St Andrew's Church
A sacred place for Rugby
The Christian Faith
The Church of England
At St Andrew's we have an intellectual curiosity about faith and life, allowing the freedom to question and explore Christianity. We will never tell you what to believe, but will endeavour to explore with you the faith as it has been handed down to us. We try and put church tradition, the Scriptures, human reason and experience in conversation with one another. Most of all, a living relationship with God and being with other people who are searching is our way of being faithful.
We are also 'catholic' (with a small c) meaning that we believe in the universal catholic faith. The two sacraments (Baptism and the Eucharist) are at the heart of our shared lives. Our worship is centered on our sacramental life, especially the weekly parish Eucharist (also called Holy Communion/Lord’s Supper). Read more here.
People in our church meet together in Home Groups and we run confirmation courses.
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We have a strong choral tradition in the parish and if you want to sing in our church choir, do have a look at our music pages. Good quality music helps us to worship God and we value what music has to offer us in a variety of services.
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You can read more in these leaflets:
Inclusive Church Network: an organisation representing the liberal wing of the church.
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Archbishop Justin Welby is the Primate (Head Bishop) of the Church in England (and also the Archbishop of Canterbury).
The Anglican Church and faith
We are part of the Church of England and we are geographically located within the Diocese of Coventry, which has two Bishops, the Diocesan Bishop, the Right Rev'd Christopher Cocksworth and the Area Bishop of Warwick, the Right Rev'd John Stroyan.
The Anglican Church is a broad church and worship in a parish church can vary. However, Anglicans share a common prayer book, the famous Book of Common Prayer (BCP) which we use at our 8am service on a Sunday and at Choral Evensong. The church now also uses Common Worship; the language is more contemporary and there is more variety. This is used for most of our other services. All of Church of England liturgy can be accessed here.
The Scriptures and the Gospels (Bible) the Apostolic Church and the early Church Fathers, are the foundation of Anglican faith and worship in the 38 self-governing churches that make up the Anglican Communion.
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We view the Old and New Testaments 'as containing all things necessary for salvation' and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.
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We understand the Apostles' creed as the baptismal symbol, and the Nicene creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.
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The two sacraments ordained by Christ himself – Baptism and the Supper of the Lord (Holy Communion) – are administered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and the elements are ordained by him.
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The historic episcopate (Bishops) is locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of his Church.