First Congregational Church of Cheshire

Worship With Us

Visiting the Church

We’d love to have you worship with us – once, or many times. The First Congregational Church is a warm, welcoming fellowship of Christians that’s been a center of community life for more than 275 years. Untold numbers of people have prayed here, sung the glory of God here, met new friends, given their children a solid religious education, and found new ways to serve the community and the world.

You’re invited to attend one of our worship services, Sundays at either 9 o’clock or 11 o’clock. (Please see our Worship Services page for more details on worship times, Church School, child care and our Summer schedule.) You may want to try both service times to see which one you prefer.

If you’d like, fill out one of the cards in the pews with your name, address, and telephone number, and a member of the church staff will contact you. Or you may prefer to sign the guest book by the front door. You don’t have to identify yourself, but doing so may make it easier for you to find out about the church and what it does.

Or you may want to stop in sometime during the week when you can have a longer conversation with a minister, explore whatever interests you, or ask about church activities. See the Contact Us page for church office hours.

If you’d like a look at a First Congregational Church service without visiting us, tune to cable Channel 15 (Cheshire area Cox Cable) for a broadcast of the previous Sunday’s service - please consult your local broadcast guide for day and time.

Becoming a Member

Membership is not required at attend worship services at the First Congregational Church; our services are open to everyone.

But being a member is the best way to truly become part of the church family, deepen your faith, and participate in the life of the church. Because we are a Congregational church, many decisions in the life of our church are made by a vote of the congregation (members), not by an outside authority, or even by the minister. Thus being a member is important.

Certain positions on boards and committees at the church may be held only by members.

New members are received several times a year. People who want to join the church should speak to a minister or a deacon.
The process is not complicated. Groups of new members meet a couple of times with a minister to learn about membership in the Congregational Church. Our history, the way we are organized, our basic beliefs, and so forth are discussed. Then, one Sunday during worship, prospective new members step forward and are welcomed officially into the life of the church.

People usually join the First Congregational Church in one of four ways:

If you are already a member of a church, you will most likely join by Letter of Transfer. This involves simply having your membership transferred to the Cheshire church; this process is handled by our church office. Note that Roman Catholic churches do not issue letters of transfer to Protestant churches.

If you once belonged to a church, but don’t belong to one now, you will most likely join First Congregational by reaffirmation of faith. This is also the procedure used by those transferring from a Roman Catholic church.

If you have never belonged to a church, you will join by confession of faith. If you have not been baptized, your baptism will precede your joining the church.

If you are in high school, but have not yet been confirmed in a church, you may join a Confirmation class. Confirmation is the procedure by which young people learn about the church and their place in it, deepen their faith, and explore the basic beliefs of Christians, thus “confirming” the promises made at their baptism. The process of confirmation includes becoming a member of the church.