About Us
St, Andrews is an ecumenical alliance. We are a partnership of St Andrews Parish Church and Higham Hill Baptist Church. We are members of both the Church of England and the Baptist Union of Great Britain. Our partnership was formed in 1984 and has florished ever since.
What is Ecumenism at St. Andrews?
ECUMENICAL: of or representing the whole Christian world; seeking world-wide Christian unity;
This is how the dictionary describes it, but what does it mean to us here at St. Andrew’s? We see ecumenism as a positive step forward for the Christian community. It involves a committed involvement in integration. We can conceive of no reasons why Christians of various denominations can’t work, live and worship together in harmony, fellowship and love.
Divisions and perceived differences can be damaging. People not of the church, must think it strange that we who call ourselves Christians, seem, at times, to be working against each other.
We believe that, as we claim to be all of the one Christian family, we can act as one family. We can embrace and learn from each others traditions and ways. We can share worship, we can treat each other as brothers and sisters in the family of God.
Our theology is liberal, we maintain an ‘open altar’ and all are welcome to worship with us. Everyone of faith is welcome to take communion with us, this includes children of all ages. The style of our services vary, sometimes Anglican sometimes Baptist, sometimes non-denominational, all are attended by the majority of the congregation.
We are told that we are an unusual alliance, Baptists and Anglicans! Maybe that’s true, maybe we are odd, but we are not ‘at odds’, we are a united body of Christians. The only condition we impose on people attending our church is that they come with open minds and open hearts, there is no inquisition about denomination or faith, all are accepted as fellow members of the family of God.
Although the majority of our membership are either Anglican or Baptist we do have a sprinkling of other denominations: Roman Catholic, Salvationist, Presbyterian, Methodist, and others who just regard themselves as being ‘Church Members’. All are or have been regular worshippers. We are ECUMENICAL.
One Lord, one faith, one God,
AMEN.
