Our Mission Statement
Our mission statement is "Building a servant community seeking to be Christ's hands and heart." We developed it about two years ago, so we think of it as our "new" mission statement.

The very intentional future image of "building a servant community" suggests we will never reach our destination, much like a spiritual quest. So "building a servant community" not only has a spiritual component, but it also suggests that we are physically constructing a sacred place for community to gather.

When we say we are "seeking to be Christ's hands and heart" we are saying we want to be the physical incarnation of God's love, justice, and mercy. We want people to recognize God as being present in the same sort of actions that Jesus lived out, so that those who don't know Jesus won't live under the long-disturbing assumption that God is a relic or a concept out in space. We want people to recognize Christ in the actions of compassionate touch, of breaking bread and pouring wine, and in challenging destructive systems. We want people to recognize, as Jesus said, that the kingdom is within us, within our hands and hearts.

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Newsletters

• March 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• October 2012
• September 2012
• There was no newsletter for August
• July 2012
• June 2012
• May 2012
• April 2012

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Staff

Currently we are without a called pastor. We continue to have worship and other pastoral services provided by a pool of local pastors. For information on Sunday services or any other needs please contact our church office at 406-656-9256 or email our church secretary.

Susan Dickson Secretary	Betty Whiting Organist & Choir Director

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Congregational History
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church was formally established in June of 1968, following a ten-year period of planning. The First Presbyterian Church of Billings initiated the action to plant a new church in the Billings community in 1958. With the support of the national offices of the Presbyterian Church and the Synod of the Rockies, a steering committee began work to acquire property on 24th Street West, canvass the area to determine the interest of potential family participants, and call an organizing pastor. Rev. Paul Krebill, then campus pastor at Montana State University in Bozeman, was called to serve as the organizing pastor in 1967.
Extensive study went into defining the mission and guidelines for the new congregation. A defining statement emerged of "A People, Not A Place" with a strong mission focus on service and support to the community and world.

Formal public worship services began in January of 1968 at the New Western Manor Nursing Home, and continued there for the next seven years until the initial church building was constructed on 24th Street West. The initial members included a number of families from First Presbyterian Church along with new individuals identified during the canvas of the neighborhood. There was an intentional delay in constructing a church building until a strong congregational fellowship had developed.
The work of the initial steering committee culminated in the formal establishment of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church on June 9, 1968 with 83 charter members. The form of governance followed the Presbyterian Book of Order with its emphasis on balancing the role of lay leaders with those of ordained clergy. A session of ordained elders was responsible for organizing and governing the congregation, with the pastor serving as moderator of meetings. This reflects the Presbyterian tradition of responsibility for leadership being strongly vested in the laity.

Special commissions were established to direct and coordinate the congregation toward three primary areas of focus: Education, Ministry and Congregational Life. A 50/50 goal was set under which and equal amount of resources and efforts focused towards the support of the congregation would also be directed outside of the fellowship. This focus on service to others remains a defining element of St. Andrew.

A church building site on 24th Street West, consisting of 4.5 acres, had been purchased by the Presbytery of the Yellowstone in 1960. This property became the future home of St. Andrew. The initial construction plan was to build several commercial style office buildings in a park-like campus arranged around a pedestrian square. Church and community buildings were to be incorporated into the campus plan to be known as St. Andrew Square. The first office unit was built in 1974 and included church office space and a fellowship hall for the congregation, in addition to office space to be rented for commercial enterprises that would generate funds to support the total mission. Rising construction costs, high financing costs and a commercial office space building boom in the 1970s undercut the plan to develop multiple commercial office buildings.

The congregation expanded its use of the original office building in the early 1980s and began a capital campaign drive to address future facility needs of the growing congregation. By 1985 the financing had been secured to begin construction of a sanctuary that was connected to the original office building by a large garden room. The new facility was dedicated in 1986.
Office space was still provided to several service and support organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Montana Association of Churches, and the Presbytery of Yellowstone. Growth continued in the scope of activities through which the congregation supported needs in the local community and beyond including the Montana Rescue Mission, the Montana Center for Handicapped, Friendship House. By 2005 the church took over use of all the office space to support church activities as the service organizations moved to other locations. The undeveloped land has been converted into a Community Garden and a labyrinth has been built underneath a large Silver Ash tree.

Rev. Paul Krebill, our pastor for the first 25 years, retired in 1992. Rev. Bob Palmer served as interim pastor for one year until the call of Rev. Doug Nettleton in 1994. Rev Nettleton was called to another church in 2001 and Rev. John Pugh served as interim pastor until our present pastor, Rev. Brent Long, was called in 2003.

St. Andrew was established and grew with the westward growth of the city of Billings 40 years ago. The younger families who settled in the new surrounding housing subdivisions matured and aged, as did the members of the congregation. A generational change is occurring in the surrounding subdivisions, and, so to, the congregation of St. Andrew is moving towards a generational change. Though changing times and circumstances have called for adjustments in focus, the congregation of St. Andrew remains defined as "A People, Not a Place." Service to others remains our central, defining mission: Building A Servant Community Seeking to be Christ's Hands and Heart.

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Directions
From I-90, take the King Avenue exit and go west to 24th Street;
Turn right on 24th street and proceed north past Central;
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church is on the left.

From Grand Avenue, turn south on 24th Street;
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church is on the right.

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