Church of St Andrew & St Teilo, Cathays
The Church of St Andrew and St Teilo is a Church in Wales church, located in Cathays, Cardiff. In 2020 the church was relaunched as Citizen Church, with a mission to serve students and young professionals.
History
Originally just 'St Teilo's', the church was one of several built in Cathays in the opening decades of the 20th century with the intent of servicing the large numbers of working people in the growing district. The Cathays Methodist Church, Woodville Baptist Church and Cardiff International Church are all nearby.The church began life as a tin tabernacle in 1879. This structure, built to serve the large numbers of railroad workers who lived in the district, was enlarged in 1885. St Teilo's was formed as a separate parish, together with St Andrew's Church, St Andrew's Crescent, in 1884.
Work began on the permanent church in 1895, with £3000 being contributed to the project by the Mackintosh of Mackintosh. The aisles and nave were dedicated in 1897. The chancel was added in 1901. The architect's original plans had included a grand tower of similar dimensions to that of St John's in Cardiff city centre. The tower was begun in 1913, but the plans proved overambitious, and only the lowermost portion of the tower was ever built — which does not even stretch above the roof of the nave. The reredos was installed by John Coates Carter in 1924. The church became Grade II listed in 1975.
The west window of the nave, which dates from 1919, is the largest in the Diocese of Llandaff.
In 1954 St Andrew's Church closed and the congregation joined with St Teilo's.
HTB relaunch
In 2020 the church was relaunched as 'Citizen Church', becoming part of the network of Holy Trinity Brompton, with a mission to serve students and young professionals. The relaunch was controversial with members of the existing congregation. At an open parish meeting, "expressed opinion was unanimously opposed". The relaunch was funded by a partnership of the Church in Wales Evangelism Fund and the Church Revitalisation Trust, which is based at Holy Trinity Brompton.Parish treasurer Phil Hawkins described the decision to push ahead with plans without parish consultation as "appalling". A petition titled "Save St Teilo's", asking the diocese to "reverse its decision to place a new resource church in the place of ours", and calling for St Teilo's to "remain an inclusive, flourishing, open church", received almost 2,000 signatures. Several people interviewed by the Church Times emphasised the importance of the church being welcoming to LGBT members. Revd David Sheen, in favour of the plan, said that a "lively, open Evangelical worship experience" was "sorely lacking" in the area.
The church was briefly constituted as a 'Conventional District' separate from the Parish of Cathays. Following the reorganisation of the Diocese of Llandaff into 'Ministry Areas' in 2021-22, the church forms part of the Parish of Citizen Church, Cardiff. There is a large student population in the area.