Our History

For many years, the only church in Kitchener was the downtown parish of St. John the Evangelist. In the post WWII years the city began to grow, and Anglicans came to worship from across the expanding Kitchener area.

In the mid 1940’s a small concrete block structure was built on Mill Street. It was a Sunday School mission of St. John’s which allowed children from this area to gather and hear the stories of our faith. Later in the day, families would travel together to St. John’s for corporate worship.

In 1949 it was agreed that the community in and around the Mill Street mission was strong enough to become its own parish, and The Rev’d Derwyn Jones was named as its first Rector. The parish was given the name St. Andrew’s Memorial Church. The "Memorial" designates that the original building was financed from the Jamieson Memorial Trust, which was established from the estate of Jessie Louisa Jamieson in memory of her parents, the Rev'd Andrew Jamieson and Margery Courtney Jamieson, designated to establish a memorial to them and their 40 years of faithful ministry and service to the First Nations people of Walpole Island.

In these early years worship was held in a one-room structure and , following the service, the altar was closed off and the hall became a social area. The congregation grew and the building became a focal point of many social and community events. Derwyn  served as our Rector until 1953, when he was appointed to Canon Davis Memorial Church in Sarnia. He would later return to St. Andrews as the 9^th Bishop of Huron (1984-1990)

In 1957 a superstructure was built over the bunker-style hall,  with a worship space seating approximately 150, a sacristy, and office for the Rector, and a Church Office in an upper story.  In 2000 a major renovation to both interior (notably changing the worship space to a larger chancel with free-standing altar) and exterior (notably changing the liturgical west wall windows and doors) was carried out. That structure continues to serve us to this day.

Our Rectors over the years have been:

The Rev'd Derwyn Jones (1949-1953) (Later 9^th Bishop of the Diocese of Huron)

The Rev'd Bill Jones (1954 – 1959) (Later named a Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral)

The Rev'd Cy Ladds (1959 – 1963) (Later serving as Archdeacon of Waterloo)

The Rev'd Harry Janke (1963 – 1989) (Member and for a time Chair of Waterloo County Board of Education,  President of  Big Brothers of Canada, Player and for a time President of K-W Music Society)

The Rev'd Jim Sutton (1990 – 1995) (Later serving as Archdeacon of Brant-Norfolk-Oxford)

The Rev'd Canon Rob Towler (1996 – 2016) (at times during his tenure  Regional Dean of Waterloo, Prolocutor of Provincial Synod; and  other offices; now in the Diocese of Niagara.)

The Rev'd Matthew Kieswetter (who was appointed Deacon-in-Charge effective Dec 1, 2016, and became Priest-in-Charge after Ordination to the Priesthood on Dec 6, 2016. Effective Dec 1, 2018, Fr. Matt was appointed Rector )