and support services around the world.
In the Service of Humanity, St John promotes physical, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing in 44 countries and territories worldwide, mostly within the Commonwealth. The Order delivers its charitable activities through local St John Ambulance organisations and the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.
At the very core of our work are the 160,000+ St John volunteers who give their time, effort and expertise to help others. Our volunteers come from the local communities they are working in and improve the lives of their own family, friends and neighbours through their ownership of our services – all the whilst strengthening their community’s resilience. You can identify our St John people “in the wild” by the eight-pointed cross on their uniforms. You can learn more about our cross here (share link to Chivalry).
St John International
The International Secretariat of the Order (“St John International”) is the supporting body for all St John establishments. We like to think of ourselves as the “scaffolding”. We provide support to all of our establishments by facilitating the sharing of best practice and recognising the achievements of our volunteers through our Honours and Awards system.
At our friendly office in London, we’re here to assist with a wide range of activities; you can find us working on international communication plans, writing grant proposals, hosting communities of practice, securing income generation, organising applications for HM The King’s List, and facilitating our international governance structure. For a small team of 11, we punch high to ensure that each of the establishments who operate in our name feel connected, supported and well-resourced. Fuelled heavily by coffee, we’d love to invite you in for a one – just please let us know in advance to make sure we’ve bought in some milk!
Our Values
Respect
- Showing respect and loving kindness for all humanity.
- Everyone, no matter their age, gender, race, creed, political affiliation or national identity, or what they may have done, will receive loving kindness from St John without discrimination.
Unselfishness
- Selflessly helping those in greatest physical, mental and spiritual need without judgment, and building their resilience
- We will put the needs of others before ourselves, working for stronger communities.
- Our first four values are based upon our view of human need, in which we promote physical, mental and spiritual health and well-being, guided and inspired by the Christian principles of our founders.
Excellence
- Delivering modern care to a high standard, with a clear focus on impact and efficiency
- All those involved in delivery will keep up to date with the latest standards and all our services will be delivered with compassion, to the highest level, ensuring those in most need get the care they require.
Openness and transparency
- Committing to openness and transparency so that we become a learning organisation
- We will seek to learn from each other. We will share the things that go well, so they can be used by all. We will also be open and honest about our mistakes, so we can all learn and improve for the future.
Devotion
- Building a spiritual home for ourselves and future generations, where all can find fulfilment and meaning through a shared devotion to helping others
- As members of St John we seek to ensure that everyone feels part of one community, devoted to our mission while providing support to each other and to future generations.
Togetherness
- Working to create a sense of one family of St John by strengthening and bringing together our many locally-led organisations around a common vision and common values
- Based across the world and mainly in the Commonwealth, we endeavour to help and support the one family of St John.
Diversity and inclusiveness
- Embracing diversity and inclusiveness to support our common purpose, respecting our differences and accepting those of all faiths and none, whilst confident in our Christian roots and traditions
- Everyone should feel included in our St John family.
Faithfulness
- Holding ourselves to the highest standards and looking for the best in others, we are faithful to the vision of our founders
- Presuming good faith in each other, we hold ourselves and each other to account for high standards of propriety and behaviour, and honour those who do good works.