For more than three and a half centuries, First Church of Christ Congregational has gathered on Meeting House Hill in Clinton, Connecticut. The congregation at 55 Church Road carries on a story that began when the town of Kenilworth - later Killingworth, and still later split into Killingworth and Clinton - petitioned the General Court at Hartford in October 1667 to gather "into Church order according to the order of the Gospell." The mission of the congregation today is short enough to print on a coffee mug: "To Empower God's People to be God's Ministers." The same impulse shows up everywhere from a free medical equipment closet on Church Road to a Wednesday night soup kitchen in town.
First Church is a member congregation of the United Church of Christ, part of the Southern New England Conference, and has formally adopted an Open and Affirming covenant. Visitors arriving for the first time are likely to hear about the loan closet before they hear about the stained glass.
Roots in 1667, and a drum on the green
Long before the present white clapboard church was raised on the crest of Meeting House Hill, the people of what was then Kenilworth were making their own arrangements for the Lord's Day. On September 28, 1666, the town "bargained and agreed with Nathan Parmelee for forty shillings per year to beat the drum Sabbath days, for the calling of the people together, and to maintain the drum at his expense." Almost exactly a year later, on October 11, 1667, the General Court granted the town's petition to organize as a church, and twenty-three-year-old John Woodbridge, a Harvard graduate, was ordained and installed as its first pastor.
The early congregation and the colonial college that would become Yale University were tangled together from the very start. In 1694 the church called Abraham Pierson as its pastor. In 1701 Pierson and his fellow Connecticut shore ministers revived an older vision of a New England college, persuaded the General Court to vote an "Act for Liberty to erect a Collegiate School," and chose Pierson as first Rector. The first student, Jacob Heminway, walked through Pierson's parsonage door in March 1702. Eighteen men had earned the B.A. by the time Pierson died in 1707. Today Yale's Pierson College and Davenport College are named for these colonial pioneers, and their legacy is part of First Church's own.
Pierson's student Jared Eliot became pastor in 1709 and served for 56 years, the longest pastorate in the church's history. Eliot was also a physician, scientist, and inventor who ran an iron forge off Ironworks Road and developed a process for making iron from black sand. He counted Benjamin Franklin among his closest friends; Franklin was a frequent visitor when Eliot was consulting on his own experiments. Eliot's pastorate spanned the revivals of Jonathan Edwards (1734) and George Whitefield (1740), and in 1737 the General Assembly split the parish. The northern part kept the name Killingworth, while the southern shoreline became the new ecclesiastical society that took the name Clinton.
Four meeting houses on the same hill
The earliest meeting house is lost to history, but the second rose in 1700 - thirty-five feet square, facing west, with a steeple housing one of the first bells in the area. A fourth (the records jump over the third in this telling), built in 1731, replaced it: sixty feet long and thirty-eight feet wide, also on the southwest corner of what the town called Lot 19, still facing west.
The present church was built in 1837 on the very top of Meeting House Hill - the first of the congregation's buildings to sit at the crest, the first to face south toward Long Island Sound, and the first to have a walled basement. From the steps of that 1837 building the spire is still visible from Clinton Harbor. In 1892 a daughter of Charles Morgan gave the town a clock for the steeple; the town deeded the clock to the church for a dollar in 1972, and it has been telling the time for Clinton's main street ever since.
The parsonage was built in 1823 to the northeast of the church and has housed most of the ministers since. The parish house behind the sanctuary was built in 1950, enlarged in 1958, and extensively renovated in 1999. During that renovation the Town of Clinton turned over the portion of Church Road on which the fellowship hall sits. The parish house now holds offices, a chapel and meeting room, classrooms, and two kitchens. In 2017 the church bought the old Academy building from the town; today it houses Kidz Konnection, a nonprofit youth theater company that performed historical sketches in the sanctuary during the 350th anniversary celebration.
Sunday mornings at ten
Worship is held every Sunday at 10:00 AM in person and is also livestreamed online. The Sacrament of Holy Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month. The order of service is printed each week in a bulletin that is also published online, so anyone watching the livestream can follow along at home.
Children begin the morning in the sanctuary with their families for the first part of worship. After the Conversation with Children message, teachers and students move to their classrooms in the parish house for the rest of the service. Afterward everyone is invited to fellowship hall for refreshments and a chance to meet neighbors new and old.
The church and the fellowship hall are both handicapped accessible.
Voices old and new in the choir program
Music at First Church is provided by a Senior Choir and a Junior Choir that, between them, cover most of the musical range of the long history. The Senior Choir rehearses at 8:00 AM on Sunday mornings and sings at the 10:00 AM service each week. Its repertoire runs from classical to spirituals to modern, with regular opportunities for solo and ensemble singing.
The Junior Choir welcomes children from second grade through seventh grade, rehearses after worship on Sundays, and sings in the sanctuary when the children have a piece prepared. The only requirement is a love of singing and a willingness to lift voices in praise. New members are welcomed at any point in the year.
Joyce Baxter directs both choirs as Director of Music.
Church School, nursery care, and a safe church
Church School meets at 10:15 AM from September through May. Children begin in the sanctuary with their families, move to classrooms after the Conversation with Children, and return to fellowship hall with everyone else for coffee hour. Infant care during the worship service is provided by the Faith and Fellowship Formation Committee.
A Safe Church Policy adopted in 2013 sets the rules under which the children's ministry works: at least two adults with any group of children, background checks on volunteers, and clear procedures for any concerns. The full text of the policy is included among the church's published documents.
An Open and Affirming welcome
First Church has formally adopted an Open and Affirming covenant, committing itself to welcoming and including people of every sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ability, and background. The covenant shapes how the congregation talks about membership, weddings, and the wider life of the parish.
Lending out a closet of medical equipment
First Church runs a free Medical Equipment Loan Program that is open to anyone in the region, not just members of the church. The closet keeps a stock of the basics - wheelchairs, shower seats, commodes, walkers, and crutches - available to be borrowed for as long as a family or a neighbor needs them. Anyone interested in borrowing, or in donating equipment they no longer need, can call the church office.
Wednesday nights at the soup kitchen
Every Wednesday throughout the year a hot meal is served at the Clinton site of the Shoreline Soup Kitchen and Pantry, hosted at the United Methodist Church by a rotating roster of area congregations and civic groups. First Church takes the lead ten times a year, providing a team of cooks, servers, and dishwashers.
The kitchen is a true community effort. Parents bring their children to help. The doors are open to anyone who walks in. Residence is not asked about, so all who come are served. The estimated cost of preparing a meal at one of First Church's cook-offs, supplemented with pantry donations, is just over a dollar a plate. Anyone who would like to volunteer can sign up through the Mission Committee.
Beyond the soup kitchen, the church supports the Shoreline Soup Kitchen and Pantry through regular food collections. Members also partner with Kidz Konnection, Families Helping Families, the local Red Cross chapter, and Boy Scouts of America Troop 7 in Clinton.
Morning Circle
For decades the women of the church have gathered in a room just off fellowship hall for what is now called the Morning Circle. Some are knitters, some are embroiderers, some are just there for the company. Together they craft handwork to sell at the church's summer and Christmas fairs, with the proceeds going to the church's mission fund. No particular craft skill is needed; the only requirements are a willingness to belong and a generous spirit. The group welcomes women from the wider community, not just members of the congregation.
From thirty-two ministers to a designated term
First Church has had thirty-two settled pastors in its history. Rev. Dr. Christopher C. Horvath served from 2001 until February 2024, a 23-year pastorate that is the longest since the era of Wilson Busick (1969 to 1989). In February 2025, Rev. Nicole Grant Yonkman became the church's Designated Term Pastor.
Pastor Nicole came to Clinton after more than 25 years of ordained ministry in Chicago, Dayton, Providence, and Windsor. A graduate of Colgate University and the University of Chicago Divinity School, she has focused on church renewal at every one of her calls and has been the first woman minister on a church staff four times. While in Windsor she received the Bridge Builders Award, the Phenomenal Woman Award, and a special proclamation from the Windsor Town Council and mayor. She also serves on the board of Hands on Hartford. Her husband, Rev. Dr. Todd Yonkman, is currently the senior minister at First Church of Christ in Old Saybrook; their two daughters are grown and working in Los Angeles and Boston.
The pastor is assisted in the wider life of the congregation by the Diaconate Board, which serves communion, welcomes newcomers, and provides greeters and ushers at every service, by the Faith and Fellowship Formation Committee, which oversees Church School and the Youth Group, and by the Mission, Music, Building and Grounds, Stewardship, Finance, Endowment, Nominating, and Personnel committees.
After more than three centuries of continuous worship on Meeting House Hill, First Church still gathers Sundays at 10:00 AM in person and online. The church office at 55 Church Road is open Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and can be reached at (860) 669-5735. The church and the fellowship hall are accessible to wheelchairs and other mobility devices.