Our Mission Statement

St. Andrews fully embraces its Episcopal Heritage by living out the Great Commission of Christ through the intimacy of community, discipleship, and service.

Our History

Nestled in the heart of historic downtown Seguin, St. Andrew’s has been alive and well for almost 170 years. This has earned St. Andrew’s the distinction of being the oldest church in continuous mission in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.

Our church was founded in 1853, with the location moving around from one place to another before finally coming to rest alongside the town square in 1876. With the help of John White, an architect who worked on the Capitol of Texas and John Ireland, a former Texas Governor and member of the parish, St. Andrew’s finally built its permanent home that year. That building is now known as St. Andrew’s chapel, where we worship at 8:00 on Sundays, Wednesdays at noon, and where small weddings take place, along with special celebrations.

Our “Big Church” was completed in 1986 after years of research and p l a n n i n g . S t . A n d re w ’s w a s transitioning from a “pastoral” size church to a “program” size church, and was holding three services every Sunday to be able to fit everyone into our chapel. We needed more space and the welcoming new main church became the answer. A cozy courtyard brings our chapel and church together in a perfect spot for fellowship.

St. Andrew's has held strong across the centuries throughout severe drought, devastating floods and even the Civil War. Generations of voices have been lifted in prayer, praise and joy here and the Light of God has been carried out into the world by countless souls from this beloved place.

Who are we? In our own words…

A church that strives for excellence in music and worship!

We care deeply for one another and value pastoral care!

We are a welcoming congregation!

We have tons of potential!

You might run into some of our parishioners at the local brewery!

We have a sense of humor!

We know how to fellowship!

We love our church family!

We want to move forward!

A church that meets its challenges!

We are committed to mission and outreach!

A church with a loyal, faithful core group of people!

We respect and know our history!

We are compassionate!

We love the excitement of new challenges!

We are enthusiastic!

Find its identity in fellowship and hospitality!

Sunday Mornings

8:00am Holy Eucharist Rite 1 No music Service held in our traditional chapel

10:30am Holy Eucharist Rite 2

Wednesdays Noon Holy Eucharist and healing service is offered in the chapel

Worship at St. Andrew’s

Guadalupe County Children’s Advocacy Center

The Local Christian Cupboard

Prescription Assistance Program

Guadalupe Valley Christian Counseling Center

Family Life Center

Habitat for Humanity

CPS Rainbow Room

Seguin Christian Academy

Seguin Pregnancy Center

IRIS Global

Meals on Wheels

Seguin Youth Services

St. Andrew’s Supports

“We take outreach very seriously because if we don’t, how can we be a church?”

Overheard at our parish profile workshop

Texans Reaching Out

Every year, St. Andrew’s hosts The “Texans Reaching Out” event that raises thousands of dollars for local and international charities. This event is a HUGE favorite held in and off Nolte Street for the whole community. There is great food, live music and a live auction.

Outreach in Central America

Iglesias Manos De Dios Episcopal Church, Danli, Honduras

For over 30 years we have supported teams which travel to deliver aid in the forms of a free vision clinic and awarding scholarships students

allowing them to attend middle school, high school and college.

The Owen Project

The Owen Project team travels each year to Central America to deliver computers and tablets, and to teach children and teachers how to use them.

Children and Youth

Order of the Phoenix

Every Sunday morning, you’ll find our kids from kinder through 5th grade in the youth house where their club, the ‘Order of the Phoenix”, meets for lessons, crafts, and fun. Our children join their families for communion after their time together; we named our group “Order of the Phoenix” because the legendary Phoenix died and rose from the ashes; from death to life. Jesus too rose from death to new life, leaving the grave behind. Our hope!

St. Andrew’s Youth Group

Our group meets at the youth house after the 10:30 service on the first and third Sundays of every month. This is a place for our middle-high schoolers to fellowship, learn, and have fun! We play board games, throw a dart or two around, and ping pong is taken very seriously! Our youth come to unwind, unload, and enjoy some quality time together.

Wednesday Night Youth Outreach

Every Wednesday evening, a group of children from Seguin Youth Services joins us in the Youth House for pizza, games, and fellowship. This special project is run by a group of very dedicated volunteers and welcomes 20+ at risk kids from the first grade and up. We host different activities each week along with special events like movie night!

Summer Nights at St. Andrew’s

Every summer, we host this event which engages whole families for special evenings together that feature movies, water fun, arts and crafts, and even an ice cream social!

Our FAITH is strengthened when it is lived in community; and the occasional donkey doesn’t hurt either!

Christian Formation for Adults

Sunday school

We gather in the parish hall from 9am-10am to study together; we’ve studied the Bible and we’ve engaged in book studies as well.

Wednesday Study

10:30am: Women’s bible study in the parish hall

Friday Study

9:15am: Women’s book study in the youth house

St. Andrew’s Vestry

St. Andrew’s Staff

Seguin, Texas

You might call it “Real America,” or “Real Texas”; we call it SEGUIN

The community of Seguin was established in 1838 by members of Matthew Caldwell’s Gonzales Rangers, but not incorporated until 1853. The community was named after Colonel Juan N. Seguin, one of Sam Houston’s ablest lieutenants during the struggle for Texas Independence. He later served as a Republic of Texas Senator and Mayor of San Antonio.

Seguin serves as the county seat of Guadalupe County, with the Guadalupe River running through it. According to the US Census population and housing unit estimates, the population of Seguin is estimated at just under 30,000 people. Seguin is home to the highest manufacturing jobs per capita in the State of Texas, nearly twice the national average!

Data from MISSIONINSITE

Seguin offers a small town feel and community in close proximity to San Antonio, Austin, New Braunfels, San Marcos, and the Texas Hill Country.

Residents of Seguin can be found enjoying time on the golf course, the river, our wave pool, the award winning LEED certified public library, the Walnut Creek Hike and Bike Trail, or enjoying the many shops and restaurants in downtown.

In Seguin, we work hard and celebrate BIG. You will find us enjoying festivals and events every month of the year; these include the Cajun Jamboree, Texas Ladies Chili Cook-off, Hot Shots Fish Fry, Taste of Seguin, July 4th celebration, Seguin Birthday party, Guadalupe County Fair, Pecan fest Heritage Day, and Christmas Parade, just to name a few.

There are a number of elementary schools and middle schools that feed into Sequin High School. The Seguin ISD also offers an early college high school, and the Mercer-Blumberg self paced learning center for High School students.

To our next rector:

We look forward to your arrival! We understand the nature of the work that you will do, and we want you to know that we are here to support you; all of us!! We gathered as a parish a few months ago in small groups to pray and to discuss our past, our present, and our future. We talked in groups about what’s important to us, and what we hope will be important to you.

Among them:

1. We hope that you will take an active part in our outreach in the community. 2. We would like for you to help us implement a plan that would enable us to attract new

parishioners because St. Andrew’s and Seguin have SO much to offer! 3. Visiting the sick, the shut ins, and the members of our church in their homes is very

important to us; we want to get to know you! 4. We understand that you cannot do this alone; we are here to help in any way. We hope

that you will find ways to directly involve us in the life of the church and that you will identify the leaders that can carry us all forward in our faith journey with Christ.

5. Seguin offers a number of local activities that we’d like for you to be involved in. Our community is important to us, and we hope you will be a voice when it comes to solving community issues and problems.

Sincerely, The St. Andrew’s Family

Our challenges…

As we look to our future, we have identified the following challenges:

We have experienced a decline in membership; we know we need to grow. We also know we can!

Our facilities are beautiful! They are also aging and are in need of regular maintenance that can use a great percentage of our budget; the facilities are debt free.

Finances and stewardship are not where they need to be.

We would LOVE to reach young families and children; we have them in our community but are challenged to increase this demographic in our church.

Our clergy seem to stay for a few years and then move on.

We are looking for someone to make Seguin their family’s home.

We understand our challenges and want to meet and exceed them.

We want you to know that we understand the challenges we face; we have always managed to meet them.

Our next rector can be assured that we will stand behind you, we will support you, and we will do whatever it takes to meet our challenges and then move beyond them.

St. Andrew’s by the Numbers

Membership and Attendance 2018 2019

Membership 341 343 Communicants in Good Standing 197 199Average Sunday Attendance 114 97Easter Sunday Attendance 211 255Baptisms 4 7Confirmations/receptions 0 0

Stewardship and Finances 2018 2019

Pledge Cards 58 64Amount Pledged $251,838 $271,310Total Operating Income $356,902 $351,007 Total Revenues $562,335 $458,524

Operating Expenses $473,767 $414,107Total Expenses $620,835 $473,630

Total cash in checking/savings $178,943 $130,973Total Investments $297,658 $336,638

The Right Reverend David Reed, Bishop of the Diocese of West Texas, leads our Diocese in living into its core values of faith, scripture, prayer, sacramental worship, evangelism, mission, and reconciliation. Bishop Reed was born and raised in the Diocese (Rio Grande Valley) and truly loves the people and congregations he serves.

St. Andrew’s is part of the Diocese of West Texas, which is made up of 85 congregations spread out over almost 70,000 square miles. From Brady and San Saba to the north, the Texas Hill Country, to the coastal bend, to the Rio Grande Valley, you will find faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ doing the work that God calls us to do!

111 Torcido DriveSan Antonio, Texas 78209210-824-5387

St. Andrew’s Seguin201 East Nolte StreetSeguin, Texas 78155

830-372-4330