On Sunday, January 27, 2013 the Feast of St. Sarkis the Warrior was commemorated, and was Youth day at St. John Church. Fr. Mesrop Ash invited the youth for a special service and blessing and delivered a special message, he talked about who St. Sarkis was and what was his role in the Armenian Church.

A special message was offered for youth of all ages about the role of social networks in our lives, such as Facebook.

On January 3, the first meeting of the ACYO Core Group was held in the private residence of Fr. Mesrop and Yn. Annie. Present were 6 of our parish's talented youth. The purpose of this fun and productive meeting was to brainstorm new ways of growing St. John's youth ministry. Some of the activities which they have put on the calendar include:

Once again in continuing with tradition, St. John Armenian Church hosted  the annual toy drive benefiting UCSF's Pediatric Ward.  this year’s Toy Drive was a huge success by raising  over $1600 in toys Many thanks for the generous monetary donations and toys. Your generous donations were greatly appreciated by the children in the pediatric ward and by St. John Armenian Church.

St. John extends its thanks to Dn. Charles Cherezian and Ms. Carmen Kestekyan for their hard work in organizing the toy drive.

The Christmas bells were ringing on December 24, at St. John Armenian Apostolic Church. More than 200 hundred faithful were present to participate in celebrating the Western Christmas candlelight Service. The sanctuary and the Paul Family hall were beautifully decorated with Christmas ornaments.

The service started with the Lord’s Prayer followed by scripture readings by our dedicated deacons, the congregation joined the choir singing traditional Christmas Carols. Sunday School students participated in the pageant, presenting the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.