History

Saint Andrew Greek Orthodox Church of Lubbock, Texas was founded in 1975, established to serve the Orthodox Christian faithful of the South Plains of West Texas, a vast and sparsely populated region where the nearest Orthodox parishes lay many miles distant. The parish holds the distinction of being the largest Orthodox Christian church serving the entire West Texas region, a reflection of both the geographic isolation of the area and the steady growth of the Lubbock community across five decades of parish life.

From its founding the parish has embraced an outward-facing and welcoming spirit, rooted in the conviction that the ancient Orthodox faith belongs to all peoples regardless of ethnic background. On a typical Sunday morning prayers are offered in as many as seven or eight languages, reflecting a congregation that includes Orthodox Christians from Greek, Romanian, Russian, Lebanese, and many other backgrounds, alongside a substantial and growing community of converts from Roman Catholic, Protestant, and other Christian traditions who have found in Orthodoxy the fullness of the ancient apostolic faith. The parish takes as its guiding vision the words of Christ in the Gospel of Mark: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

The parish is dedicated to Saint Andrew the First-Called, the brother of the Apostle Peter and the first of Christ's disciples, who after the Ascension preached throughout the regions surrounding the Black Sea and was martyred in Patras of Achaia, his feast day celebrated on November 30. His missionary spirit, carrying the faith to the far corners of the ancient world, is a fitting patron for a community called to witness Orthodoxy on the high plains of West Texas.

Saint Andrew Greek Orthodox Church at 6001 81st Street in Lubbock serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of West Texas as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.