Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church sits along Falls of Neuse Road in North Raleigh, on the edge of the neighborhoods that grew up around it when the congregation organized in 1977. The land that once was forest and fields is now suburban streets, and the church has grown up alongside them. A member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Saint Andrews marked its identity more sharply in May 2022 when the Session unanimously accepted the denomination-wide invitation to become a Matthew 25 church, committing the congregation to eradicating systemic poverty, dismantling structural racism, and building congregational vitality. That decision pulled together a long history of mission involvement with new committees focused on advocacy, and today Saint Andrews is known as much for its partnerships with refugee ministries and its committee on social justice as it is for its Sunday worship.
The Back Is the Front
Visitors to Saint Andrews quickly learn that the building does not behave like a typical church. Drive in from Falls of Neuse Road and the front of the building is not where most people enter. Instead, the back of the church is the front. The driveway leads around to the back, where the main entrance opens off the rear parking lot. There are marked spaces set aside just for visitors, and the design choice is intentional. The congregation organized in 1977 to reach people moving into what was then the outer edge of North Raleigh, and patterns of welcome are built into the very way the building works.
Inside the back entrance, name tags help newcomers introduce themselves, and a Welcome Team is on hand to greet. After the 10:30 am worship, the portico at the main entrance hosts Grateful Grounds, a coffee fellowship where visitors can chat with a pastor or a member and ask questions. Welcome Class, offered seasonally in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, is the next step for those exploring membership, with no obligation attached.
Sunday Worship: Traditional and R.I.S.E.
Two services define Sunday morning at Saint Andrews. The 10:30 am Traditional Worship Service takes place in the Sanctuary and lasts about an hour. Rooted in the Presbyterian tradition, the service moves through hymns, scripture, prayer, and preaching, with music led by organ and choir. The Kid's Bulletin, a wall of fidgets just outside the sanctuary doors, and a Time with Children during the service help younger members participate in their own way. Guests are not asked to stand or identify themselves, and welcome cards in the pew racks let visitors share their details only if they wish.
On the third Sunday of each month at 8:45 am, the congregation gathers again for R.I.S.E. - Reformed, Informal, Spiritual, Experiential. R.I.S.E. is the contemporary offering, a more relaxed setting for praise and reflection that pulls in modern worship sensibilities while staying rooted in reformed theology. The acronym itself is a clue to the spirit of the service. Both Sunday services are livestreamed on YouTube, and weekly bulletins are posted so worshipers at home can follow along.
Sacraments are observed as outward signs instituted by God to convey inward grace. Baptism marks God's covenantal love and unites the baptized with Christ and with the church of every time and place. The Lord's Supper is open to everyone who comes forward, an enacted seal of God's sustaining grace offered to all people.
Children at Every Age and Stage
Children are not sidelined at Saint Andrews. They are folded into the full life of the church. Each Sunday they serve as acolytes, usher, read scripture, and share their musical gifts. After the Time with Children, the youngest worshipers are invited into age-appropriate programs that run alongside the service.
Nursery Care is available from 10:15 to 11:45 am for children from birth until they enter PreK, located down the preschool hallway. Led by Nursery Coordinator Carolyn Crisci with a team of volunteers and caregivers including Danielle Cebrick and Ava Szczepanski, the nursery offers a consistent, calm space for the littlest ones while parents participate in worship. The oldest children in nursery care, ages two through four, join together for a Bible story and play activity each week.
Hands-On Worship meets in Room 3 from 10:45 to 11:30 am for children in PreK through second grade. Led by Meg Cline, Director of Younger Children's Ministry, with a team of volunteers, this is an interactive time of faith formation with a worship litany, Bible stories, songs, play activities, and crafts. It is here that children learn how the church worships and who they are worshiping.
Club 3-4-5 gathers after worship until 1:00 pm in Room 5 and the Youth Center. Older elementary children in grades three through five share lunch, games, and Bible study under the leadership of Danielle Cebrick. Service projects with Brown Bag Ministry and Refugee Hope Partners, Christmas celebrations, Parents' Night Out, Mardi Gras Pancake Party, Easter egg hunts, and an annual Vacation Bible School in August round out the year.
Youth Ministry: From Confirmation to Service Trips
Saint Andrews' youth ministry, under Anne Stark as Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministry, welcomes all sixth through twelfth graders as integrated and visible members of the congregation. Youth Group meets from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on Sunday nights from September through May, beginning in the Fellowship Hall with dinner and moving to the Youth Space for games, conversation, scripture, prayer, and shared life. Youth Ministry Intern Julia Laursen, an NC State student in Business Administration, International Studies, and Religious Studies, supports the program alongside adult leaders.
Confirmation is offered every other year for youth in eighth grade and up, an intentional season to ask tough questions and consider what it means to live a life of faith in Christian community. The next round begins with a retreat in October. Parents and caregivers are not left on their own either. Periodic Let's Talk events bring youth and adults together with an outside expert to discuss faith, sexuality, anxiety, social media, and other tough issues. Monthly meetups give parents of tweens and teens an informal space to talk.
The youth calendar stretches well beyond Sunday nights. Highlights include an All Youth Retreat, Brown Bag Ministry volunteering with Saint Philip Lutheran Church, a ski trip, a Super Bowl kickball game, Youth Sunday when the youth plan and lead worship, the New Hope Presbytery Youth Retreat, a high school service trip with RHIINO (Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans), the Massanetta Middle School Conference, and the Montreat Youth Conference. Year-round updates live on the SAPC Youth Instagram.
Music: Choir, Bells, and a Schantz Pipe Organ
Music is central to worship at Saint Andrews. The Chancel Choir is an SATB ensemble that sings weekly anthems, leads congregational hymns, and presents larger choral works during the academic year, with the summer off. Rehearsals are held in the Choir Room on Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm, and childcare is available with advance notice. All are welcome to join, regardless of experience, under Director of Music Ministries Brad Croushorn and Accompanist Catherine Hamner.
Children's Chimes introduces children in grades two through five to the basics of music, rhythm, and movement through hand chimes, ringing in worship three or four times a year. Youth Handbells, open to all youth in grades six through twelve with no musical knowledge needed, rehearses on Sundays following worship in Room 4 and performs several times a year. The Bells of Saint Andrews is the adult handbell ensemble, enhanced by expertise from members of the Raleigh Ringers. They play on 5-octave Malmark handbells and hand chimes, rehearsing Monday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and ringing in worship about once a month.
The Sanctuary houses a 3-manual, 35-rank pipe organ - Opus 2010, built by Schantz Organ Company and installed in 1992. The music ministry reflects a wider aesthetic reach: members come from the North Carolina Symphony, the Raleigh Ringers, and the North Carolina Master Chorale, and worship regularly includes premieres of new sacred compositions.
Adult Faith Formation
Faith formation at Saint Andrews is understood as a lifelong journey. The Adult Education Committee supports several regular weekly offerings.
Journey Class meets in the Fellowship Hall each Sunday at 9:30 am. Members gather briefly for fellowship before launching into a topic or study that relates to worldly issues and the daily walk of faith. The class runs from September through the spring, with offsite events and outings mixed in throughout the year. Sue Parks leads.
Finding God in the Bible meets in Room 6 on Sundays at 9:30 am, a structured teaching and discussion class that rotates to a new topic every six to eight weeks. Gary Vance and Greg Chocklett lead.
Women's Bible Study gathers on Tuesday mornings from 9:30 to 11:00 am in Room 6, a time of prayer, discussion, and shared reflection led by Elaine Mueller. Men's Bible Study meets on Thursday mornings from 8:30 to 9:30 am in Room 6, led by Greg Chocklett, Steve Ade, and Gary Wires. In-person and Zoom options make it accessible for those who travel or cannot attend every session.
The Voices of Advent devotional is an annual collaborative project, with members of the church family writing brief reflections on Scripture passages during the Advent season.
Congational Care: Walking Together Through Hard Seasons
Congregational Care at Saint Andrews is built on the conviction that caring for one another is part of the church's calling. The ministry offers several layers of support. An on-call pastor responds to pastoral needs. The Care Network organizes volunteers. A Prayer Team meets weekly to lift up members and friends in prayer. A Bereavement Ministry supports individuals and families grieving the death of a loved one. The Angel Care Team provides short-term, practical assistance - meals, visits, cards - in moments when extra care is needed.
Stephen Ministry is one of the more distinctive offerings. Stephen Ministers are laypeople trained in 50 hours of in-person caregiving instruction through a partnership with North Raleigh United Methodist Church and four other local churches. They provide confidential, one-to-one Christian care, meeting weekly for about an hour, listening without judgment, offering encouragement, and praying with and for those they serve. They are not professional counselors, but they are trained, supervised volunteers. Care is free, and the only exceptions to confidentiality involve risk of harm. A referrals coordinator matches each person with a Stephen Minister by phone or in person.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry began in April 2006 and continues to bring comfort through handmade shawls and blankets, knitted or crocheted by members and prayed over as they are made. Shawls are blessed on the last Sunday of each month and given to those who are ill, grieving, or welcoming a new baby. Meetings are held on the second and fourth Thursday mornings at 10:00 am in the Conference Room.
Alongside You groups, hosted by Health Ministries and Faith Formation teams, gather people navigating specific life challenges - caregiving, parenting children with special needs, and LGBTQ+ and allies coffee and conversation. Members and visitors can join at any time.
Mission and Outreach: Matthew 25 in Practice
Saint Andrews has a long history of mission involvement. Since organizing in 1977, the congregation has donated more than $2 million to local, national, and global mission partners, and the current Mission and Outreach Committee channels that energy through a roster of long-term partnerships.
Refugee Hope Partners serves refugee families at Cedar Point Airport, just down the road from Saint Andrews, with the love of Christ since 2007. North Raleigh Ministries supports individuals and families in crisis through a Food Pantry, the Transitions Program, the Journey Program, and guidance and prayer. Loaves and Fishes empowers low-income K-12 youth and their families. Rise Against Hunger fights hunger through meal packaging and distribution. A Place at the Table is a pay-what-you-can cafe in downtown Raleigh. Faith Ministry works in border initiatives in Mexico through housing, evangelism, medical care, and education. Haiti Reforestation partners with the people of Haiti on a long-running mission to plant trees and restore sustainable land. Meals on Wheels delivers hot meals five days a week to homebound Wake County residents.
Each year, the Alternative Giving Catalog features the ten ministries and mission partners the church supports, allowing members to give in honor of someone else in place of a traditional gift. Hands-on mission opportunities range from packing lunches with Brown Bag Ministry to the annual Mexico Mission Trip in Reynosa, where members spend a week helping a family build a house.
Boy Scout Troop 374, a Christ-centered program, meets at the church, with character building, leadership development, and outdoor adventure woven into the program. Girl Scout troops also call Saint Andrews home.
The Committee for Social Justice
The Committee for Social Justice has operated since 2020 and meets monthly on the first Monday at 7:00 pm, usually on Zoom. Its work is to seek God's justice, love, and mercy in the world by examining and challenging systems, practices, and attitudes that lead to discrimination, bias, prejudice, and oppression.
Four active issue groups carry the work. The Immigration Issues Group supports immigrant neighbors with assistance and resources while advocating for just immigration laws. The Gun Violence Prevention Issue Group promotes gun safety and education, sometimes partnering with North Carolinians Against Gun Violence. The Education Issues Group advocates for full funding of North Carolina public schools and engages the Leandro Plan, the long-running court case addressing the state's constitutional duty to provide every child with a sound basic education. The Poverty Advocacy and Support group focuses on living wage issues and ways to live out Matthew 25 roots by caring for the least of these.
An additional anti-racism component gathers books, articles, videos, and podcasts for ongoing education, including titles like White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, and Waking Up White by Debbie Irving.
Fellowship Groups and Presbyterian Women
Saint Andrews Presbyterian Women (SAPW) gathers all women of the church through circles, church and community gatherings, mission events, and retreats. About ten events fill the calendar each year, including visits to galleries, a fall fellowship at the beach, dinner and trivia nights, luncheons, spring retreats, and garden tours. Six active circles meet monthly from September through May: Naomi (first Tuesday at 6:30 pm), Priscilla (third Monday at 7:15 pm), Rachel (second Wednesday at 10:00 am), Ruth (second Tuesday at 7:00 pm), Sarah (first Thursday at 10:30 am), and Zoom Circle (second Wednesday at 10:00 am virtually). Each circle is led by a member, and new circles are welcomed.
Men's Groups include the Monday Morning Men's Class at 9:00 am on Zoom for conversation, study, and prayer, and the Men's Lunch, gathering every third Thursday at 11:30 am at Cape Fear Seafood Company.
Young Adults offers two groups that meet monthly for people in their twenties, thirties, and forties. Thursdays on the Town gathers every other week at 7:00 pm at different spots around Raleigh - sometimes trivia, sometimes dinner, always conversation. Second Sunday Fellowship follows worship with extended nursery care, childcare for PreK through second grade, and Club 3-4-5.
Table Groups are small gatherings of six to eight people around shared interests like couples, singles, or women, meeting in homes or restaurants. The Garden Guild, a privately funded group of dedicated volunteers, tends the blooms in front of the church and the plantings near the main entrance. Steps of Faith is a monthly walking and hiking group exploring trails around Raleigh. A free Pilates Mat Class meets on Fridays at 2:00 pm in the Narthex.
Saint Andrews Preschool
Saint Andrews Preschool offers classes for children ages two through five, organized around the philosophy that the children learn to play and play to learn. Programs include Twos (T/TH, MWF, or M-F options), Threes (MWF or M-F), PreK for four-year-olds (M-F), and Transitional K for children turning five by August 31 (M-F). Each class keeps small student-to-teacher ratios, with classroom centers for independent discovery, circle time, daily art, indoor and outdoor active play, movement and music classes, weekly Discovery (hands-on STEM) classes, group snack time, and a Storytime program combined with literacy-based pretend play. Older classes add chapel times, a Writing Center, classroom jobs, and occasional field trips. Tuition for 2026-2027 ranges from $290 for two days a week to $565 for a five-day Toddlers/Twos program, with Lunch Bunch available Monday through Friday. Marj Jenkins leads the preschool as Preschool Director.
Leadership and Governance
The Rev. Dr. Tom Watkins serves as Senior Pastor and the Rev. Dr. Lynn Stall as Parish Associate for Care. Brad Croushorn directs the music ministries. Anne Stark leads Children, Youth, and Family Ministry, with Meg Cline directing the Younger Children's Ministry and Carolyn Crisci coordinating the nursery. Callie Wright directs communications, John Montague serves as Business Administrator, and Cindy Ingalls manages the facility and office. Zach Rowe is the Sound Engineer and Catherine Hamner the Accompanist. Mark Stevens serves as Assistant Facility Manager.
The Session - the congregation's governing body - includes members organized into classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028, with portfolios covering Worship and Music, Mission and Outreach, Personnel, Finance, Facilities, Children's Ministries, Stewardship, Clerk of Session, Social Justice, Adult Education, Welcome Team, and Youth. Deacons serve in three-year classes alongside the Elders.
Office hours run Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Giving is available online through the Realm Connect system, by text (SAPC7506 to 73256), by bank draft, by check, by stock, or through Qualified Charitable Distributions from an IRA. A Strategic Charitable Giving program supports more tax-advantaged forms of generosity.
What to Expect on a First Visit
Casual dress is perfectly welcome. Childcare is provided in Room 21 down the preschool hallway. Children in PreK through second grade begin worship with their parents and are invited forward for the Time with Children, then leave for their own program after the message. Older elementary children remain in worship and meet afterward for Club 3-4-5. Welcome cards in the pew racks let visitors share their details if they choose, but no one is asked to stand or identify themselves during the service.
Worship is livestreamed on YouTube, and bulletins are posted so anyone at home can follow along. If the weather turns harsh, the church makes a decision about whether to hold services, posts updates on social media, and shares a worship experience on YouTube at 10:30 am. AA meetings use the church kitchen and fellowship hall spaces during the week, and several Scout troops, Toastmasters, Ravenscroft Moms in Prayer, and other community groups make use of the building, extending the church's role as a hub for the surrounding neighborhood.
Guided by the love of Christ, Saint Andrews continues to deepen its connection with God, mission, each other, and the community of North Raleigh. The doors at the back of the building remain the place where new arrivals enter, and the Welcome Team is there to greet them.