A BRIEF HISTORY OF ST. ANDREW EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
The history of St. Andrew begins in 1948, when the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) established a small mission church in the northeast section of the city of Bristol, CT and named it Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The LCMS correctly anticipated growth in that area of the city, and by the late 1950’s the congregation had outgrown its small building, so in 1960 the cornerstone was laid for a much larger sanctuary on 14 acres of land that was donated by one of the parishioners, which remains our present location.
The congregation continued to grow until the mid 1970’s where differences in traditions and theological interpretations caused a rift within the LCMS. Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran voted to leave LCMS and affiliate with the American Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC). The congregation went through many roster changes during this period.
In November of 1976, approximately 225 parishioners from a local LCMS church left their parish due to these interpretive differences and formed Covenant Lutheran Church, an independent church with no synod affiliation. This congregation worshipped in local schools and other places, then was invited by Bethlehem to use its sanctuary for services, as a separate congregation. In 1985 the two congregations merged to form St. Andrew Evangelical Lutheran Church. An extensive renovation was made in 1990, including the addition of administrative offices.
St. Andrew joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which was the successor to AELC. The ELCA is presently the largest Lutheran church body in America, with approximately 5 million baptized members. St. Andrew is a member of the New England Synod of the ELCA.
Today St. Andrew’s congregation has the joyous mix of families with generations of members, of new friends of various faith backgrounds, and of a congregation excited about the growth of our parish.
We offer many programs for our parishioners through music, worship and fellowship, and Christian education, and we offer programs for the community through an enthusiastic outreach program.