Welcome to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Guelph, Ontario CANADA

Our Programs and Educational Opportunities
St. Andrew's offers many and varied opportunities to participate, grow in faith and even lead in church programs and special events.

For more information and details,
please contact the St. Andrew's Church Office.

Opportunities at St. Andrew's
How can I connect? How can I grow in faith?
Check the "Calendar" for specific event details

A.K.D. Circle 2nd Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Note: January - March at 2:00 p.m.	This is a fun, caring group of mainly "young senior" women who meet monthly for devotions, usually a guest speaker or video and short business session. Funds are raised for the church, missions and outreach through offerings, annual cheese sale and occasionally, a bring and buy sale. New members of 'all ages' are welcome.
Women's Drop-In Weekly on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.	This group is for women of all ages and interests.
Breast Cancer Support Group 2nd Monday at 7:30 p.m.	The Guelph and Wellington Area Breast Cancer Support Group meets at, and is supported by, St. Andrew's. They provide support to women living with breast cancer, either under active treatment, during five-year follow-up, or living symptom free. The social group gathering is in itself renewing and uplifting.
Saturday Night Suppers as announced	A weekly Saturday Night Supper for those in need in Guelph is served at Royal City Church on Quebec Street. St. Andrew's, along with other churches, is responsible for food, service and cleanup for this event on a quarterly rotation. Watch the bulletin or newsletter for information on when these dinners are held and how you can become involved.
Choir Weekly on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:45 a.m.	The Choir provides musical leadership for the worship services and occasionally participates in community choral events. This choir rehearses weekly and is open to any teen or adult who enjoys singing sacred music.
Children's Ministry Sunday during Worship Service	Church School is offered during Sunday Morning Worship Service for children ages 4 to grade 9. A package describing our programs and curriculum can be obtained by contacting the church office.
Congregational Care @ St. Andrew's	The Congregational Care (CC) Team was formed to develop a different way of ensuring that as many members and adherents as possible have a personal link to the church. This is a shared responsibility between Minister, Session and members of the congregation. A network of people, known as CONNECTORS, are people who care about strengthening our church community through the ties of faith and friendship, are willing to reach out to more closely connect families and individuals to the church and are responsive to individual need.
Handbells Choir Weekly on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.	The Handbell Choir rehearses weekly and frequently participates in the worship services as well as regularly performing 'gigs' in Guelph and surrounding community. Participation in the Handbell Choir is open to anyone (subject to opening availability) but does require a moderate music reading ability.
JILL	Come join our JILL group - Joy In Laughter & Love. Our purpose is to have a ladies group that meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month for the purpose of laughter, fellowship and fun. We welcome everyone and the only requirement is you must have the ability to laugh. Rendevous at 2:00 p.m. in the parlour.
Prayer Network as required	The Prayer Network is a network of dedicated members of the congregation who give us the gift of prayer. These daily prayers are offered on behalf of those who are troubled, sick, grieving etc. This is accessed by calling the Church Office, and is available to you as well as to your extended circle and it is not necessary to name individuals.
Women's Missionary Society 3rd Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.	The Women's Missionary Society is a community of Christians whose purpose, in response to the love of God in Jesus Christ, is to encourage one another and all the people of the church to be involved in local and world mission through prayer, study, service and fellowship.

Education - Children, Youth, Adults

Our events and special activities geared for education and training for individuals and groups.

Church Library: Virginia Gillham, Librarian
View our .pdf files for:
• Church Library New Book Report April 2011
• Donation Policy April 2011

What’s New In the Library? April, 2011

Nearly 200 new titles have been added to the Library in the past year. Complete lists on paper of both the new materials and the Library's updated complete holdings are now in the Library.

The Library computer hosts a complete, searchable electronic catalogue. There are instructions for its use taped to the computer desk, and the office staff can put you into the system during the week. One-on-one or small group instruction in using the system is available upon request.

The present total collection numbers about 2,500 items. Many of these are donated titles, but many others have been purchased new, to support the various activities, interests and needs of the congregation. Session makes a small budget available for this purpose, most of which supports the renewal of the magazine collection and the technology that supports the electronic catalogue. Funding is also accrued in a trust account from identified donations on the third line of your envelopes. Such donations are very welcome, particularly since this is the only significant source of funding for the purchase of books (as opposed to magazines). Just write ‘Library’ on the blank third line.

If you have materials to donate to the Library, we hope you will be agreeable to the following gift policy.

St. Andrew’s Church Library Donation Policy
Because space is limited, duplicates are not generally added. Older editions of materials concerning issues that are time-sensitive or for which research is ongoing, are not generally added. Materials not added to the St. Andrew's Library will be handled in one of the following ways.

Appropriate items will be donated to the organization Christian Salvage which sends religious materials to third world countries.
Appropriate items will be made available to members of the congregation.
Appropriate items will be donated to the Friends of the Guelph Public Library annual book sale.
In future the Library will not collect videotapes. New titles will be acquired as DVDs and we are working to convert the existing videotape collections to DVDs.

Library Special Initiatives

In the past year, a grief support collection has been established. Some of the materials for this collection are located together immediately below the magazine collection. This shelf also includes a paper list of grief-related materials located elsewhere in the collection.
An effort is made to provide one copy of each of the titles selected for the St. Andrew's book discussion groups.
There is an ongoing focus on improving the collection of materials for children and young adults. These are the most heavily used resources in the collection.
A small collection of 'special' books is being accumulated. These are all materials that were already in the Library that have come to light from time to time. They include such things as a first edition collection of poems by Col. John Macrae, and a hand-created, autographed collection of poetry by Jean Little . These materials (which presently number only four) will be displayed in the armoire in the Parlour. They will be listed in the Library catalogue, with their location noted, and they will be available for examination upon request.
In addition to complete sets of Bibles, the library has a very large number of Bibles that have been donated individually. The plan is to retain and catalogue one copy of each significant separate edition, and to donate duplicates to Christian Salvage. Thank you to Phyllis Mattar who has assisted with the identification of the various editions of the Bibles.

Among the nearly 200 new titles in the Library

A complete set of Veggietales DVDs
36 Grief support materials
Several parenting support titles
Many new works of fiction
Many new books for children and young adults
Several absorbing biographies
230.03 Ric	Richardson, Alan,	A new dictionary of Christian theology.
230.041 Mar	March, W. Eugene	Great themes of the Bible
234 Red	Redding, David A.	Amazed by grace
241.6242 Byl	Byler, Dennis,	Making war & making peace: why some Christians fight and some don't
242.4 Ten	Ten Elshof, Phyllis	What cancer cannot do : stories of courage.
242.642 Bar	Barnes, Bob, 1933-	Minute meditations for men

Church School:
Children will remain with their families in the church at 10:30 a.m. and will be dismissed to church school prior to the Scripture Lesson.
• Click here • to read about a few things that are going on right now with our church school.
Contact the Church Office for information about our Church School program.

Youth Ministry:
We’d like to invite you to come on out and get involved in Youth Ministry here at St. Andrew’s! This ministry is geared towards all young people in Grade 6 to University — So we know it’s a place for YOU!
• Click here • to read about a few things that are going on right now with our youth and young adults.
Contact the Church Office for information about our Youth and Young Adults programs.

Bible Study:
Over the years we have had various bible study programs: some scheduled for weekdays, some for Sunday mornings, and some for evenings.

	Thursday Morning Bible Study We meet in the Church Parlour on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. We use the readings for the upcoming Sundays.
Welcome back! Join us for our regular conversation around the Bible... All are welcome to join us	February 2, 2012: This week’s reading will be: No bible study this week

Small Groups – Reading the Bible Together
Dr. Bob is inviting people to gather around the Bible again this winter 2011. There is a group that meets before worship on Sundays.
If you are interested or want more information, please sign up at the Welcome Centre. If you are interested in taking part in a different meeting time, please note that on the sheet.

Workshops and Seminars:
From time to time, St. Andrew's offers workshops and seminars.
Please check back frequently for updates. .

Retreats:
Occasionally St. Andrew's hosts retreats for interested members and friends.
Please check back frequently for updates.

Book Clubs: (There are no book clubs in May, June, July and August.)
The next "Friday Brown Bag" and "Good Food, Good Book, and Good Nite" are on Friday, February 17, 2012 at 12:15 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m. respectively with The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

Upcoming Book Clubs

February 17, 2012	The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
March 23, 2012	Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden
April 27, 2012	Then They Came for Me, Maziar Bahair with Aimee Molloy

Friday Brown Bag
St. Andrew's offers this monthly lunch and book discussion program, during which anyone is welcome to join in for a discussion on the book of the month while enjoying a brown bag lunch, brought by the participant. Reading the book is not a requirement and Rev. John Borthwick provides the leadership. Coffee and tea provided by St. Andrew's. The discussion is held in the St. Andrew's Church Parlour, usually on the last Friday of the month, from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Good Food, Good Book, and Good Nite
St. Andrew's offers this monthly supper and book discussion program, usually held on the last Friday of the month, during which anyone is welcome to join in for a discussion on the book of the month and enjoy supper. There is always a space available for newcomers. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Parlour. Dinner is provided at cost. Reading the book is not a requirement and Rev. John Borthwick provides the leadership. Interested participants must reserve their places at the table by calling the Church Office. Seating is limited and reservations are necessary.

Breakfast @ St Andrew's - Cancelled (effective September 2011)
It is with regret that we announce that our Saturday morning Breakfast program will NOT happen this year. We want to thank our committed volunteers over the last 3½ years for coming out in the wee hours of the morning in order that those gathered would have hot coffee and buttered toast. Our thanks to Rev. John for finding such engaging speakers (and to those who suggested many of our guests). A big thanks to Platters Catering for providing our full breakfast and our church staff for setting up the room and confirming bookings. Sometimes one thing needs to end for something new to emerge. Thanks again.

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Congregational Care @ St. Andrew's
Following the introduction of Term Eldership and discontinuation of regular pre-communion visits by elders, the Congregational Care (CC) Team was formed to develop a different way of ensuring that as many members and adherents as possible have a personal link to the church. This is a shared responsibility between Minister, Session and members of the congregation.
A network of people, known as CONNECTORS was developed. They are people who care about strengthening our church community through the ties of faith and friendship, are willing to reach out to more closely connect families and individuals to the church and are responsive to individual need. Contact varies from regular visits to shut-ins to occasional lunch dates, e-mail, phone calls, cards .... whatever works best for those involved.
Our network is still developing, and as yet, not every household is connected. We look forward to recruiting more Connectors. Following successful training Workshops in 2007, another is scheduled for November 1st 2008.
Visitor/Newcomer Ministry is a recent initiative led by a subcommittee of the Congregational Care Team.

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Mission and Outreach Coordinating Committee (MOCC)

(September, 2009): You didn’t know that St. Andrew's had a Mission and Outreach Coordinating Committee?
Background: Late last year, it was decided to abandon the "old" structure of a separate Missions Committee and Outreach Committee and this took effect on January 1, 2009. On January 17, there was a "Mission and Outreach Forum" to look at how St. Andrew's should address these important Ministries in the future. The result is the Mission and Outreach Coordinating Committee (MOCC). Recognizing that many members of the St. Andrew's family are actively engaged in mission and outreach activities, the vision was to organize ourselves to encourage and enable the people of St. Andrew’s to stay and/or get involved.
Current: The MOCC members are: Knolly Toolsie, Kathleen McGillivray, Rev. John and Rick McRonald. We exchanged a lot of e-mails and met twice in the spring to develop the following terms of reference and a Mission and Outreach Policy. (Both the terms of reference and the policy are available on the website. Copies can also be had from any of the members or from the office.) We also decided on the Mission and Outreach Focus for 2009-10. All of these documents have (of course) been approved by the Session and we thank Rev. John for his guidance and leadership through the transition period.
If you are interested in joining the MOCC, please see any of the current members. If you have an idea for a project or activity, we would like to hear that too.
Rick McRonald, Chair

St. Andrew’s Mission and Outreach Coordinating Committee Terms of Reference - Purpose
“God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NRSV)

The Mission and Outreach Coordinating Committee’s mandate is to respond to the cries of God’s people by engaging our congregation in coming alongside those who are actively addressing God’s call to compassion and service. This mandate is accomplished through educating our members/adherents about local, national and international outreach and mission, challenging them to respond to opportunities to participate in outreach and mission activities through financial support and/or the giving of their time and talent. The Committee will actively pursue partnership in new mission projects and continue to provide support for current mission projects according to the strategic directions/foci of the Session. Wherever possible, the Committee will work in concert with other committees and groups in an effort to maximize our call to compassion and service.

View our .pdf file for "Terms of Reference" document
It was approved by the Session June 2009

The Presbyterian Church in Canada has developed principles for mission that express who we are as a denomination and how we work with others in our world. The congregation of St. Andrew’s upholds these principles as our approach to discerning our vision for mission as a congregation of God’s people. We include “outreach” when we speak of “mission” and define it as “mission within the City of Guelph”.

View our .pdf file for
"Mission & Outreach @ St. Andrew’s: Principles, Process & Policy" document
It was approved by the Session June 2009.

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Community Outreach
CORE: Guelph Churches' Outreach Program
In response to the growing need for assistance within the community, some Guelph churches formed the CORE group to address this issue. The result to date has been the formulation of an assistance policy which will, hopefully, address some of the needs, although on an emergency basis only.
View our .pdf files for:
• CORE Program - Map of participating locations
• CORE Program - Brochure

Help Us Help Others - Please Save:
Used Postage Stamps – for Leprosy Relief
Campbell’s Soup Labels – for Education Programs
Zehrs Cash Register Tapes – to convert to cash
Aluminum Cans - for Habitat for Humanity Wellington County
All of the above can be placed in the appropriate slots in the wall container at the Welcome Centre, with the Aluminum Cans placed in the appropriate holder in the Church Hall or main floor corridor.

"My Neighbour's House"
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church celebrated its 180th Anniversary with an invitation to all faith communities to build "My Neighbour’s House" in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Wellington County.
"My Neighbour’s House" was the first ever Multi-Faith Habitat Build in Wellington County. It was completed in 2009 by members of Guelph’s diverse faith communities working together to fundraise and construct a new home for sale to a local low income family.
Click here to link to our "My Neighbour's House" webpage.

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