What is a Study Centre?

The Saviourgate Centre is a community of Christians committed to studying together to the glory of God. That may sound rather grand, but in reality it’s fairly simple: all we’re trying to do is to offer a uniquely Christian combination of home and university, where hospitality and conversation overlap with scholarship and learning. It’s a place where you’re free to work and chat and think through even the most complex of questions. By offering the space and resources for quiet study and intellectual discussion, and through our optional programme of lectures and seminars, we aim to equip students intellectually for lives wholeheartedly devoted to Christ, in the university and beyond.

How does it work?

The centre is open to all students in York, and to all members of Trinity Church. You can use the centre as much or as little as you like each term—all that we ask is that you don’t occupy a desk that you’re not actually using, and that you agree to bide by our house rules (none of which are at all onerous). Study spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Use of the centre is completely free (though feel free to contribute to the tea-kitty, or to bring snacks to share…!)

You’ll need to sign in and out each time you visit the centre. In particularly busy periods, such as around exams, we may ask you to reserve a desk in advance. Because the centre is located within Trinity Church, it’s easy to integrate time at the centre with other activities in the life of the church, including the Women’s Bible Study (to which all female students are warmly invited) and the weekly Minister’s Question Time.

What do you believe?

We’re a ministry based at Trinity Church York—a presbyterian church—which means that we hold to the ecumenical creeds of the Christian faith — that is, the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed and the Athanasian Creed. That said, you don’t need to be a Christian, let alone a presbyterian, to participate in the centre: all are welcome to join us as we discuss Christian faith and scholarship.

Why ‘Saviourgate’?

If you’ve spent much time in the north of England, you’ll have noticed that many of the street names contain the word gate: Monkgate, Gillygate, Goodramgate. In fact there’s a street called St Saviourgate just round the corner from our home here at Saint Anthony’s Hall. The 'Saviour' part refers to a church—St Saviour's—that existed there from the 11th to the 20th centuries, while the 'gate' part comes from the Middle English (and before that, Old Norse) suffix -gata, meaning ‘way’. So if you think about it literally, the word Saviourgate means the way of the Saviour—an apt description of the path the study centre movement seeks to follow. Calling ourselves the Saviourgate Centre, then, is a way of reminding ourselves of our past, our place, and our purpose: just like thousands of our brothers and sisters through the centuries here in York, we follow the way of the Saviour.