St Andrew’s is a welcoming, vibrant and diverse Anglican Church in the heart of Luton. Our worship is rooted in the modern Anglo-Catholic tradition (what some people call ‘high church’), with liturgy and ritual and a high emphasis on the Sacraments of the Church (such has Holy Communion). In a warm, relaxed and friendly environment, we worship God with our whole selves and all of our senses through the use of movement and ritual (such as making the sign of the cross), incense, music and bells, and more. We believe that God loves our town and our local community, and we work and pray for social justice and the common good. We also value friendship and community, and have regular community events such as walks, ‘Beetle Drives’, and other social events.
Our church’s history started in the late 1800s, when a corrugated iron structure was built and served by clergy from the old Christchurch on Upper George Street. Eventually work began on our current building, with the foundation stone being laid on 28th July 1931 and the church being built to the plans of Giles Gilbert Scott by Arthur W. Oakley. The completed church was consecrated on 23rd October 1932, still as a daughter church of Christ Church but it became the church of its own ecclesiastical parish on 21st December 1933. Since then St Andrew’s has been a place of worship, community, and a hub for serving our local parish.
Our current Priest-In-Charge, Fr Luke Larner, was licensed and installed on the 18th of July 2023 by the Bishop and Archdeacon of Bedford, and serves the parish part-time alongside studying and teaching theology. Fr Luke was formerly a bricklayer, and then a lay minister in Luton, before being ordained to serve his title at St Paul’s Church Bedford, and then returning ‘home’ to Luton (just in time to see the Hatters join the Premier League!).
St Andrew's Church, Luton 