The Faithful Heart of Hollis Since 1743
At the center of Hollis, New Hampshire, on a small green known as Monument Square, a white New England meetinghouse has gathered a congregation for nearly three hundred years. The Congregational Church of Hollis, a member congregation of the United Church of Christ, was born in 1741, when early settlers built the town's first meeting house. The parish ordained Daniel Emerson as its first pastor on April 20, 1743, and a second, larger building was raised on August 13, 1746. A fire destroyed that second structure on October 16, 1923; the present church was dedicated in 1925, and the wing on its west side was completed in 1965. A 1999 renovation added an elevator, and a 2020 to 2021 renovation, including the Squires Community Patio, refreshed the building for a new generation of worshipers. Today the congregation considers itself, in the words of its pastor, the faithful "heart" of Hollis.
The church is, in its own description, "a community of diverse points of view, but hold in common our conviction that God loves the world beyond comprehension, and that Jesus Christ's example shows us how to embrace, engage, and embody that love ourselves." Reverend Tanya Stormo Rasmussen, who has served as pastor since 2015, frames the congregation this way: "we're learning at all stages of life about the Living God who loves us and welcomes us wherever we are on life's journey and invites us to travel together in ever-greater freedom, deeper joy, and authentic love."
An Open and Affirming Congregation
The Congregational Church of Hollis declares itself an Open and Affirming (ONA) congregation, meaning that people of every race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, economic circumstance, and theological question are welcomed into the full life of the church. Its ONA covenant is a statement the congregation formally adopted and recites: "It doesn't matter where you've come from, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here in our Meetinghouse of worship; we invite you to participate with our community at prayer." The covenant and the journey that produced it are written into the church's story, and a rainbow image on the main page links visitors to the full text of the ONA covenant.
This welcome is not abstract. The church holds that no religious "tests" are required and that faith is a sacred relationship rather than a list of required beliefs. Reverend Tanya writes, "Here, we feel free to admit our questions and doubts, because we know that these emerge from a living, growing faith."
Worship in the Meetinghouse on Monument Square
Sunday morning worship is held year-round at 9:30 a.m. in the Meetinghouse at 3 Monument Square. Services are described by the church as "familiar and fairly traditional, consisting of hymns, liturgy and prayers, anthems, scripture and sermon, offering and fellowship," and they typically last 60 to 70 minutes. Worship is offered in a hybrid format: the doors of the Meetinghouse are open to those who gather in person, and a YouTube livestream carries the service to those joining remotely. Recordings of previous services are kept on the church's YouTube channel.
Two seasons shape the Sunday rhythm. During the program year, from the second Sunday in September through late May, children and youth gather for The Flock, the church's name for its Sunday school and nursery program. Children begin in the Meetinghouse with their parents for the first ten to fifteen minutes, come forward for a brief "Time with the Children" with Reverend Tanya, are blessed by the congregation, and then head downstairs for continued worship and learning. In the summer months, from late May through Labor Day, no Sunday school or attended nursery is provided, though crafts are often placed in the pews for younger visitors.
The church celebrates two sacraments: baptism and communion. Holy Communion is observed on the first Sunday of every month. Gluten-free bread and red grape juice are passed in the pews, with chalices of water also available for those with grape allergies. The welcome around the table is intentionally wide: "Following the radical inclusiveness of Jesus Christ, we welcome everyone to the table, young, old; gay, straight, or anywhere in between; cis- or transgendered; rich, poor, and anywhere in between; however educated or not; believers and doubters; sinners and saints." There are no age requirements for baptism either; the church baptizes infants through elderly adults.
In addition to the regular Sunday services, the church holds seasonal services for Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Easter (including a sunrise service at Triple Knoll Farm of Hollis led by the confirmands, in addition to the 9:30 meetinghouse service), and Christmas Eve, when an earlier family service is followed by a traditional candlelight service of lessons and carols later in the evening.
The Senior Choir and Sunday Music
Music is a long-standing strength of the congregation. The Senior Choir, directed by Director of Christian Music Julie Oliver, sings every Sunday at the later morning service, except the last Sunday of the month, from September through early June. Rehearsals are held on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. Membership is open to volunteers of all ages and experience levels, and the choir is frequently joined by the church organist and guest instrumentalists, including a flutist, clarinetist, violinist, and guest pianist, and sometimes by a youth dance interpretation.
Special music fills the rest of the year. The Monument Square Brass, a local brass quintet, regularly shares in worship. Younger musicians in the congregation are often featured in early services and during the summer, and the music ministry's annual events include an Advent celebration, the Christmas Fair, a Mardi Gras celebration, the Mission Trip spaghetti supper fundraiser, the mid-winter Music Concert, and the Mission Trip Sunday service.
The Flock: Sunday School and Nursery
Infants, toddlers, and children through sixth grade are welcomed at the 9:30 a.m. worship hour from September through late May. A fully furnished nursery in the Flagg Room downstairs, staffed by trained attendants, is available for babies and toddlers. Parents are asked to leave a cell phone number so the nursery can text if needed.
Sunday school classes meet for children age four through grade six, using a hands-on Rotation Model curriculum. Each Sunday, volunteer leaders present a Bible story lesson in a variety of ways, from traditional discussion to skits and games, and children then break into age groups and rotate through two or three stations, such as crafts, baking, music, games, drama, and service projects. The program intentionally weaves service into the year, with children helping to pack Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter food boxes for local families, preparing Ash Street Shelter dinners, making dog beds for the local animal shelter, baking pumpkin pies, and assembling Church World Service school kits for children in impoverished communities and refugee camps.
Children in third through sixth grade are invited to serve as acolytes during the 9:30 a.m. service, lighting and extinguishing the altar candles and carrying the Bible to and from the communion table. They are trained for the role and wear smaller versions of the choir robes.
Journey to Confirmation
Older youth in grades seven through nine are invited into a flexible Journey to Confirmation program, which students may complete in two or three years. The program is led by trained adult teachers, with each confirmand choosing an adult church member to serve as a Confirmation Mentor. Classes meet on scheduled Sundays during the 9:30 a.m. service throughout the program year, and the curriculum is filled with field trips to places such as Canterbury Shaker Village and other faith communities, community service projects, retreats, progressive suppers, and skits performed for the Sunday school. The Rite of Confirmation takes place during the worship service on the first Sunday of June, when confirmands affirm their desire to continue their journey in the Christian faith and are welcomed into full adult membership by the congregation.
Junior Youth Group and Vacation Bible School
An active Junior Youth Group serves students in fifth through eighth grade, with game nights, capture the flag, glow-in-the-dark capture the flag, scavenger hunts, a live game of Clue, and cookie baking for a local shelter. The annual Vacation Bible School, held each July for children age four through grade six and a team of adult and youth volunteers, is built around an overarching theme, such as the Fruits of the Spirit, with four days of STEM, arts and crafts, service, and outdoor games, and songs, skits, and puppets led by local teen volunteers.
Adult Faith Formation
Adults at the Congregational Church of Hollis are offered ongoing learning opportunities. Recent classes and series have included Bible 101, a Lectionary Bible Study series, Living the Questions: An Introduction to Progressive Christianity, a six-week introduction to the faith of Islam, a four-week series on white privilege, an Advent series on Walter Brueggemann's "Celebrating Abundance," a five-session study called "Embracing an Adult Faith: What it Means to be Christian," and a six-week Bible study on Acts chapters 1 through 6. A virtual Adult Reformation Class (ARC) meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:30 p.m.
Mission and Action: The Four Pillars in Practice
The church's ministry is organized around four pillars: Welcome, Worship, Learning, and Service. The Mission and Action Board is the practical expression of the Service pillar, with an annual budget divided into three categories: 20% to church-related endeavors, 60% to local missions, and 20% to national and international missions.
On the local side, the church supports a long list of organizations across the greater Nashua region, including the St. John Neumann food pantry, Bridges (a domestic and sexual violence relief organization), the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter and its Ash Street Shelter, the Nashua Children's Home, Corpus Christi Food Pantry and Assistance, End 68 Hours of Hunger, Marguerite's Place, Harbor Homes, Meals on Wheels of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Food Bank, the Nashua Safe Stations program, and the Davis Funeral Home's annual fall sweater and coat drive. A monthly Item of the Month program gathers specific supplies, such as clothing for the Nashua Children's Home, school supplies for the Nashua Soup Kitchen's Backpack Program, or holiday gifts through the Christmas Giving Tree, and a congregation-wide effort once a month prepares and serves dinner for the Ash Street homeless shelter in Nashua.
On the national and international side, the church supports Church World Service, particularly for disaster relief and clean water funding, the Heifer Project, Save the Children, and UCC Disaster Ministries. Each year, the church promotes special offerings for One Great Hour of Sharing and the Christmas Fund, which provides pension and health premium supplementation to lower-income retired UCC clergy and lay employees, and the Christmas Eve offering is dedicated to home heating fuel certificates for local families identified by the minister as experiencing significant hardship.
Twice a year, the church hosts American Red Cross blood drives. Volunteers serve on church-team builds for Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity and as regular pantry volunteers at the Nashua Soup Kitchen. The congregation supports the annual CROP Hunger Walk, the Meals on Wheels Walkathon, and a long-running tradition of knitting and crocheting prayer shawls that mission trip participants give to the families whose homes they are repairing.
The Summer Mission Trip Work Camp Tradition
Since 2001, the church has sent youth and adults to a week-long summer mission work camp through Group Mission Trips. Over the years, the church's team has traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia; Montgomery County, West Virginia; Newport, Maine; Dover, Delaware; Wallaceburg, Ontario; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Hoosick Falls, New York; Wilmington, North Carolina; Groton, Connecticut; Owego, New York; Cornwall, Ontario; Buffalo, New York; Spencer, New York; Shamokin, Pennsylvania; Charlotte, New York; Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Newark Valley, New York; Wallingford, Connecticut; and Dexter, Maine, repairing and transforming homes alongside hundreds of other teenagers. The 2020 and 2021 trips were cancelled due to COVID-19, and the work resumed with a 2026 Service Trip to Hazlet, New Jersey. A spaghetti supper fundraiser each March, with youth and adult musicians providing entertainment, supports the trip, and the team reports back to the congregation on Mission Trip Sunday each fall with a slide show and reflections.
Annual Traditions Around Hollis
The church's calendar is rich with annual events that draw both members and the wider community. Homecoming Sunday in September opens the program year with an all-church picnic. Feather Food Sunday in November collects fresh produce for Thanksgiving food boxes, which the church assembles and distributes to up to 40 local families. The Christmas Fair, a sprawling November event with homemade arts, crafts, and foods, a basket raffle, a hot lunch, an Angel Loft store where children can shop for family gifts, and a designer clothing and accessory shop, is beloved across Hollis. The Advent Celebration in December features crafts for others, including fleece balls for The Stork Project, dog and cat toys for shelter animals, kindness rocks, stuffed socks for the homeless, and holiday cards for veterans.
The Mardi Gras pancake breakfast in February, the mid-winter Music Concert with the Senior Choir, the church bells choir, youth and adult vocalists, and community guests, the Easter Sunrise Service at Triple Knoll Farm led by the confirmands, the Children/Youth Sunday in May when the children run the entire service, and the End-of-Year All-Church Picnic round out the year, alongside the Rocky Pond service and cookout in June and July.
Two long-running traditions are shared with the wider town. The Strawberry Festival each June, a partnership with the Hollis Women's Club, features strawberries from Lull Farm and Brookdale Farm, strawberry shortcake and sundaes, and the music of the Hollis Town Band, with the church's kitchen and lawn serving as the festival hub. In December, the Luminary Stroll lights the town center for Santa's procession to Lawrence Barn, and the church's Fellowship and Hospitality Committee hosts a chili and cornbread supper in Hardy Hall. The Hollis Apple Festival each fall brings the Hollis Town Band to the church lawn.
Fellowship Through the Week
Fellowship continues through the week. After each Sunday service, the congregation gathers for a fellowship coffee hour. Women of the church meet for breakfast on Mondays at 8:00 a.m. at Joey's Diner in Amherst, and the men meet on Mondays at 7:15 a.m. at Denny's in Nashua. The Women's Fellowship hosts monthly potluck luncheons, speakers, and Zentangle art events. A family bingo night happens twice a year, with proceeds going to the Sunday School Lenten project; a co-ed church basketball team plays in the area church league at the YMCA of Greater Nashua, and the church hosts an Open Mic Acoustic Café on Saturday evenings, drawing local musical, dance, and storytelling talent.
Caring for One Another
The Caring Connection Ministry Team reaches out to anyone who might appreciate a phone call, an email, a hand-written note, or a visit, in times of joy or grief, illness or loneliness. The Caring Cooks Meal Ministry prepares and delivers meals to congregants and community members during life events that make cooking difficult. A Prayer Chain, kept strictly confidential unless a request is specifically marked for sharing, brings the concerns of the congregation before God in prayer. Holiday plants, including Easter lilies and daffodils and Christmas poinsettias, are delivered by the Deacons to church members who are homebound.
Becoming a Member
Those who worship with the church and want to deepen their connection are invited to attend New Member Enquirers' Classes, where they get to know one another, learn about the church's history and theological convictions in the United Church of Christ, and explore the structure of boards, committees, and ministry teams. Members commit to worshiping together regularly, learning and growing in faith, sharing their time, talents, and leadership, serving the world through ministries of compassion, justice, and self-giving, praying for one another, giving of their financial resources, participating in the discernment and decision-making of the congregation, and delighting in fellowship. The Rite of Confirmation and New Member Sunday are highlights of the church year.
Visiting and Accessibility
The church is fully handicapped accessible, with an elevator at the center entrance serving all levels of the building. Visitors can be dropped off at the paved apron at the front of the driveway and continue up the pavement to the double doors near the granite bench at the center of the church. The parking lot between the church and the Hollis Social Library, on-street parking around Monument Square, and an overflow field adjacent to Valicenti's across the square are all available, with the request to keep the private driveway clear. The dress code is informal: "We welcome you as you are! We don't have a dress code; some people wear jeans and others wear suits, but 'office casual' probably describes what most people wear."
Church administrative office hours are Tuesday and Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., from September to early June. Reverend Tanya can be reached at pastor@hollischurch.org to schedule a meeting. Office matters are handled at churchoffice@hollischurch.org or admin@hollischurch.org, and the church can be reached by phone at 603-465-7797.
Giving and Stewardship
The church is supported financially by annual pledges, online giving through Vanco, the GivePlus+ phone app, offering plates passed during Sunday services, mailed checks, bank bill pay, planned giving and stock transfers, and in-kind donations of goods and professional services. The annual stewardship pledge drive is held in the fall, and pledging is a way of helping the church plan its budget for the fiscal year that starts in January.
Worship services are livestreamed on YouTube, and recordings of past services are kept on the church's YouTube playlist. Online giving is available through the Give Online page, and visitors are warmly invited to learn more through the Visiting page.
From the first meeting house of 1741 to today's hybrid Sunday worship, the Congregational Church of Hollis has been a steady presence at the heart of its town. Three centuries on, the congregation continues to gather around its four pillars of Welcome, Worship, Learning, and Service, with open doors, an open table, and an open invitation to anyone who finds their way to Monument Square.