It’s all very informal. There’s home-cooked food, the chance to catch up with friends, chat about the sermon and meet people from other colleges. Then from about 1.15pm there’s the chance to think through a topic to do with Christianity. We invite a guest speaker each week, but it's not just a monologue from the front. You can discuss issues on your table and grill the speaker for a few minutes at the end. We’re all done by 2pm.

You don’t need to believe anything to come, but we really hope these lunches will help you and your friends to get clearer on the Christian faith, to love Jesus more and be equipped to live and speak for him in your daily lives.

Here’s what we’ll be looking at this term:

Previous terms' Student Lunch mp3s may be downloaded here.

16th May 2010

Fill in this form if you would like to host students for lunch.  If you are an undergraduate and want to sign up for lunch use the form here.

If you’d like to be meeting regularly with a Christian at a different stage of life from your own, just email the student staff and we can organise that for you.

A couple of times a year, families open up their homes to students for a special Sunday lunch. The first opportunity this year has passed but the next will be on May 16th 2010.

If you’d like to be invited to lunch please fill in this form:
(If you'd like to host, please click here.)

12th-15th and 15th-18th March 2010

Each year students from St Andrew the Great go away for four days to a country house in Norfolk. We call it 'The Great Escape'. See the bottom of this page for details about departure and arrival times.

A chance to relax

What better, at the end of term, than to get plenty of food and sleep, to play some sport with friends, go for long country walks, read the papers, get stuck into various home-made games and even be entertained by the Student Staff in the evenings?

A chance to get to know others

Maybe you know lots of students at St Andrew the Great or only a few, but the Great Escapes give us the opportunity to deepen those friendships and to widen the circle too. There will be plenty of older members of the congregation on hand, too, ready to lend an ear, offer advice or pray with you.

A chance to grow spiritually

It doesn't matter what you currently believe: almost everyone who goes on a Great Escape finds it helpful. This year the theme is 'Walking by Faith'. We'll have four talks on Hebrews 11 by William Taylor, the Rector of St Helen's Bishopsgate in London. Brian Elfick will give three talks on the person of Jesus. And in Bible Unwrapped groups, we'll be getting to grips with the book of Habakkuk.

How much does it cost?

The cost of coming on a Great Escape is £70 but if money might prevent you from coming, let us know, as the church may be able to help with bursaries. We would love you to join us. If you want to sign up online please use the form at the bottom of this page.

Sign me up!

Travel details

You will be sent an email with full travel details a week prior to departure. Here are some details you might need now:

• Great Escape 1 departs at 4pm on the 12th and returns at 5.30pm on the 15th
• Great Escape 2 departs at 1.15pm on the 15th and returns at 4pm on the 18th

Coaches will leave from the Vicarage, on Manor Street. Please get in touch if you have any questions about these arrangements!

• We always need people willing to welcome at the three services. So many people who are new to the church and Christianity walk through the doors on a Sunday, and we want them to feel welcome.
• During the 10.00am service we run two supervised crèches, for babies and toddlers. If volunteers can entertain the children, their parents can be in the service and hear the teaching without distraction.
• The lunches and dinners we have at St Andrew the Great throughout the year could not happen were it not for the tireless help of congregation members preparing the food, setting up, serving and washing up.
• Or maybe you can help out with the music? We always need people to sing, play instruments and run the sound desk.

If you’d like to get involved in any of these ways, then become a StAG Link. The only commitment is one training session at the beginning of each term (two in the first term). If you want to find out more, email Kath Rothman.

The next StAG Links training session is on Sunday 18th April, 6.30pm in the church building. Brian Elfick will be helping us think about the church and spiritual gifts.

We meet on Sundays after the 5pm service at a home near St Andrew the Great, to study the Bible. It ends at 8pm, often with a trip to a local pub or café. To get involved meet us at St Andrew the Great after the evening service.

Easter 2010 - What will Jesus give me NOW?

Jesus makes big promises about the future of his followers. But what about the present? Is there any benefit in following Jesus now? Romans 5-8 gets right to the heart what a Christian can expect to experience between now and heaven.

"Peace with God" (Rom 5:1-11)

"Freedom from sin" (Rom 6:1-14)

"A fighting chance" (Rom 7:14-25)

"The Holy Spirit" (Rom 8:1-14)

We hope you'll be able to join us for all or any of the above dates.

If you have any questions please email us.

Summer ventures are an opportunity for young people to spend time away from home learning about the Christian faith and enjoying an action-packed holiday. A typical venture goes like this: a team of 40 leaders, helped by 30 undergraduates, take over a school in a pretty location and transform it into a holiday destination. Next, 70 or so kids arrive, and morning and evening they hear talks from the Bible explaining the gospel. In between, the day is filled with games, crazy activities, food, entertainment and chilling.

What would I do?

As a volunteer, your job is to make all this happen by doing the practical tasks. Volunteers also receive great Bible teaching. If you return in later years, you may serve in other ways: maybe leading studies or giving talks.

Ventures are a great way to serve others by helping them to hear about Jesus and to grow in their trust of him. There are 90 days in the summer vac. Why not commit 10 of these to serving Jesus in this way?

Interested?

Below are some ventures that we go on and can recommend. Use the form to let us know if you'd like to receive more information.

• Lymington Rushmore (Hampshire), 12^th July-7^th August
• Casterton 1 (Cumbria), 24^th-31^st July
• Quantock 1 (Somerset),  25^th July-3^rd August
• Iwerne  (Norfolk), 16^th July-16^th August
• Bredon 2 (Gloucestershire), 6^th-13^th August
• Sparkford 3 (Somerset), 13^th-21^st August
• Barnstaple 3 (Devon), 13^th-22^nd August
• Bredon 3 (Gloucestershire), 14^th-21^st August

Quick, get me signed up!

To sign up or to receive more information, please fill in the form below:

The team’s projects focused on supporting Bible teachers in the context of engaging with some acute social problems. Port Elizabeth has a mixed population and high rates of AIDS and crime. The team is served the community in the following ways:

• Supporting the teaching staff practically and teaching the students English and IT skills at Bible Institute Eastern Cape, a local theological college which equips local pastors to teach the Bible faithfully and clearly, working across cultural and language barriers.

• Bible-teaching and pastoral work on the local university campuses, under the supervision of a long-term worker.

• Helping with children’s and youth work in Emmanuel, one of the local churches, and in schools.

If you’re interested in being part of a similar team in September 2010, please contact Brian Elfick.

We meet on Tuesdays 7-9pm. There’s a meal all together, we listen to a talk, and then we go into groups, led by members of the wider church family, to study a passage, pray and encourage each other.

At Focus we aim to handle God’s word carefully, in order to hear the authentic voice of his Spirit. This term we will be studying Mark 9-16 to think about true discipleship, as we follow Jesus on his journey to the cross.

Focus is a great way to get to know Jesus better, but it’s also the best way to get more connected with other people at St Andrew the Great. You are free to try it just once; and if studying the Bible is new to you, you are very welcome to sit and listen in.

Spring Term 2010

Four days to a country house in Norfolk: a chance to relax, to get to know others and to grow spiritually.

Read more...

The first few months of university can be quite daunting with a new city, new friends and a new course to get used to. At St Andrew the Great there are seven Student Staff whose job it is to help you find your feet and look after you – and a whole church family who would love to meet you.

A first step might be to come to one of our services: at 10am, 11.30am or 5pm. Good ways to meet other students include Student Lunch on Sundays and Focus on Tuesdays.

If you’ve never really thought about Christianity before, University is a great opportunity to do that. Arena is a five week course that gives you a chance to ask your questions and get to grips with Jesus.

If you’d like us to know about you, or there is anything we can help you with, then please fill out the form below or drop us an email. We're really looking forward to meeting you in person.

Student life can be great – though most of us have quite a few ups and downs along the way. Whatever your time in Cambridge is like, we’d love to be a part of it.

Many students come along to St Andrew the Great, so it’s easy to meet people from other colleges. But more than that, we invite you to feel and be a part of our wider church family, so that together we can begin to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

We know how busy a Cambridge term is, so we run a variety of things geared to you, whether you are already following Jesus or just looking. Have a browse of these pages and see if anything suits.

There are lots of ways we might be useful. You might book us up for a one-off coffee to chat about something that’s been troubling you. Many students meet up with us once a week to study the Bible together. Maybe you’d like to invite us round to chat to your friends about the Christian faith. Or use us to organise a Christianity Explored course for your college/sports team. Or perhaps you’d just like some mid-term TLC in a normal home!

You can find us at any of the services on Sundays or get in touch with us by email or phone. Anyway, here’s who we are...

Brian Elfick

Students’ curate

Brian is into his eighth year in Cambridge, which is long enough to be able to ask for the 'usual' at his local (which is, slightly embarrassingly, a bitter shandy...). His claim to fame is captaining both sides in Varsity Matches, and he's previously lived in Sydney, New York and the Duke of Buckingham's house. But listing golf and gardening as his hobbies, Brian is not cool

Kath Rothman

Associate pastor (Students)

Kath is just starting her third year in Cambridge and therefore the coffee shops of Cambridge would be her specialist Mastermind subject. Before Cambridge she spent 5 years teaching chemistry at a school just outside Bristol. She has recently started growing her own vegetables but with a total carrot crop of 8 she’s not going to be self-sufficient any time soon. Kath is always up for playing board games especially if they involve 2 letter Scrabble words.

Leon Catallo

Student worker

Since graduating from Downing College in 2006, Leon has put his Natural Sciences degree to good use. He spent a year as an apprentice at Christ Church Bromley and two years at an accountancy firm in central London looking after the tax affairs of various rich and famous clients. He has cultured tastes and enjoys the finer things in life: Arsenal, Indian food, bad jokes and cards.

Catherine Lamb

Student worker

Catherine left Jesus College three years ago to go and teach Maths and play table tennis in boarding schools, including one in Kenya--where she felt very British and made vain attempts to imitate the Kenyans’ rhythm and develop their skin colour. She likes to think she has an innate gift for memorising film scripts and is particularly keen on activities that involve any combination of DVDs, coffee and Ben & Jerry’s.

Rosie Lyus

Student worker

Rosie decided fairly quickly that standing in a Chemistry lab making another white powder wasn’t for her, so after graduating from Newnham she spent a year travelling around the country persuading chemists to buy lumps of aluminium. Unsurprisingly she later made the move to Sevenoaks to be an Apprentice at St Nic’s. Whilst there she spent her time freeing sheep from brambles; cleaning lots of toilets; moving the odd chair or two and teaching the Bible to the youth. Returning to Cambridge feels very much like coming home, although she'd like it if it weren’t quite so flat--if anyone knows of places to get good views do let her know...

Barnaby Monteiro

Student worker

Barnaby used to think he had the coolest surname but is feeling a bit under threat since joining the staff team. He was brought up in the Chiltern Hills and was a mischievous child (he’d say adventurous), managing to break seven windows in four years. Barnaby studied engineering at Catz, went to Oxford to do some Christian work in schools before being drawn back to Cambridge. He enjoys all racket sports, Gardies, reading, hospitality and action films.

Chris Prekop

Student worker

Chris is one of the few half Hungarian, half Northern Irish people in the world. His father frequently reminds him that he is a descendant of Atilla the Hun and Grand Prince Arpad of the Magyars. Despite his abnormal heritage, Chris has spent the last five years in Cambridge studying law, working at St Andrew the Great and losing his accent. He enjoys squash, football, bargains, board games and reading.

But many students also like to meet up with someone more regularly, perhaps each week, to read the Bible and pray together. It’s up to you quite how you might use that time, but it’s a great way to grow as a Christian.

If you're interested in giving it a try email Brian Elfick or Kath Rothman.