St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church grew up with the young city of Irvine, a community whose neighborhoods were developing in the 1970s. At its founding, members established four goals that continue to guide us today: providing opportunities to worship and feel God; offering a cradle-to-grave education program; extending bonds of mutual fellowship and care; bearing witness to Christ by faith and by love for one another.

 

 

Benchmark Developments:

Building Our Church

• September 8, 1974: First worship service. Services in the early years were held at Vista Verde School at 5144 Michelson Road. 
• January 1975: St. Andrew’s Mission was accepted into union with the Diocese of Los Angeles at its General Convention.
• September 12, 1976: The members and friends of St. Andrew’s celebrated the purchase of the current three-acre site for its church building.
• March 23, 1980: Groundbreaking for the current church building began.
• December 21, 1980: St. Andrew’s housed its first worship service in the 5,400-foot sanctuary (the sixth completed church in the city of Irvine and the first in Woodbridge Village).
• February 1, 1981: The building was dedicated and consecrated.
• June 1987: St. Andrew’s celebrated the arrival of its new organ, an Allen Classic II Digital Pipe Organ, with a series of three concerts.
• November 2024: St. Andrew’s became a Parish, with a joyous celebration at the Diocesan Convention in Riverside.

Founding of Our Children’s Center

• November 1983: Two portable modular units were moved to the church grounds to serve as a parish hall and learning center, and to house the first day care center for infants and toddlers in the city of Irvine. The center was soon to open, with a start-up grant from the Cathedral Corporation.
• December 3, 1995: Groundbreaking for the Children’s Center and Administration Building.
• November 24, 1996: The Children’s Center/Administration Building was dedicated.