We would love to meet you!

When you visit the Parry Sound area be sure to attend our worship service every Sunday morning at 10:30.

• Our church home is easy to find just two blocks north-west of the main intersection.
• There is plenty of parking.
• A warm welcome awaits you.
• After the service be sure to come into the Fellowship Hour for a refreshing drink and a cookie or two.
• Check our Bulletin Board, Calendar and Services menus for service topics and special services.

Presbyterians get their name from the Greek word "presbyteros" meaning " elder". This word occurs many times in the New Testament and also in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It refers to mature members of the community who are respected for their experience and faithfulness. The word may also designate a particular office of leadership.

A Presbyterian church is one governed by elders. Today, Presbyterian churches in Canada are governed by elders who are elected by members of the congregation. Although elders are ordained for life, congregations may choose term service for elders.

• Kids Klub (SK to Grade 6) - Thursday nights from 6:30 - 8:00 p. m. This week is Soccer night at William Beatty School - drop-off and pick-up at the school. In case of rain, come to St. Andrew's.
• TECh./CIA (Grades 6 - 12) - 7 p. m. Come and hang out, have a good time and enjoy yourself. This week we're going to have a discussion of the 'Soul Suffer' movie. See you Friday!
• YARD SALE 7:30 a. m.- in support of the "Messengers" 2013 Nicaragua trip. Sale to be held in the church parking lot on Saturday, May 19th. We need your help - are you spring cleaning? We'll take what items you no longer need! Drop items off in Church Library this week, Monday to Friday between 9 a. m. and 3 p. m. Thanks for your contributions! Can't make those times - call (705)746-9612 for alternate arrangements.
• VBS August 13th - 17th - kids, reserve this date now. This year we're heading to Babylon and will get to know all about Daniel's courage in captivity and lots of other interesting and fun stuff!!

A nursery is provided during Sunday morning worship services for babies and children up to, and including, those who are three (3) years of age. The nursery is staffed by volunteers. Occasionally, nursery services are provided for other special events at the church.

Our Nursery continues to grow and that means we are always in need of more volunteers for this ministry. The summer months are a time of special need as our volunteers enjoy their holidays and our nursery numbers swell with our many visitors. Please consider volunteering for one or more Sundays! Please contact Bernice Andreson at 746-3767.

• Christian Education is available for youth in junior high - up to grade 8
• Fun and challenging
• Study and discussion
• Latter half of worship hour - leave at end of Praise Team presentation

St. Andrew’s church has maintained a strong commitment to Christian Education and Youth Ministry over the years, and continues today.

The congregation recognizes the importance of reaching out to young people and shows their support in a variety of ways.  Through our outreach efforts, St. Andrew’s regularly draws many children and youth to weekly programs who do not regularly attend Sunday worship services.  It is our hope that through these efforts we are able to lay a firm foundation for their faith and build connections with their families.

The programs that have been in place most recently include

• Nursery and Sunday School up to Junior High during the church service. 
• Confession of faith classes for the older students is offered from time to time, leading to several young people being baptized. 
• Outreach programs include Kids Klub, which runs weekly for children up to grade 6. 
• TECh (Teens Encountering Christ) and CIA (Christians In Action) are the Junior and Senior High youth ministries.  Recently they have been combined into one group, but have typically been distinct groups. We also have a half day, one week vacation bible school in August.

We at St. Andrew's welcome you to our community and especially to our church home. You are invited to join with us in our regular Sunday morning worship service at 10:30 a.m. or at any of our special events held throughout the year. Guests of many denominations are comfortable worshiping with us and many choose us as their home away from home. Our mailing list includes many families from outside the area that keep in touch with St. Andrew's all year round and our membership list includes many who arrived as guests and chose Parry Sound and area as their new home.

Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.

St. Andrew’s is an evangelical church that even has an evangelism committee to plan various worship and social events throughout the year. Together, the members of St. Andrew’s encourage others to consider the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who offers to anyone salvation by faith in Him. At St. Andrew’s, this Good News is freely offered in the comfortable milieu of a caring and supportive congregation.

Our main Sunday worship service is held at 10:30 a.m. in St. Andrew's imposing sanctuary. Our services feature a comfortable blend of traditional and contemporary music and worship. We also enjoy an inspiring message from our Pastor presented in a style that pleases.

We are a welcoming family of believers in Jesus Christ, sharing the love of God.

• Everyone, member and visitor alike, is warmly welcomed and made to feel at home. Greeters are on duty at all entrances. Please ask them if you need assistance or have questions.
• The door at the north-west side of the church is handicap accessible and you can reach our sanctuary and church hall with ease. Please note that we do not have handicap access to the lower level and our washroom facilities are limited. Our greeters will do their best to accommodate you.
• For the hearing impaired we have a special hearing assistive device that is linked with our sound system.
• Visually impaired visitors will be supplied with large print song and hymn sheets by prior arrangement with the church office.

Our services include:

• An organ and/or piano prologue of familiar inspirational works played by our accomplished muscians.
• Welcome and announcements from our Pastor followed by a call to worship.
• A quiet time of personal prayer in preparation for worship.
• A time to bring prayer requests and thanksgivings to the congregation for inclusion in the Pastoral Prayer.
• A time is set aside to greet those around you.
• Four contemporary or traditional praise songs accompanied by our praise team. During the last verse of the third hymn the children are invited to come to the front of the sanctuary. They will be invited to become involved in the children's praise song.
• After the last praise song there is usually a children's story and a prayer before the children go to Sunday School.
• Our small but mighty choir presents an anthem that is always warmly received and applauded by the congregation.
• The offering and offertory prayer. Envelopes are provided in the pews for visitors . Please fill in your name and address so that the proper tax receipts can be issued to you for income tax purposes. We appreciate your support of our church.
• The message presented by our Pastor or a carefully vetted guest minister or lay speaker.
• Closing hymn and benediction
• An organ and/or piano postlude.
• A fellowship hour in the church hall. Visitors are especially invited to attend and make some new friends in Parry Sound!

Nursery facilities and Sunday school activities are available during the worship hour any of our greeters will be happy to help.

On many summer Sundays our members are often outnumbered by visitors to our community. The St. Andrew's family welcomes them and we enjoy being a second church home for the many families that enjoy God's gift to our Georgian Bay community. Some of these families have worshipped with us for several generations. These families come from all walks of life from many church denominations. Each year we are pleased to welcome visitors who are not in the habit of attending church but that are looking for the support that a church can provide to those wrestling with life's problem.

Everyone feels at home at St. Andrew's!

A warm invitation to join the St. Andrew's family . . . New members are welcomed on various Sunday's throughout the year.

New members are welcomed by

• profession of faith
• certificate of transfer

Please contact our administrator, Karin Cowan, for further information.

• Small Group Bible Study
• The groups met at different times of the day and evening depending on the needs of the group. Study, prayer and fellowship are features of each group.
• Prayer Shawl Group
• This group meets twice a month to knit or crochhet prayer shawls. It provides an opportunity to voice concerns of individuals needing prayer. If the recipient of a prayer shawl is known we pray for him as we work on it. Finished shawls are prayed over before they are given out.
• Youth Groups
• Kids Klub
• TECH (Teens Encountering Christ)
• VBS (Annually in August)
• All these programs feature Bible Studies, prayer, memory verses, songs, drama, crafts, games and snacks.
• Ladies Fellowship Circle
• A gathering of the ladies of the church which
• holds celebration teas and showers
• sponsors third world children
• remembers missionaries with greeting cards and birthday gifts
• sponsors the Christmas Shoe Box campaign
• meets to hear guest speakers
• Electronic Ministries
• This group
• ensures that a full range of media services are available to the congregation. This group provides power point and Easy Worship displaysfor Worship Services. Announcements, hymn lyrics, scriptures and video are all displayed.
• maintains a state of the art sound console with wireless microphones for use during services and activities
• maintains the St Andrew's, Threefold Ministries and Skylark Centre websites
• provides recordings of services for shut-ins
• ensures sermons are available on the internet
• Community Organizations
• A number of community groups use our facilities on a regular basis. St. Andrew's does not charge any rental or service fees but most groups choose to make a donation to the congregation.
• Georgian Jumpers: A championship children's skipping group that meets three times each week.
• Alcoholics Anonymous:One evening per week.
• Parry Sound Co-operative Nursery School: Three mornings a week
• Parry Sound Singers: One evening per week.
• Parry Sound Writers Group: One evening per month.
• Men's Interdenominational Prayer Group: Meet every Saturaday morning. One church hosts them each month.
• Girl's Night Out: A fellowship group for ladies that meets sporadically.

St. Andrew's maintains several mailing lists for the convenience of its members and friends. The lists are moderated which means that your message will be reviewed by one of our staff before the mailing list distributes it to the list. This is purely a security measure to ensure that spammers are foiled! 

1. To send a message to the entire congregation - click here
2. To send a prayer request to our prayer chain - click here
3. To send a message to all members of the search committee -click here
4. To send a message to the Transition Committee - click here

Small groups of friends gather weekly to study the scriptures or other spiritual topic and enjoy an evening of conversation and friendship. Although some small groups have begun they welcome new members and invite you to join them. You do not have to be a member of our congregation as they are open to anyone so feel free to join a group of your interest.

John Peters is the Small Group Co-ordinator.

St. Andrew's participates in the 'PAR' (Pre authorized remittance) program. Through this program your tithes are automatically deducted from your bank account once monthly on the 20th. If you have questions regarding this plan or wish to sign-up for PAR, or if you would like offering envelopes, please speak with

• Bonnie Ramsay,
• Karin Cowan,
• or call the Church Office (746-9612).

We welcome all to our services, events, fellowship and especially our open communion table. No matter what your denomination or if you are seeking answers you are welcome at St. Andrew's.
Although you are invited to worship with us we do understand that you may be seeking a church of your own tradition. For your convenience we are providing a listing of other local churches.
We apologize if we missed your church. Please let us know of any errors or omissions and let us know the time of your service so we can add it to this page.
Thank-you.

Our church office is located through the door beside the parking lot on the small extension to the building. Go through the door, turn right, and down the stairs.

The sanctuary at St. Andrew’s will seat approximately 350 quite comfortably on either the floor level or in the balcony.

Built in 1901 to replace the original 24-year-old church building, this beautiful, octagonal sanctuary is one that German cruise boats include on their itineraries when they visit Parry Sound. The acoustics are wonderful and the sound of music rolls off the sanctuary dome and the eight Norman arches and along the hand-carved pews.

Assistive hearing devices are available for the hearing challenged by requesting them from the ushers. The church organ and the sanctuary piano add much to worship services, weddings or funerals. The sanctuary can be accessed through the main front doors off Seguin Street or via the side door at the top of the driveway where wheelchair access is provided.

The sanctuary, minister's office and church hall can be accessed through the main front doors off Seguin Street or via the side door at the top of the driveway where wheelchair access is provided. We regret that basement rooms and offices are not wheel chair accessible and we do not have special washroom facilities.

• Young Families and Youth Karl Murch
  
• Church Administrator Karin Cowan
  

Office Hours
Effective January 2, 2012

Please remember information for the bulletin must be received by 10 a.m. Wednesdays