About St. Andrew's
St. Andrew’s is a church for the whole family: from infants and children to parents and grandparents. Some of our ministries include youth group for students in 6th through 12th grades, Awana for gradeschool children, Vacation Bible School, Christmas pageant, several small groups that meet around the Central New York region, Men’s & Women’s ministries, Prayer Shawl Ministry, Alpha Marriage Course, Thrift store, intercessory prayer ministry, acolyte and lay readers ministries and more.
We celebrate the church year through a variety of events which have included in the past: special Holy Week services, a Lenten Retreat, a Passover Seder during Lent, Christmas caroling, the Blessing of the Animals services, and a Halloween All Saints Festival. St. Andrew’s also enjoys it’s close relationship with Psalm 19 Ministries led by Iris Godfrey.
St. Andrew's has served God in Central New York since 1902 and we look forward to celebrating our 110th anniversary in 2012.
Watch our web site and the church bulletin for more information.
Accolytes and Other Service Opportunities
Many of our boys and girls (and some adults) serve the Lord in our worship service in the ancient and important ministry of the Accolyte. The term 'accolyte' comes from the ancient Greek word, 'acolytos' which means servant, companion, attendant or helper.
The minsitry of children serving God has its roots in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, where Elkanah and Hannah, who is barren, pray for a child and the Lord provides a son, Samuel. They then dedicate him to the Lord and Samuel serves in the Temple assisting Eli, the Levite priest.
At St. Andrew's, Accolytes have many duties including: assisting the priest or deacon in preparing the table for or cleaning up after communion; as a Crucifer (one who carries the cross in procession); holding the Gospel book for the reading of the lesson; giving the offering plates to the ushers and receiving the offering for the priest to bless; and with other specially assigned duties.
Some of our older teens are also able to serve as Lay Readers. Lay Readers read the Old & New Testament lessons and lead the people in the praying of the Psalms and the Prayers of the People.
Marriage Support
Visit our Marriage Page with resources to strengthen your marriage.
Prayer Shawl Ministry
Acts 19:11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
St. Andrew's has a dedicated team of women and men who pray as they knit and crochet shawls to be given to persons as the Lord directs them. Many are greatly comforted and encouraged by knowing they are prayed for. This ministry is a great blessing both to those who receive and those who create the shawls.
We pray over each and every shawl:
Almighty God, as your power flowed through St. Paul into the fabric of handkerchiefs and aprons, and healed those who were touched by them, so we pray that you would bless these prayer shawls that whoever would they would touch would be healed, have wisdom and insight, be kept in safety, be comforted and have peace.
We give you thanks for the loving, prayerful care by which they have been woven and ask your blessing on those created them.
We pray all this through the powerful name of Jesus Christ, our healer and redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever. Amen.
Thrift Store Thursdays!
We'll open again in March 2013!
Pastor Steve Evans and Joe Rescigno are holding the occasional garage sale, using the garage on the Lindbergh Road side of our building at 6136 S. Salina St. We open about 10 am and close about 4:00 pm. We are also occasionally open in between services on Sundays.
Look for our ad every Thursday morning on Craigslist in the Garage Sale section and follow us on Facebook to see the latest and greatest treasures for sale.
Everything is negotiable and we always have a free table to give stuff away. Sometimes have coffee too.
Contact us if you are cleaning out your home, office or other locations and have items to donate. We are accepting donations of housewares, sporting goods, electronics, yard tools & items, office equipment, art supplies, appliances, DVD's & CD's, outdoors goods, children's games and toys, and other stuff. We also accept donations from businesses with out dated or overstocked inventory. We will give tax deductible receipts for donations. Contact Pastor Steve to arrange for your donation to be picked or to drop it off yourself.
We are seeking the donation of a Box Van/Truck, Cargo Van, Mini-Van or Pick-up truck in good working condition to be used for local pick-ups and drop-offs. We are a non-profit 501c3 and offer a tax deductible receipt for all donations. If you would like to make a donation please reply to this post to Pastor Steven Evans.
Over the past year we have been able to provide a variety of goods to homeless persons, those in poverty, immigrant families, women escaping abusive situations and many others struggling to make ends meet. We have also been able to do house cleanouts for elderly persons, who have had to move from their home to senior care facilities because of illness. Currently we do this one day a week. We believe this will develop into a full-time business that will be able to employ some of those same persons as well as some persons who don't fit in the traditional work force because special needs.
Jesus encouraged his followers to love their neighbors as themselves. We're trying hard to do that every day. Please join us. Thank you.
Small Groups and Bible Studies
St. Andrew's has several small groups and Bible studies. Contact the church for more information.
St. Andrew's Storefront News
2012 has been an exciting year for St. Andrew's as we have begun renting space at 6136 South Salina Street. In April, after several months of hard work, we began utilizing 6136 for meetings, dinners, classes, small groups. Over the summer we added a garage on the side of building to begin our garage sale ministry. In the fall, we will expand into 6136A, another storefront on the north side of the building to expand our ministries.
Thanks to Tim DeGraff and Don Ackley-Perot for their incredible work effort, along with Bruce and Connor Ackley-Perot, Gary Steffen, Jim Albanese and others. Thanks for Pastor Mike Santy and Destiny Christian Church for the donated chairs.