St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton CT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OUR MISSION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church endeavors to be a Christ centered church with a three-fold purpose to:

lead men, women and children into a saving faith in Jesus Christ
strengthen ourselves in faith
deploy ourselves in servant ministry, both here and throughout the world

How do we do this? We share in the service of running the church and its programs. We worship, study and listen for the word of God. And we take our God given talents to the community to share and witness our joy. Some of this service is an organized effort and much is an individualized effort by those who are grateful for the gifts that they have been given.
Won't you join us in strengthening your faith and share the joy of giving?
~~~~~~~~~~ A HISTORY OF ST. ANDREW PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ~~~~~~~~~~
In May 2003 members of Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church celebrated 40 years of being incorporated as a Presbyterian Church. What follows is a summary of the presentation given during the celebration.

God has no grandchildren - we are all children of God. We inherit our faith from the faith of others - starting with the early Christians, through the Reformation and the founders and previous members of this and other churches. Below is a short legacy of SAPC that has been passed on to us.

In 1949 Jay and Marge Buckley moved into Groton. The closest Presbyterian churches were in Dunns Corner, RI, New Haven and Hartford, CT. Finally in 1961 the Buckleys started a Presbyterian Fellowship. Navy Chaplain Stewart Robinson, Rev. Gordon Wiles and lay people conducted the initial services.

In April 25, 1962 the fellowship received permission to organize as a Presbyterian Church. There were about 90 charter members. In August 1962 Rev.. Dick Van Deusen was called and installed as organizing pastor from the Bible Department at Mount Hermon School in Mass. During the first month services were held in his home in Gales Ferry. On September 9, 1962 we started worshiping at the William Seeley School. The Service of Organization was held at Seeley School as United Presbyterian Church of St. Andrew on May 5, 1963

In December 1964 a building program was established. The congregation voted to buy the 5.7 acres at the top of Fort Hill for $21,000. The dedication of land service was held May 16, 1965. The organ for the service was provided by Bob deGroot

In Aug 1966 the congregation voted to begin building first phase of the church. $4,000 was raised as seed money to build a Fellowship Hall and classrooms. Phase 2 was to be a 500 seat sanctuary. Bob deGroot was the Chair of the Building Committee. $44,000 was raised during the first pledge drive.

In 1967 we became known as St Andrew Presbyterian Church when UPCUSA and PCUS merged to become PC (USA).

On April 23, 1967 the ground breaking ceremony was held for Phase 1. Construction costs were $92,000 for 8100 sq ft. A lot of work was done by members, including painting and tiling the floor. Shuffle boards were inlayed in the halls and hopscotch patterns were inlayed in the Fellowship to remind everyone that this was indeed a Fellowship Hall and not a Sanctuary

On March 9, 1968 we moved in for the first service. Our non-building budget that year was $22,468.

In February 1971 Ken and Rena Stober donated the organ that was used until 2002. Note the walls - what I called "early cinder block motif"

In November 26 1972 Rev. Dick Van Deusen left for First Presbyterian Church in Yonkers NY and Rev. John Fuhrmeister came from the North and South Congregational Church in St Johnsbury, VT in Sept 1973.

In 1974 we added stucco to the outside, and inside halls and Fellowship Hall to make our big change from our early cinder block motif.

In May 1978 Celebrated 15 years. We had 225 members and daffodils planted by Jay Buckley - still see them each spring. 8 of the choir members then are still singing in the choir.

In July 1985 $200,000 was raised for new $480,000 sanctuary. We would have 2 more 3-year drives to pay most of it off. Ground breaking ceremony for the sanctuary was held May 10, 1986. In April 1987 we moved into the new sanctuary on Palm Sunday during the service – started in the Fellowship Hall and finished in the sanctuary. We sang “Christ is Made the Sure Foundation” as a processional from Fellowship Hall to Sanctuary.

In May 1988 we installed 4 stain glass windows in the sanctuary. The windows were designed by Igne Pope-Tampler and are based on symbols and visions in Exodus and Ezekiel which are repeated in the book of Revelation.

In August 1988 Rev. John Fuhrmeister retired and Rev. John Curphy arrived from 1st PC of Maumee, Maumee, Ohio in April 1990.

In January 1995 Rev. John Curphy left for 1st PC of Glen Ellyn, Glen Ellyn, Illinois and Rev. Mark Porizky arrived from Miami Shores in October 1996.

In February 1998 we remodeled the bathrooms and in March 1999 sound dampening was installed in Fellowship Hall. When we had the cinder block walls the walls absorbed a lot of sound. Once we added the stucco the walls reflected and seemed to magnify every sound. The sound dampening was installed to return us to the original acoustics and more finished appearance.

Finally in Sept 2002 our new Organ was dedicated. Money raised with very short fund drive.

This is the legacy of St Andrew Presbyterian Church that has been given to us. You can see more pictures in the SAPC history scrapbooks.

It is our opportunity to build on this legacy, to pass this and more to succeeding generations.