The Congregational Church in Exeter has stood at the heart of its New Hampshire town since 1638, the same year the town itself was founded. On Sunday mornings at 10 a.m., families gather in a 1799 meeting house on Front Street for worship, church school, and a nursed welcome that extends from infants to great-grandparents. The congregation is a member church of the United Church of Christ, has been an Open and Affirming congregation since the 1990s, and is known for its refugee resettlement work and a sibling-church partnership in Zimbabwe.
Four centuries on Front Street
The story of the Congregational Church in Exeter is the story of Exeter itself. In 1638, the Rev. John Wheelwright was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Though he was a Puritan like the colony's leaders, he was accused of leaning too heavily on the grace of God in his theology. Rather than return to England, he and his followers pushed north into what is now New Hampshire and founded both the church and the town. Wheelwright did not stay long; Massachusetts soon claimed the area and he moved on to Maine. For several years the parish struggled, until the Rev. Samuel Dudley - son of a Massachusetts governor and brother of the poet Anne Bradstreet - arrived in 1650 and served for more than three decades.
By the early 1700s the parish had grown enough to build a new meeting house on the site of the present church. In 1706 the Rev. John Odlin began a long pastorate, and with him came the controversy of the Great Awakening. His suspicion of the new revivalist preaching drove a wedge through the congregation, and in 1748 a group of parishioners broke away to form the Second Church. The Second Parish built its own meeting house and, in 1781, helped establish Phillips Exeter Academy. That former Second Parish meeting house still stands as Phillips Church, the academy's chapel.
Meanwhile, the First Parish continued to thrive. In 1796 work began on a new meeting house to replace the aging 1731 building. The structure that opened in 1799 is the one the congregation still uses today. The parsonage built in the same period remains the home of the church's pastor.
Both parishes supported American independence and the abolition of slavery before the Civil War. After the war, the churches backed the American Missionary Alliance and its work founding schools and colleges for Black citizens throughout the South.
The two Congregational parishes did not stay divided forever. By the early twentieth century they had more in common than not, and in 1920 - in the wake of the First World War - they agreed to reunite. The former Second Parish meeting house was given to Phillips Exeter Academy. The reunited congregation took the name the Congregational Church in Exeter to honor the legacy of both parishes and to mark the start of a single, united body.
In 1957 the United Church of Christ was formed from the merger of the Congregational tradition and several like-minded Protestant bodies. Along with most New England Congregational churches, the church in Exeter affirmed the new partnership, while still treasuring its deep Congregational roots.
Sunday morning at ten
Worship is at the center of life at the Congregational Church in Exeter. Sunday worship begins at 10 a.m. and is held in the 1799 meeting house on Front Street. Children start the service in the sanctuary with their parents. After the first hymn, the children step out for a children's sermon and head to the church school classroom on the main floor for the rest of the morning.
Nursery care is available throughout the service for the youngest children, staffed by an experienced caregiver and a background-checked volunteer. Children are always welcome to stay with their parents, and the sounds of a busy family are part of the congregation's life, not a disruption of it. All staff and volunteers working with children and youth have been background checked, and the church follows safe-church policies in every program.
Two sacraments, an open table
Along with most Protestants, the congregation celebrates two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Baptism is offered for infants and children whose families commit to raising them in the life of the church, as well as for youth and adults making the decision on their own. In baptism the church affirms God's love for the person and pledges to support them spiritually as they grow. Baptisms are performed during Sunday worship by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, and the church does not re-baptize those who come from another Christian tradition.
The Lord's Supper is celebrated once a month, generally on the first Sunday. The church holds that Christ is spiritually, but not physically, present in the bread and cup, and welcomes all who seek to follow Christ to receive Communion, including children. In order to reduce any barriers to receiving the sacrament, the table is set with non-alcoholic grape juice instead of wine.
Timeless faith for a modern world
The church belongs to the Congregationalist tradition, which descends from the Pilgrims and Puritans who came to New England in the 1600s seeking freedom to practice their faith. In 1957 most New England Congregationalists, including this one, joined the United Church of Christ, a denomination of about 750,000 members and more than 4,700 congregations.
Members are Christians who believe in God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer - more traditionally named Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They seek to follow Jesus Christ and to live out what he called the Greatest Commandment: loving God with all their heart, soul, and mind, and loving their neighbors as themselves.
Worship, fellowship, and study are all part of that calling. The church gathers on Sundays to pray, sing hymns, read Scripture, and hear a sermon. Members also study the Bible together, holding that the sixty-six books of Scripture need to be understood in the context of the times and places where they were written, and that the Bible has sometimes been twisted to support oppression. The church is committed to reading the Bible with both heart and mind and to engaging questions of science and the modern world.
Decisions at the church are made by the congregation and those they have chosen. A lay Moderator chairs the Church Council, which is made up of church officers, the chairs of major committees, and the pastor. Deacons are responsible for worship and spiritual care, Trustees care for finances and property, and the Mission and Action committee directs service to the community and the wider world. The congregation is in covenant with other UCC churches but is governed locally, not by bishops or denominational authorities.
Children, youth, and families
The church is intentional about faith formation from the nursery through high school.
The nursery is open every Sunday morning, staffed by an experienced caregiver and a background-checked volunteer. The space is designed so that parents can worship knowing their children are safe, and worship can be hard for little ones to sit through.
Church school begins in a child's last pre-K year. Children start in the sanctuary, then after the first hymn and a children's sermon they head to a classroom on the main floor for the rest of worship. Lessons are designed to engage young learners through games, music, storytelling, science experiments, and cooking. Many of the teachers are professional educators. All staff and volunteers are background-checked, and no adult is ever alone with a child.
Starting in sixth grade, students are invited to youth group, which meets on Sunday evenings. They share food, build friendships, and talk about how their faith meets everyday life, including current events. In eighth grade, students may take part in the rite of Confirmation, learning more about the Christian faith and choosing to affirm their baptisms and join the church as members. The church's youth programs are also a safe and affirming space for LGBTQ students and their families.
Loving God by serving all
Service to neighbors near and far is woven into the life of the church. In 2022 the congregation gave more than $36,000 to a variety of local non-profits and global causes, and members gave countless hours of their own time.
The Mission and Action committee spearheads much of this work. Each year the committee budgets funds for direct giving to non-profits, researches community needs, and recommends recipients. It also organizes special offerings and assembles Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets for local families.
Since 2017 the church has partnered with the International Institute of New England to help prepare homes for newly arrived refugees. Members collect gently used furniture, clean the new home, and stock the kitchen with essentials before a family arrives. More than twenty families have been welcomed through this work.
The congregation is also a partner with Seacoast Family Promise, an organization that works to keep unhoused families together. Volunteers prepare meals, spend evenings with guest families (often helping students with homework), and stay overnight in case of emergencies.
Through the Ukama project of the New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ, the church has a sibling congregation in Pfizda, Zimbabwe. Over the years the Exeter congregation has helped send container shipments to Pfizda to support infrastructure projects there.
Other regular recipients of the church's giving include End 68 Hours of Hunger, Gather, the NH Food Bank, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Exeter, Church World Service, One Great Hour of Sharing, Families First of Portsmouth, Main Street School's Holiday Hope Fund, Seacoast Youth Services, Step Up Parents, the Town of Exeter Holiday Baskets, and Womenaid of Greater Portsmouth.
Open and affirming, eco-covenant
In the 1990s the church engaged in the Open and Affirming process of the United Church of Christ, examining what it meant to be truly open to LGBTQ Christians and their friends and families. At the end of that process the congregation voted to become an Open and Affirming church, warmly welcoming people of all sexual orientations and gender identities to the full life and ministry of the church. Since then the church has hosted same-sex weddings, called LGBTQ clergy, and affirmed transgender members.
In the 2010s the church also became an Eco-Covenant congregation, committing to be good stewards of God's Creation. Members work to reduce, reuse, and recycle, follow environmentally friendly guidelines in their investing, and take part in hands-on service projects such as beach clean-ups.
The people who lead
The Rev. Dr. Emily Carrington Heath has served as pastor since 2014. A native of Virginia who also grew up in Winter Park, Florida, she graduated from Emory University, earned a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Columbia Theological Seminary, and in 2015 a Doctor of Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School. She was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and worked first as a trauma chaplain before transferring to the United Church of Christ and serving as a parish pastor in Vermont. She has written three books on faith. Outside the church, she serves as an Auxiliarist with the United States Coast Guard, enjoys fly fishing and LEGOs, and roots for the Washington Commanders and Atlanta Braves. She is married to the Rev. Heidi Carrington Heath, and the family lives in Exeter with a much-loved orange cat.
Terrie Harman is the Director of Music. A piano performance graduate of Wilson College in Pennsylvania, she turned to the organ and has studied theory, composition, and choral conducting. She has concertized on Portland's Kotzschmar Organ, played for Archbishop Desmond Tutu at his home church in Cape Town, and performed an Evensong at St. Michael and All Angels Cathedral in Bridgetown, Barbados. She founded the Portsmouth Men's Chorus and the Three Sopranos, and also practices estate planning and probate law in Exeter.
Allan Mayo, the Director of Christian Education, is a Boston native who has lived in Exeter for nine years. A former case manager for adults with developmental disabilities, he later earned a BFA in Theatre Performance from Salem State College and worked as a professional actor, voice-over artist, and theatre educator throughout New England before finding his spiritual home at the Congregational Church in Exeter.
Joining the church
Everyone is welcome to be a part of the church community, whether or not they formally join the congregation. Adults and older youth who are interested in membership meet with the pastor, who walks them through the next reception of new members. Those who have not previously been baptized arrange for the sacrament to take place beforehand. Middle school youth are given the opportunity to join through the rite of Confirmation. Members are eligible to vote at congregational meetings and to serve on church committees that require membership.
Online giving is available, and the church provides a short introduction for newcomers who are curious about attending a service. The church office can be reached at (603) 772-4216.