St Andrew’s is a thriving, open and welcoming church community for all ages. Once a rural village church with a population of a few hundred, now our parish population is over 9,000 and we seek to live out our Christian faith in a densely populated area of north Cambridge, blending in our church life things traditional and enduring with the fresh and contemporary.
St Andrew’s is committed to safeguarding all those who attend the worship and other activities that we offer.
St Andrew’s is glad to play host to groups that offer a warm welcome to all who want to come, including the Monday coffee morning (Mondays, 10.15-11.30am, in the Hall) and Church Mice, our group for toddlers and their carers (Thursdays, 9.15-11.30am). We work with other local organisations and churches to organise Chesterton News, our community newsletter, and the annual Chesterton Festival.
We welcome those who would like to explore the big questions of life. Our Hard Questions group includes a healthy mix of thoughtful believers and devout sceptics sharing ideas, opinions and experiences. We are always welcoming new people to our Sunday services and each year a number of adults join the Pilgrim course on the way to baptism and/or confirmation. While at the heart of St Andrew’s are many with a deep and rooted faith in Jesus Christ, and we love to help people find faith and grow in it, we will never push people and respect the insights and experiences of all who find a home in our community. Other groups enable members to grow in faith or to explore how Christian insights are to be discovered, for example, in literature or the world of work.
We are genuinely an all-age community and our Junior Church is led by a dedicated team of leaders who have a great sensitivity to the spiritual needs and gifts of children and are able to use story, craft, silence, music and Scripture to inspire them (and be inspired by them). We now have a youth worker to help our young people through those difficult and formative years and to bring a youthfulness to our worship and corporate life.
Music plays a big part in our church’s life. We have both a director of music and an organist, who lead three choirs that lead us in a musical repertoire ranging from Langlais’ Messe Solennelle to Jonah Man Jazz. The congregation enjoy singing both traditional hymns and modern worship songs from a wide variety of traditions.
Every year or two 70-80 of us of all ages enjoy going away on a parish weekend where we have lots of fun and also learn together about our faith.