Herts & Essex Border Circuit (HAEBC)

	Ministerial Team
Rev Dr Frank Okai-Sam Minister: Tel: 443				Rev John Buxton (retired) Tel: 422

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© St. Andrew's Methodist Church.

SERVICES

"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation" (Psalm 95 v 1)

SUNDAYS

Our Sunday Services are at 10:30 a.m. and include both traditional and modern hymns. Families with children are especially welcome. And please join us for light refreshments after the Service.

For Speakers, please see our Diary

Youth Church

Youth Church offers Christian teaching for children and young people during the time of the main Service.

HOLY COMMUNION

All are welcome to share the Lord's Table with us, and our Communion Service is usually the first Sunday Service of the month (but please see our Diary for any variations.)

SPECIAL SERVICES

There is a Morning Worship Service held on Christmas Day.

As a member of HAEBC, we also join with our sister churches in their celebrations and share in hosting special Area Services.

PRAYER

Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; . . for everyone who asks receives," (Mat 7 vv 7 - 8 NASB)

Are your family or friends going through a testing time with illness or other problems; are you in need of comfort with the situations you face?

God is ready to listen for our prayers, if only we would rely on Him more.

As well as our own personal times of prayer, during our Sunday Service we often have a time of prayer when we mention those we know who have need of His presence.

If you would like to be on our prayer list, please contact the Hazel Taylor, with your requests.
Please Note: If your request is for someone else, they must have given their permission for their names to be mentioned.

Pop-In Prayer

Pop-In Prayer is normally held in the chapel from 11am to 11.30am on the third Saturday each month (but see Diary for dates). 

We meet to pray and to listen, with some time in silence and some time with words, and people come in and out during the thirty minutes. Everyone is welcome.

Prayer is at the heart of our faith.

HOW TO FIND US

St. Andrew's Church

St Andrew's Methodist Church is situated at The Stow and is opposite the
Nuffield House Health Centre (marked as 'Clinic' above.)
The church is on the corner at the junction with Howard Way.

For parking, there are lay-bys outside the Church,
plus the two car parks marked (free at weekends.)

For bus times

ABOUT US

We are a welcoming, friendly church family, worshipping God, seeking to glorify Him through sharing the good news of his love.

We worship, pray and learn together about following the Lord Jesus Christ.

We also meet for fellowship, fun, and helping the local community.

We welcome all to our Morning Worship each Sunday at 10.30am.

OUR BELIEFS

There is only one God who created everything and there is nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven.
Jesus died on the cross and paid the price for all our sins. He was buried in a tomb but rose from the dead.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit to guide and help us.
God is a triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit and all three are equal.
The Bible is the divine revelation of God.

John Wesley particularly emphasized the following:

    All need to be saved.
    All can be saved by grace through faith.
    All can know that they are saved.
    All can be saved to the uttermost.

If we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, then we are put right with God.

The Methodist Church is part of the whole Church, which is the body of Christ.

ACCESSIBILITY

St. Andrew's Church is fully accessible, featuring:

Level Wheelchair Access at front of Church
Hearing Loop
Accessible Toilet
Lift to upstairs rooms
On-site Parking
    (also lay-by and off-road Parking: see map above)


Local buses for the Stow: (use the shown departure times as arrival times!)
       First Avenue from the East & First Avenue from the West
       Moot House from the South-East & Moot House from the North-West
       Howard Way from the North & Howard Way from the South

(If the above links for bus times become incorrect, please notify the

ACCESS TO ZOOM EVENTS

You can obtain access details for our open Zoom events by contacting the but please note that, for safeguarding or privacy reasons, some events are by invitation only.

ACTIVITIES

In addition to the Services held weekly, our Church and Hall are used for other activities:

Bible Study

We are currently holding up to 4 Bible Study Groups each week:
Monday (noon) at St. Andrews, Shared leadership
Tuesday (7.30pm) at St Andrews, led by Fred Arthur
Thursday (noon) (via Zoom), led by Arthur Revels
Thursday (7.00pm) (via Zoom), led by Fred Arthur

Anyone who is seeking to follow Jesus Christ and who wants to learn more of what the Bible teaches is most welcome to join any or all of these.
Lifts may be available if this would help you attend.
Please see the Diary for any changes to dates or times

Church Flowers

We like our Church to be decorated to the glory of God on a Sunday, and each week we seek to have as many flower arrangements as possible.

Many members of the congregation like to contribute flowers to celebrate Birthdays or Anniversaries, or to remember family members or friends. We have a Flower Rota on the board in the corridor for people to mark these dates throughout the year.

For HARVEST, members and non-church members alike help us in arranging the produce and flowers brought in to celebrate God's bounty to us.

2017's FLOWER FESTIVAL was held during June and was themed on God's Creation of the World. Besides our own members, other local Churches contributed displays.
For the 2017 Flower Festival pictures, click here.

The Friendship Group

The Friendship Group began in 1988, meeting two Thursday evenings a month, and was for women under retirement age. As we have become older , we have extended the age limit.
Now, we meet once a month, during the day, in members' houses, plus occasional lunch outings.

We would welcome new, younger women from within our congregation. Please contact for further information.

Guides

The 3rd Harlow (Methodist) Guide Unit meets on Tuesday evenings, during term time only, at 6.00pm - 7.30pm in St Andrew's Church Hall.

We welcome girls aged 10 to 16 and aim to provide a variety of activities.
The girls work in patrols and as a whole unit.

We have just completed our Centenary activities, which included County, Division and District events.
Eight of our Guides were fortunate enough to attend the Disneyland Paris event (in Jan 2010) where a highlight was the Disney Guide show and eating breakfast out in the snow!
We have also been involved in renewing our promises and celebrating with other Rainbows, Brownies and Guides in the area and have created a banner which shows many aspects of Guiding; this can be seen displayed in the Church.

We welcome visitors to our meetings and also those who could teach the girls a new skill.
For further information please contact Judith Ball.

St. Andrew's Rugrats - STARS

STARS Mother and Toddler Group meets every Tuesday, between 10.00am and noon, during Term time only

We have sit and ride toys, slides and a climbing frame, play with sand, lego, buggies and dolls, and have a sticking or painting activity most weeks, plus lots more.
We also have a baby area.

All the helpers at STARS are DBS checked.
Everyone is welcome, and if you would like more details please contact Alison Brand on 01279

St. Andrew's Youth Church

The children and young people of St. Andrew's Youth Church are valued as part of the Church of today, not just of the future.

54 years ago when the Church was first opened there were soon well over 100 children in the Sunday School. Nowadays, with the complete change of lifestyles, we have up to 16 young people meeting in the Youth Church each Sunday morning, during School Term Time.

The young people aged over 5 are arranged in 2 groups with leaders who are all accredited and DBS checked. We follow the Roots syllabus which is Lectionary based. The children are usually in the main Sunday Worship Service for the first 15 minutes before leaving to follow their own activities in the Youth Church.

As our numbers are growing we are looking for additional Christian Youth Church workers who will need to be trained and DBS checked. We can provide the necessary training and help.
For further information, please contact

OUR CIRCUIT & HEABC AFFILIATIONS

"That they may be one, just as We are one" (John 17 v22 NASB)

Herts and Essex Area Border Circuit (HAEBC)

In September 2006, our original Methodist Circuit of Harlow, Ongar, Epping and North Weald was expanded into the Herts and Essex Borders Ecumenical Area (HAEBEA), adding Methodist, Anglican and United Reformed Churches in Waltham Cross, Hoddesdon, Hertford, Ware and Watton-at-Stone.
In 2023, HAEBEA became the Herts and Essex Border Cicuit (HAEBC) - now solely a Methodist Circuit again, but also in partnership with the URC churches (Eastern Synod).
We are also part of the Herts and Essex Border Ecumenical Partnership.

Within the Area, smaller groups of churches sometimes have joint Services, and members of all churches come together regularly for Area Worship and meetings.

All the churches of the group, listed below, are accessible on-line via the HAEBC website (www.haebea.org):

Bishop's Stortford Methodist
Cheshunt Methodist / Christ Church, Waltham Cross LEP
Church Langley LEP, Harlow
Epping URC
Hatfield Heath URC
Hertford Methodist
Hoddesdon Methodist
Leaside
Ongar URC
Roydon URC
Stansted Free Church
St. Andrew's Methodist
HAEBEA

OUR HISTORY

The Methodist congregation that now calls itself 'St Andrew's' started in 1952 with the arrival of its first minister, Rev Eryl Hughes.  The church hadn't been built, so the services took place in the Moot House at The Stow.  Harlow New Town had a growing population, soon the congregation had grown to over thirty full members.  It was then that the building of the present buildings was started.  The Foundation Stone was laid on 27th June 1953 and the Grand Opening was on 30th October 1954.  St Andrew's formed part of the Harlow Mission Circuit until 1979 when changes in the way our church was funded led to proposals to work together with the United Reformed churches in Harlow.  In 1989, the West Essex United Area was established made up of four Methodist Churches (including St Andrew's), four United Reformed Churches, plus the joint Anglican/Methodist work that had begun at churches in Great Parndon.  The new Area included churches in Harlow, Roydon, Ongar, Epping and North Weald.

As time has moved on, the development of new housing around Harlow and its surrounding area has brought fresh challenges, particularly with much of that development planned to occur along the Herts/Essex border.  In September 2006, a new and larger Area was formed from the merger of the West Essex United Area with the Lee Valley North circuit to form the Herts and Essex Borders Ecumenical Area, adding churches in Waltham Cross, Hoddesdon, Hertford, Ware and Watton-on-Stone.

Despite these changes, St Andrew's as a building hadn't changed much in its 50-year history.  Some of the folk who were around in those early days are still with us, albeit somewhat older and with a few more grey hairs.  The buildings you could see were Phase 1 of the church building, Phase II was never implemented and a block of flats (St Andrews House) now stands on the land on which Phase II might have stood.

Finding our facilities too small to meet the demands of the 21st century, we were able to begin building work in 2008, starting with the demolishing of the original hall, and had the improvements finished in 2009.  We now have a hall nearly double the former size, and the enlarged kitchen is much more functional. Our new facilities are much appreciated by members and visitors alike.

ST. ANDREW'S MINISTERS

        Revd Eryl Hughes    (1952-1959)
        Revd Cyril Blount    (1959-1962)
        Revd Alan Horner    (1962-1968)
        Revd Michael Gilyead    (1968-1973)
        Revd Derek Broxholme    (1973-1979)
        Revd John Buxton    (1979-1990)
        Revd John Wheaton    (1990-2000)
        Revd Guy Goodall    (2000-2004)
        Revd John Buxton    (2004)
        Revd Jim Gill    (2004-2009)
        Revd Sarah Lowe    (2009)
        Revd Terry Keen    (2009-2014)
        Revd Thurairajah Samuel    (2014-2017)
        Revd Blair Kirkby     (2017-2024)
        Revd Dr. Frank Okai-Sam     (2024- )

WEDDINGS

For Services for Weddings, please contact the Minister (Tel: 443400 )

BAPTISMS

For Baptisms, for infants, or by immersion, please contact the Minister (Tel: 443400 )

FUNERALS

For Services for Funerals, please contact the Minister (Tel: (Tel: 443400 )

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