Church of St. Andrew
 
 
  1. ✤We’re excited to add Tommy Flynn to the staff as the Children and Youth Coordinator.
  2. ✤January 30-February 1 We’re pleased to welcome missional leaders from around the US and even Africa, for a conference at Columbia Seminary, “Mainline Emergent/s: Conversations in Theology, Practice, and Hope”
  3. ✤February 10, we will be screening “The Invisible Children of Sudan”
  4. ✤Drum Circle every third Saturday of the month, 7:00pm
  5. ✤Qui Gong, an eastern meditative practice, begins again Thursday nights 6:30-7:30, February 22.
  6. ✤Ash Wednesday Meditation service, February 21
  7. ✤“Public house” conversations in faith at Meehan’s Pub In Sandy Springs Center, every Wednesday night at 8pm, starting in February.
 
 
 
 
 
“In every [person] is the creation story.  Since the first day of our beginning, the Sprit has brooded over the formless, dark void of our lives, calling us into existence through our
gifts until they are developed. ”
 
-Elizabeth O’Connor,
 
Connection with Those Who have Gone Before Us
Website and Worship Under Construction
Church as An Emerging Work in Progress
2007 Signs of Re-Formation
Church of St. Andrew, is an Emerging Work in Progress
To be the church is to be in motion, learning, adapting, and being continually re-shaped by the Word of God in our midst.
 
The Church of St. Andrew is a family that has been following in the way of Jesus by seeking the kingdom of God in Sandy Spring since 1959.  In certain terms, you could say we’re old pros at this.  And yet, the most recent years have reminded us that churches, like families, have seasons, and that the beginning of wisdom is teachability. We changed our approach to some of our programs and introduced multiple ways of worshipping, seeking, as always, to offer our whole lives in worship to God.  We learned in that season, through various reactions and the recent loss of our pastor of 12 years the importance of communication and cooperation. In September, 2006, our congregation’s path met up with the path of our new pastor, Rev. Troy Bronsink.  And so you are meeting up with us at the introduction of a new chapter.
Today, just into 2007, we are continuing to discover what it will mean to be the next Church of St.Andrew, a new chapter in a yet-to-be-finished book. This web site is a good metaphor for the re-construction that it is to mature as a church. We hope to have more to share soon with the rest of the web, the blogosphere, and the world of pod-casting. Until then please drop us a note or drop in to introduce yourself if your own journey takes you to the Sandy Springs. We are learning to worship God with our whole selves, at all sorts of times and on all sorts of occasions. We gather as an entire church family for spiritual formation from 9:30-10:30 and for worship in our church sanctuary every Sunday morning from 11:00-12:00 (click here for directions). http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&addtohistory=&address=5855%2BRiverside%2Bdr.%2BNW&city=atlanta&state=ga&zipcode=30327&homesubmit=Get%2BMapshapeimage_2_link_0
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is a connection of churches in line with the five hundred year-old Reformed Tradition and the two hundred century-old movement of people in the way of Jesus.  Along with this tradition we acknowledge that the church’s  “great ends” or “purposes” are:
 
  1. ✤Proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the salvation of humankind.
  2. ✤Shelter nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God.
  3. ✤Nourishment of divine worship.
  4. ✤Conservation of all that is true,
  5. ✤Cultivation of social righteousness,
  6. ✤And exhibition of the kingdom of God.
 
We do have to remind ourselves, though, that these ends or goals are given to the church are for the sake of God’s mission to Sandy Springs and the wider world.  We are not the end-users of the gospel and our programs are not concrete ends-unto-themselves but practices requiring continual re-formation. And so, since God’s mission is still “in play”, or “at hand”, the church is an emerging community.  Our church’s constitution itself states that the church gathers to live out this mission “even at the risk of losing its life, trusting in God alone as the author and giver of life, sharing the gospel, and doing those deeds in the world that point beyond themselves to the new reality in Christ.”  
 
So consider joining us in this journey, with all its risk and promise. If your an old pro, we’d love another co-learner.  If your new to all this, we appreciate the fresh perspective, curiosity, and even doubt that you might bring with you.
 
 
“The church which pitches its tents without constantly looking out for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling... [We must] play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, live by improvisation and experiment.” - Hans Kung