Our Youth would love to get to know more folks from SAPC. If you would like to get to know them better too, consider signing up to provide Supper on Sunday Evenings. Please click here to sign up to bring dinner for youth group on Sundays.

There will be activities for the youth at Big Table on Wednesdays. Join us!

Delicious fair trade products grown in other areas of the world are available for your enjoyment during the holidays and into the New Year. Order by November 5 to connect to the people who grow and prepare the coffee, tea and chocolate that make holidays complete.

Through the Presbyterian Coffee Project St. Andrews promotes fair trade so that farmers can be assured of a predictable income and a fair share of the value of the products they produce. In turn farmers provide us with superb products, preserve the environment, utilize proven farming methods which protect habitats and enhance the lives of their families and communities!

Find brochures in the narthex or here. Place orders with Mary Evans,  770-493-9489, by November 5 for delivery before Thanksgiving! Pay Mary Evans upon receipt of order.

The Session of Cristo Para Las Naciones, the congregation that shares our building, invites all of St. Andrews Congregation to join them for their annual Thanksgiving Dinner.

It will be on Thursday, November 22 in Heffner Hall, beginning with a devotional at 7:00 pm, followed by dinner at 7:30 pm

From the Pastor:

In the spring this congregation engaged in a season of prayer and scripture readings. During those 40 Days of Prayer everyone was invited to read the same daily scripture passages, pray, and listen for God’s guidance around the question: What is God calling our church to be and do in the coming year? That season was certainly fruitful for our congregation. I think it opened our minds, our eyes, and our ears to recognize where God is already at work in our neighborhoods and to hear the invitation to join in that work.

I also heard from a number of you how much you appreciated the time of ordered reading and prayer. Even if you read the Bible passages alone and never talked to anyone about it, you still felt the connection knowing that others at St. Andrews were reading the same words. Some asked that we do more of that. There are popular programs out there for reading the entire Bible in 90 days (a big, intense commitment) or in a year (we’ve done that here a few times over the years). Rather than attempting one of those, which usually involve a much smaller portion of the congregation, I started looking for something a little different.

Providentially, not long after we completed our 40 Days of Prayer I learned that some friends of mine from seminary had similar thoughts a year earlier. David and Mandy Ealy are pastor and Director of Christian Education, respectively, of Hawfields Presbyterian Church in Mebane, North Carolina. Together they created “Closer Walk with Thee: Gospel Reading Project” for their congregation and happily shared it. After conversations with our session and other leaders, I’ve adapted their plan for St. Andrews.

One of the things about being a Christian is knowing a thing or two about the One we claim to follow: Jesus Christ.  The Gospel Reading Plan (GRP) aims to do two things principally.

First, we want to get people reading their Bibles* and, more specifically, the Gospels, in parallel, from beginning to end. A reading list and study guides frame this congregation-wide Bible study.

Second, we want to build the friendship of our congregation members through the use of reading groups. They need to be small and meet regularly. Each group will be self-directed and have a host to help convene only. These folks will be trained in their task. These hosts have chosen times and places to meet. You are invited to sign up for the time slots that work best for you.

The center of the project is the reading list. In order to read the Gospels completely, together and in conjunction with our typical church calendar, there will be some degree of jumping around. In the end what we’ll have is a sustained study of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John along with some supplemental pieces.

We will begin Christ the King Sunday (November 25^th) and end on Pentecost (June 9^th). This would substitute for our typical adherence to the Lectionary.

Please sign up online for a small group time slot through this link, or by filling out a form available in the narthex. 

Memorial Service for former SAPC member Chuck McQuay will be held Saturday, October 27th at 11:00 a.m. at Buford Presbyterian Church with visitation prior to the service at 10:00 a.m [1242 Buford Hwy. NE, Sugar Hill, GA 30518] In lieu of flowers, donations, if desired, may be made to Buford Presbyterian Church in Chuck’s memory

The Presbytery of Greater Atlanta meets November 10 to experience Fearless Dialogues, a new approach to creating unique spaces for unlikely partners to engage in hard, heartfelt conversations. All are invited. Clairmont Presbyterian Church, 9 am – 2 pm. Lunch by Taziki’s Mediterranean Café, $12.50, will be provided for those who register by Friday, November 2.  Click here to register for lunch. Contact Mary Evans about carpooling.

Holiday Ordering from the Presbyterian Coffee Project The holidays are coming fast! Plan now for entertaining and gifting by ordering Fair Traded products through the Presbyterian Coffee Project. Order forms are available in the Narthex or send a list of items you wish to order to Mary Evans, 770-493-9489, by November 5.

Congregational Meeting There will be a congregational meeting Sunday, November 4 at 11:00 a.m. for the purpose of electing officers for the upcoming term.

Preparing for Worship This Sunday we will have our Kirking of the Tartans worship service. While our members come from a wide diversity of countries and ethnicities, the Presbyterian Church traces its roots back to Scotland. We are all children in God’s family, brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter our lineage- and we are all families in the clan of St. Andrews. On next Sunday when we celebrate our Reformed and Scottish heritage, we also celebrate that the Gospel was not confined to Nazareth. We celebrate that the good news continued to spread to Scotland, to the United States, and around the world. We invite everyone is invited to wear something that represents and celebrates their heritage, whether it be a tartan, Kente cloth, or cowboy boots!

We will continue our series: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Our scripture lessons are Matthew 12:46-50 and Ephesians 1:1-14. Our hymns will be: Let All Things Now Living, O for a World, and Amazing Grace. Rev. Camille will be preaching and the sermon is entitled, “Family of Faith.”