Walking Together on Main Street
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church sits at 354 Main Street in the Contoocook village of Hopkinton, New Hampshire, where Episcopal Christians have worshipped for more than two centuries. The parish's motto, "Walking Together. Recognizing Jesus. Practicing Resurrection," captures the rhythm of a community that gathers each Sunday "to practice prayer, to learn from the Bible, and to share bread and wine in an act of oneness with God and with neighbors around the world." The Reverend Reed J. Loy, the parish's 27th Rector, leads the community together with the Reverend Celeste Hemingson, who serves as Assisting Priest for Pastoral Care, and an Associate for Music, Bernadette Aubin Allan.
Sunday Worship at 8 and 10
Two Sunday services shape parish life at St. Andrew's. The 8 a.m. service is entirely spoken. The 10 a.m. service, which moves to 9 a.m. during the summer, includes congregational singing and choir music. Both include the Eucharist, "a meal of bread and wine in which we join ourselves with Jesus and with all Christians through the ages of the church." Ushers greet visitors at the door with a bulletin containing every prayer, reading, and song so everyone can take part as much as they wish.
All are welcome at the table. Visitors may come forward for bread and wine, come forward for a blessing instead, receive only the bread, or stay seated through the whole service. The rector is always glad to talk about the Eucharist or about Baptism.
Two entrances serve the building. The red main doors from Main Street open directly into the worship space and are ADA accessible, though the sidewalk leading to them is uneven. For a fully accessible entrance, visitors turn up the driveway and use the green door beneath the portico, then follow the long hallway past the offices and bathrooms. An elevator and stairs both lead down into the nave. Parking is in the lot beside and behind the Great Hall, attached to the right of the church and built like a white colonial house because it was one. On-street parking on Main Street is also an option. Worship is simultaneous in-person and online each Sunday, and the parish keeps an audio and video archive of sermons going back to 2017.
The Emmaus Road Lens
The story of the disciples walking with the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus has become the parish's lens for spiritual life this season. The community frames itself around three movements, walking together, recognizing Jesus, and practicing resurrection, and asks what those look like today and where each person stands within the story. That openness shapes the parish's welcome. St. Andrew's draws people from diverse lives and backgrounds and rejoices in being welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ+ members and neighbors.
A Building with Two Centuries Behind It
The first Episcopal worship in Hopkinton took place in 1803, when gatherings began in private homes and then moved to the old courthouse under the name "Christ's Church." The present worship building was constructed in 1926, and the community took the name St. Andrew's at that time. The nave has been reconfigured several times since. A second arrangement built between 1865 and 1868 introduced counter-weighted oil chandeliers whose anchor points are still visible in the attic. A third arrangement, completed in 1919, recast the sanctuary's visual character, introduced much of the ceiling design that gives the nave its present feel, created a chancel three steps up from the main floor, and defined a sanctuary enclosed by an altar rail.
Today the surrounding buildings matter just as much. The Great Hall, a former colonial house attached to the church, hosts fellowship hours, the children's clothing sale, Family Promise hosting weeks, Red Cross blood drives, and Making Your Mark Art Camp. The Memorial Garden, a "Mary garden" of white and blue blooms, fills the space between the parish house and the church.
Renewing the Gift
From 2021 through 2026 the parish has been carrying out "Renewing the Gift," a capital campaign with three strands. Preserving Our Past covers window restoration and repayment of a Diocesan Advance Fund loan. Caring for Our Present is funding organ expansion, accessibility improvements and sanctuary adaptations, and front entry renovations. Planning for Our Future includes a solar panel installation, a mission tithe, and a building endowment. A "new to us" tracker organ is in the works to complement the Henry Erben tracker organ already in the balcony. The Erben, lifted into place by crane long ago, includes ranks that lend color to the organ loft, and tuned together the two instruments allow for organ duets alongside hymn leadership and solo repertoire.
Children and the Atrium
Children and youth are recognized as full members of the Body of Christ at St. Andrew's, and are invited to grow in their faith and relationship with God just as actively as adults. Three programs serve that vision.
The Nursery welcomes children from two weeks to three years old every Sunday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. during the school year and from 9 to 10 a.m. in summer. Parents who prefer to keep their children with them through the whole service are welcome to do so.
The Atrium, a Montessori-style program called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, serves children ages three through twelve. Three levels match the children's ages: Level 1 for ages three to six, Level 2 for ages six to nine, and Level 3 for ages nine to twelve. Each Atrium is led by a trained catechist and supported by rotating parent volunteers; the current catechists are Anne McCausland, Marti Hunt, and Vicki Haines. Sessions open at 9:30 a.m. and end around 10:40 a.m., when the children rejoin their families for the second half of the service and the Eucharist. At-home lesson packets reflect the same spirit for families who want to gather on their own schedule.
Making Your Mark Art Camp has welcomed up to twenty-four local children each July since 2013. Most campers are entering grades four through six, and many come from families who could not otherwise provide summer enrichment. Parish volunteers serve as artists, chefs, activity leaders, and counselors, and a Friday afternoon art reception lets each camper share the week's work with family and friends. Young people in grades four through nine may also receive a subsidized week at Barbara C. Harris Episcopal Summer Camp in Greenfield, New Hampshire, which combines traditional summer-camp activities with worship and faith formation.
Adult Formation and Common Life
Christian formation continues for adults at 9 a.m. on Sundays. The Formation Committee organizes the year into blocks of three to five weeks with diverse topics and leaders, combining learning, storytelling, questions, and laughter. Recent bulletin features have explored the Creeds, Old Testament highlights, the parables of Jesus, the Eucharist, and the wells of wisdom that shape Anglican moral teaching.
A Women's Group and a Men's Group meet regularly, and the TLC Committee, short for "Tender Loving Care," provides an additional layer of pastoral care on top of the clergy's work. The committee takes meals to families in crisis, prepares soups and cookies for parishioners who cannot attend church, sends cards to young people away at school, and bakes hundreds of St. Nicholas cookies each year for local service groups.
The Memorial Garden
In August 1988, twenty women of the parish resolved to transform the neglected landscape between the parish house and the church into a garden. Designed by Bunny Van Valey as a Mary garden, it was planted with flowers in white and blue, the colors traditionally associated with Mary the mother of Jesus. Cruciform stonework, bordered by garden beds, anchors a space that holds cremains, engraved pavers, and benches in memory of loved ones.
The Memorial Garden Ministry gathers weekly during the growing season to amend and mulch soil, prune, weed, water, and plant, in keeping with the original "Mary garden" blue and white scheme. With its always-open gates, the garden is accessible from Main Street and forms the setting for confirmations, weddings, summer services, and memorial gatherings throughout the year. A registry of those interred or honored is available in the parish office.
Outreach Beyond the Building
Outreach runs deep in the parish's identity. Family Promise of Greater Concord partners with St. Andrew's for one week each season, when the parish building's classrooms become living space and the Great Hall becomes the dining room for three or four families experiencing homelessness. Volunteers cook dinner, greet the families as they come "home," and serve as overnight hosts.
Got Lunch is a grassroots program that distributes perishables, bread, and a milk voucher to families the first Friday of each month from September through June, helping parents make lunches for their children during school vacations. The program involves all of Hopkinton's church parishes, including St. Theresa's in Henniker, along with the Police Department, the Hopkinton Rotary, the Hopkinton Women's Club, and others.
The Friendly Kitchen in Concord, the city's only soup kitchen, is served dinner by St. Andrew's every fourth Tuesday of the month. The lead cook and a helper arrive around 2:30 p.m., additional volunteers join at 4 p.m., and the meal is served from 5 to 5:45 p.m., with cleanup completed by 6:15.
The Children's Clothing Sale, formerly offered for many years by the neighboring Countryside Community Church, now takes place at St. Andrew's. Donations of clean, gently used clothing for children up through teen sizes are accepted on the Friday before each sale, and shopping runs from 8 to 11 a.m. on Saturday. Clothing is priced at $5 per bag, and every dollar goes to the Hopkinton Food Pantry.
Red Cross blood drives, sponsored in conjunction with the First Congregational Church of Hopkinton UCC, take place multiple times each year in the Great Hall. The mission also extends internationally through a long-running partnership with Head to Head School in Haiti.
Music at St. Andrew's
The St. Andrew's choir loves to sing, and members describe the rehearsal room as a place of fellowship as much as music. Reading music is not required. Some singers come every Sunday; others come when their schedule allows. During the regular program year the choir rehearses at 9 a.m. before the service and again at 11:30 a.m.
Sacraments and Pastoral Care
Holy Baptism takes place within Sunday morning Eucharists, with clergy meeting candidates and sponsors beforehand. Candidates are expected to attend worship at St. Andrew's regularly for six months leading up to baptism, and baptisms are usually scheduled at least eight weeks in advance. Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation classes are offered for those who wish to make these commitments in The Episcopal Church. Marriages and burials are celebrated as part of parish life, and the Memorial Garden provides a resting place for cremains.
Safe Church, a diocesan-wide practice administered through the Diocese of New Hampshire, keeps everyone who shares the building physically, emotionally, and spiritually safe. Internet-based training and personal background checks are required of clergy, staff, vestry, and all leaders working with children or vulnerable adults.
Becoming Part of the Parish
Visitors can connect with St. Andrew's through several doors. Sunday morning worship at 8 a.m. or 10 a.m. (9 a.m. in summer) is the central gathering. The parish office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Newcomers are invited to fill out a newcomer card, and an e-news sign-up keeps readers current on parish life. Online giving is available through the parish giving page, and pledging takes place each autumn as a spiritual practice of gratitude. Fellowship hour after each Sunday service is its own invitation to share a coffee, greet visitors, and catch up with friends.