Christ Church stands on Central Street in Andover, Massachusetts, in the heart of a town that has grown around its older brick homes and small downtown squares. The parish identifies itself by the motto the Rev. Michael J. Hodges articulated in his first sermon: "everyone is welcome at God's table." That phrase shapes the way the congregation understands its worship, its music, and its work in the wider community. As part of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, Christ Church describes its vision as that of "an open, welcoming Episcopal congregation living the Gospel of Jesus Christ," nurturing spiritual growth through worship and prayer, learning and teaching, support and service.
A Church Built on a Mother's Prayer
The parish began with Abraham Marland. In September 1801 he sailed from Liverpool to America, with bales of woolen cloth in the ship's hold and his mother's Book of Common Prayer in his pocket. His mother had died when he was four, but her faith had become his own. He vowed that if he prospered in the new world, he would establish his mother's church. He came to Andover in 1807, and by 1834 had built the Marland Manufacturing Company. Episcopal services had begun in Andover as early as 1833, but the parish took formal shape on August 6, 1835, when the Episcopal Society of Andover appointed its first wardens and vestry, with Abraham Marland serving as warden.
Bishop Alexander Griswold consecrated the first church, a neo-classical wooden building with four fluted columns and a wooden bell tower, on October 31, 1837. The Rev. Samuel Fuller Jr. was instituted as the first rector the next day. Across the street stood the Rose Cottage, which served as the rectory and from whose steps Lafayette had addressed Andover's residents in 1825.
The original building burned on February 28, 1886; parishioners rushed in and saved the communion table, but all else was destroyed. The architects Hartwell and Richardson designed the replacement, which was consecrated on January 4, 1887, while the parish met in the Town Hall during construction. Addison B. Le Boutillier designed the altar area in the early 1900s, including the apse decoration, reredos, altar, and lectern, and also designed the Parish Hall.
The rectors who followed built the parish's character. The Rev. Charles W. Henry (1913-1937) helped establish community services for the residents of Shawsheen Village. The Rev. Albert C. Morris (1937-1941) encouraged the founding of the Andover Thrift Shop, which opened in February 1941 and has since become one of the church's most enduring ministries. A chapel added in 1959 was named for the Rev. John S. Moses (1942-1959). The Rev. J. Edison Pike (1959-1980) oversaw a period of rapid growth and a new education building. The Rev. James A. Diamond (1981-1999) emphasized the sacramental life, expanded offerings of Holy Communion and Healing services, and grew outreach programs including Bread & Roses, Neighbors in Need, and Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity. The Wednesday morning Eucharist, still offered today, began under his leadership.
The Rev. Dennis Jarry became the thirteenth rector in January 2001, but his service was cut short by his death in December of that year. The Rev. Jeffrey Gill arrived in 2002, was instituted as the fourteenth rector in September 2005, and during his tenure helped establish Esperanza Academy in Lawrence and oversaw the installation of a new organ in the fall of 2011. After a sixteen-month nationwide search, the Rev. Michael J. Hodges became the fifteenth rector of the parish on August 17, 2014.
Two Sunday Services, Seven Weekday Offices
Sunday worship at Christ Church follows the Book of Common Prayer used by Episcopal churches throughout the United States. Two services are offered each Sunday during the program year. At 8:00 a.m. a spoken Holy Eucharist uses Rite II with organ music and hymns at the offertory. At 10:00 a.m. a full choral Eucharist includes organ, choirs, and hymns, and is livestreamed on the parish's YouTube channel, with the prelude beginning at 9:55 a.m. Young children attend Church School during the Liturgy of the Word at the 10:00 service, then join their families in the sanctuary at the Peace and stay through Communion. In summer, the parish gathers for a single 9:00 a.m. service that is also livestreamed.
Throughout the week, Morning Prayer is offered via Zoom at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, with about twenty minutes of scripture, prayer, and a reading about the saint or commemoration of the day, followed by informal conversation. On Wednesdays the parish gathers at 7:00 a.m. in the North Chapel for the Holy Eucharist, then shares breakfast in the Parish Hall. Compline, the night office, is prayed via Zoom at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, drawing on readings usually from Henri Nouwen.
The church follows the seasons of the Christian year with corresponding colors and vestments: blue for Advent, purple for Lent, white for Christmas, Easter, and the principal feasts, red for Holy Week, Pentecost, ordinations, and bishop's visitations, and green for ordinary time. The congregation follows the Revised Common Lectionary, hearing a Hebrew scripture reading, a Psalm, a New Testament lesson, and a Gospel each Sunday. Children are welcomed in worship, and Healing Prayer with the laying on of hands and anointing with oil is offered by the Prayer Ministry team in the Moses Chapel on the first Sunday of each month, following the dismissal and postlude.
Visitors often ask what to expect. People from Roman Catholic or other liturgical backgrounds find the worship familiar. Those from Protestant backgrounds often grow to love what the parish calls "the beauty and dignity" of Episcopal liturgy. Communion is open to anyone who comes forward. Anyone not wishing to receive may remain in the pew, and children or adults may cross their arms over their chest to receive a blessing instead. Sanctuary, restrooms, and meeting spaces are accessible.
Two Fisk Organs and a Graded Choir Program
Music at Christ Church is one of the parish's most visible offerings. The fourteenth season of Music at Christ Church features the choirs, soloists, two Fisk organs, a Steinway grand piano, and guest artists. The principal instrument is the Fisk Organ, Opus 137, dedicated in September 2012 in memory of the Rev. Cornelius Ayer Wood Jr. Its seven-year journey from planning to voicing resulted in a two-manual and pedal instrument of twenty-nine stops and two thousand and two pipes, with the Great division scaled after eighteenth-century German organs and the Swell division reflecting French Romantic organ building.
In December 2019 Don and Nancy Miller gifted a second Fisk, the Continuo Organ, Opus 157, delivered on November 19, 2020, and heard for the first time during a livestreamed worship service that Sunday. The mechanical-action instrument of five stops and 187 pipes can be transposed between A=440 and A=415, making it suitable for music of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. It accompanies singers and instrumentalists from the apse of the sanctuary. A 1981 Steinway model B grand piano, given in memory of Marie Robinson, completed the parish's trio of principal instruments.
The graded choir program begins with the Angel Choir for children in kindergarten through second grade, who rehearse on Thursday afternoons and sing at Christmas Eve, Easter, and occasional 10:00 services. The St. Cecilia Choristers for grades three through eight rehearse on Thursdays and sing psalms and hymns from the Anglican tradition along with spirituals, jazz, classical works, and newly commissioned pieces at the 10:00 service and at Lessons & Carols, Christmas Eve, Palm Sunday, Easter, Pentecost, and festivals. Schola, a select ensemble of singers in grades six through eight with unchanged voices, prepares sacred music from the Renaissance to the present for major services and choral evensongs. The Parish Choir of volunteer adults and experienced high school singers rehearses Thursday evenings and sings at all 10:00 services from September through mid-June, with frequent collaborations with other local choirs.
Barbara Bruns has served as Minister of Music since February 2005. The daughter of United Methodist missionaries, she was raised in Japan and began playing for church services at age thirteen at the US Army Base Chapel in Chitose, Hokkaido. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Augustana College and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory, where she was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda. The resident soloists and section leaders Anney Barrett and Michael Barrett, both professionally trained singers active with Boston-area ensembles such as the Handel & Haydn Society, Blue Heron, the Boston Camerata, and Schola Cantorum of Boston, support the choir's work.
Children, Youth, and Confirmation
Children's formation at Christ Church is built around Church School for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Children gather in the Parish Hall at 9:50 a.m. on Sundays, are signed in by their parents, and rejoin their families in the sanctuary at the Peace to share Holy Communion. Children in grades four through twelve may serve as acolytes in the St. Matthew's Guild of Acolytes, assisting at the altar, processing with the Gospel, and helping to prepare the holy table. Adults also serve as acolytes, particularly at the early service, funerals, weddings, and other special occasions.
The Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center in Greenfield, New Hampshire, an Episcopal camp owned and operated by the Diocese of Massachusetts, hosts a popular week-long summer program for children from fourth grade through twelfth grade and is used during the rest of the year for diocesan youth retreats and parish vestry retreats.
Youth in grades nine through twelve meet as the High School Youth Group on select Sundays, exploring the Christian tradition in greater depth, building community, and serving both inside and beyond the parish. A team of adult mentors leads the program. Confirmation preparation for tenth through twelfth graders is offered every other year and typically includes a pre-Confirmation overnight retreat at the Barbara C. Harris Camp. Teens are confirmed by the bishop during a diocesan visitation. Adults may also be confirmed at any age, and those previously baptized and confirmed in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Lutheran churches need not be confirmed again in order to be fully recognized in the Episcopal Church; they may instead be received.
Adults Learning Together
Christ Church offers several adult formation opportunities. Education for Ministry (EfM), a four-year program of biblical and theological study sponsored by the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, has been meeting via Zoom since 2020, drawing members from churches in Billerica and Lexington. Mentors Rosemarie Buxton and Steve Taylor lead the group, which combines study with a small spiritual community that shares worship and reflections. A Wednesday morning Bible Study meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in the Parlor and by Zoom, from September through June, with no previous knowledge of the Bible required.
Lenten study series are held on Sunday evenings during Lent, with an hour of conversation followed by a simple meal of bread and soup provided by participants. Other occasional adult formation opportunities include preparation for confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church, Advent quiet days, and conversations during coffee hour between the two Sunday services.
Outreach from Andover to Rwanda
Christ Church's mission and outreach work is rooted in the prophet Micah's call to "do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God." The parish serves the wider community through a number of long-standing partnerships.
The Andover Thrift Shop, located at 10 Park Street, is owned and operated by Christ Church. Founded in February 1941, it provides quality used goods to the public while raising funds for the ministry, mission, and campus maintenance of the parish. Volunteers and staff form their own supportive community. The entire proceeds of the shop go to support Christ Church, with the remaining funds used exclusively to maintain the buildings and grounds of the parish.
Esperanza Academy is a tuition-free middle school for girls from low-income families in Lawrence, Massachusetts, established in 2006 by Christ Church in partnership with Grace Church in Lawrence. The fifteenth class graduated in June 2023, and the first group of Esperanza graduates completed college in 2017. Christ Church parishioners serve as tutors, run extra-curricular classes in music, knitting, and gardening, and sit on the school's board.
Christ Church has been involved with Essex County Habitat for Humanity since its founding in 1985, with parishioners serving as board members, providing construction skills at build days, and contributing financially. Members ages fourteen and older are encouraged to volunteer. Recent work has included a build at 8 Lupine Road in Andover in partnership with Andover Community Trust.
Neighbors in Need has distributed millions of pounds of food to families in Greater Lawrence since 1983. Parishioners bring food bags to church on Sunday mornings and leave them in the red wagons on their way into the service, with twice-a-year holiday meal drives supplementing the weekly collection. Greatest needs include cereal, peanut butter, rice, beans (especially Goya), canned tuna, spaghetti sauce with meat, and baby formula.
The parish is also a member of the Merrimack Valley Project, a coalition of churches, labor unions, and community organizations working on jobs, affordable housing, and public services. The Racial Justice Committee works with other local churches on celebrations such as Juneteenth. The parish periodically hosts Red Cross blood drives. Reach Rwanda, an international partner, brings together Hutu and Tutsi people to foster peace and reconciliation following the 1994 genocide, with a current gender equity program supporting seminars on women's economic justice and family stability.
Pastoral Care and Prayer
Pastoral care at Christ Church is shared by clergy, staff, and trained lay volunteers. The Rev. James M. Dodson serves as Associate for Pastoral Care, working with the Pastoral Care committee to coordinate visits to parishioners at home, in the hospital, and in other health-care facilities. He assists with monthly services at Atria Marland Place and the Edgewood Retirement Community.
The Lay Pastoral Care Team visits the homebound, the sick, and those in need of comfort, and some members are trained and licensed by the bishop to bring Communion to those who cannot attend on Sunday mornings. The Knitting Ministry, founded in February 2001, has produced more than seven hundred prayer shawls knit with love and prayers for parishioners, friends, and family, with extras donated through Communities Together to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen.
The Intercessory Prayer Team offers individual prayer during services, with members trained in a laying-on-of-hands form of prayer. The team stations itself in the Moses Chapel during and after the Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month, and individual meetings can be arranged at other times. All prayer requests remain strictly confidential.
Lay Worship Leaders and a Coffee Hour
Episcopal liturgy is the "work of the people," and Christ Church draws on a deep bench of lay worship leaders. Four fully trained vergers serve as masters of ceremony and custodians of good order, led by Head Verger Catherine Rosen. The Adult Acolyte Guild functions at the early service, funerals, weddings, and other special occasions. The Altar Guild prepares the Table for Holy Communion and assists with baptisms, weddings, and funerals. The Flower Guild designs arrangements in keeping with the liturgical calendar, working in monthly teams. Lectors read the scriptures and Intercessors lead the Prayers of the People. Eucharistic Ministers serve the chalice at Communion, and Ushers welcome worshipers, assist those with mobility issues, and gather the offering each week.
The Newcomers Committee greets visitors after services, hosts a Newcomers "Taste and See" in the fall and a Newcomers Brunch in the spring, and welcomes new members through New Member Welcome Liturgies. The Coffee Hour Ministry offers a warm gathering each Sunday morning. The Men's Fellowship meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month at varying locations, and Christ Church Ladies Night Out gathers monthly at members' homes, with occasional joint mixers with the men's group. Fellowship events through the year include a Shrove Tuesday supper before Lent, potluck lunches after services, and occasional gatherings at the Rectory.
Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals
The parish welcomes families for baptism, the rite of initiation into the Christian community, which may be celebrated at any age. Baptisms usually take place on the principal feast days of the Christian year, with preparation including a class held on the Saturday before the scheduled baptism, covering the baptismal service, the promises made by parents and godparents, and the role of godparents.
Couples considering marriage are asked to contact the rector ideally four to six months before the wedding date. The first meeting covers the pre-marital process and church requirements.
All baptized Christians are encouraged to plan for a funeral in the church, which may be simple or elaborate. The parish encourages planning long before it is needed, and an emergency phone line reaches the clergy at any hour.
The Children's Center and Crafts in the Park
The Christ Church Children's Center, established in 1969, is a church-sponsored preschool program that has served young children for more than forty years. The Center develops each child's self-esteem and sense of community through developmentally appropriate activities, structured play, and free exploration, with class schedules varying by age and following a school-year calendar. The Center does not discriminate in providing services on the basis of race, religion, cultural heritage, national origin, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status of parents, or disability.
Crafts in the Park, a juried crafts fair hosted by Christ Church on the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend, is now in its forty-seventh year. The fair in The Park in Andover, at the corner of Chestnut and Bartlett, features more than two hundred crafters offering clothing, bags, jewelry, photography, pottery, baskets, art, glass, home and garden items, and woodcraft, with food vendors on site. Proceeds support the parish's mission and outreach work.
Land, Logo, and Identity
Christ Church acknowledges that its buildings stand on the ancestral lands of the Pennacook people, an Algonquian-speaking band of the Wabanaki Confederacy, who cared for this land and its waters for more than twelve thousand years. The parish commits to becoming better stewards of the land and working toward a more just and equitable future.
The church's logo incorporates three symbols from the apse designed by Le Boutillier. The Globus Cruciger, or Orb and Cross, expresses the belief that almighty love is the most powerful force known to humanity. The Compass Rose, the official symbol of the Anglican Communion, indicates the spread of the Gospel throughout the world. The Crown recalls that Christ is the ultimate authority of this world and the humility of the crown of thorns. Together the symbols express what the parish calls "the reign of Christ," understood not as domination but as profound respect for others.
Christ Church is a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion. The parish office is located at the Glebe House. The e-Prophet newsletter is emailed each Thursday, with hard copies available in the back of the church on Sunday mornings. Giving is supported through annual pledges and special gifts, with online options available through Realm and printable pledge forms available for download.