St. Andrew Presbyterian Church

Congregational Statement of Worship

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church takes its name from the disciple best known for introducing people to Jesus. When the biblical Andrew brought his brother Simon to meet the Messiah, Jesus gave that brother the new name of “Peter” and called both brothers to become “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19; John 1:35- 42). And when the biblical Andrew brought forward a young boy with a handful of loaves and fish, Jesus transformed the boy’s meager lunch into enough food to feed thousands (John 6:8). 


Like our namesake disciple, we at St. Andrew Presbyterian strive to introduce others to the living Christ and to help them find opportunities to use their own gifts (musical, organizational, rhetorical, financial) for the nourishment of others. 


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St. Andrew is a church that reaches out to others

At St. Andrew, our primary mission is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, but our secondary mission requires us to get out of our own heads and to pay attention to our neighbors so we can start loving them as ourselves (Luke 10:27). As such, we believe that we can experience God through our interactions with other people— those from within our congregation and those from outside our church walls. We believe that our regular gatherings together for worship help us to learn from one another and help us to avoid becoming lost within our own self-centered thoughts, wishes, and desires.

St. Andrew is a church that worships the Triune God

We believe that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are collectively to be worshipped “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23) — not out of any superstition, not for a mere emotional thrill, not for any material gain, but with sincerity, according to God’s Word. Everything that is said, sung, prayed, played, and displayed in our worship services is offered for the glory of God alone (Soli Deo Gloria)—even as it is also offered for the benefit, edification, transformation, and growth of the congregation.

St. Andrew is a church

that sings

The robust singing of “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19) has been a key component of worship services since the early days of the Protestant reformers. We continue this tradition at St. Andrew, accompanying—but never replacing—the singing of the congregation with the music of the organ, piano, handbells, and a variety of other acoustic and amplified instruments. 


Our professional and volunteer musicians seek to lead the congregation in active, collective worship—not merely to perform before a passive audience. We embrace the musical offerings of different ages and different cultures, and we fit a variety of sacred song into an evolving liturgy (order of worship) that provides continuity from week to week, year to year. 

St. Andrew is a church

that hears and responds

to God’s Word

Our Worship Team (comprised of lay members, staff, and pastors) generally focuses our worship services around the scripture passages selected years in advance by the Revised Common Lectionary — featuring weekly passages from the Gospels and the Psalms as well as an additional passage from both the Old and New Testaments. We look to the scripture for an understanding of the ways in which we can offer our worship to God, but we also recognize that those images and practices still need to be understood in terms of their cultural and historical context. 


Each week, we offer a collective confession of our sin and look to Christ for the forgiveness he offers each of us individually — a forgiveness that we are commanded to extend to one another. We also include regular opportunities for the congregation to make offerings of their time, talent, and treasure. 

St. Andrew is a church

that embraces its connection to the PC(USA) denomination and the Reformed tradition

We seek to live out the ethos of the motto Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda (“The church reformed and always reforming, according to the Word of God”). As in all areas of our faith, we strive to keep our personal biases in check and to avoid confusing our individual preferences — musical, liturgical, cultural — with biblical or theological mandates and requirements. 


We offer the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper at least once a month at a table to which all who call on Christ are welcome. We believe that Christ’s presence is with us in that meal in a way more real than the fact that, wherever two or three are gathered in his name, Christ is there. We accept members who have been baptized into our fellowship as infants as well as those who have reaffirmed their faith in Christ as teenagers and adults. 


To serve the varying schedules of our congregation members, we typically offer two main worship services on Sunday morning — with time for Christian Education classes and fellowship between. We strive to keep our services to around one hour, but at times God’s message requires a little more time to convey through all the songs, sermons, confessions, and prayers. 

At St. Andrew, we recognize that the “church” is the people, not the building

While the bulk of our planning focuses on Sunday morning worship, we believe God can and should be worshipped at any time in any place. We want our building to be used regularly throughout the week as a site for prayer, worship, and service by various groups. In the end, we believe St. Andrew’s internal focus on worship is inseparable from the outward-looking Great Commission that Christ has given to all churches who minister in his name. 


Through our worship on Sunday and through our lives during the rest of the week, we seek to fulfill St. Andrew’s purpose statement: To be the body of Christ, living in Christ's love, and serving as Christ served.