St Andrew’s is a lively, friendly Christian community that offers a warm welcome to people of all ages.
Our church tradition is evangelical with an informal, modern worship style. Sung worship is led by a music group, and a projector and large screen is used instead of service and hymn books. As well as clergy, many of the congregation are involved in leading worship, preaching and leading prayers; particularly during the main 11am Sunday service. The active involvement of a large number of people in running the church helps to create a warm and supportive family atmosphere where everyone is welcomed and appreciated. Prayer Ministry is also offered during the 11am service on a fortnightly basis.
Children are well catered for during services with groups for children aged two to 18 years as well as frequent all age services and parade services.
connect@StAndrew’s comprises a variety of groups and activities, within the church and in the wider community throughout the week, which stress our connection with God in our worship, our connections with each other and connections with our town. These include a Community Choir, Friendship on Sunday tea parties for the elderly, the RETM Puppet Group, a Saturday morning dads and kids drop-in, young people’s uninformed organisations, a fortnightly youth group for high school students and house-based fellowship groups.
Parking at church is no problem, as the adjacent school playground is utilised for cars on Sundays and for other events when required.
History:
St Andrew’s was originally built as a Scottish Presbyterian Church by the Grant family 1834. However, following a dispute, the Grants closed the building in 1860 and it was eventually consecrated as a Church of England parish church in 1874, following a period as a mission church for neighbouring St Paul’s.
The building was refurbished in 1993-4, when the dark wood pews were removed from the worship area and the space was converted to a light open area suitable for a variety of uses, A large dais was created at the eastern end, and a new entrance, kitchen, upstairs meeting room and were formed.
Early on the morning of 23 July 2013 lightning struck a pinnacle on the tower of the church. The pinnacle was destroyed and falling masonry caused major damage to the roof and church building. Fortunately no-one was injured and we took advantage of the opportunity to remodel the interior, installing a new meeting room, kitchen and toilets into the church during the repairs. The building was re-opened in January 2015 and is becoming increasingly well used throughout the week by the whole community.