The First Congregational Church of Madison gathers on Meetinghouse Lane, a quiet street that runs alongside the town green in the center of Madison, Connecticut. The congregation describes itself as Open and Affirming within the United Church of Christ, and that welcome shapes nearly everything the church does, from the way Sunday worship is led to the way it serves the shoreline community and partners with people across the country and around the world.
Sunday Morning at 10:00 a.m.
Worship takes place in the sanctuary every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. The service follows the pattern long associated with Protestant worship in the Reformed tradition: singing, prayer, Scripture reading, and preaching. Ushers greet visitors at the door and hand out a bulletin, and the bulletin walks worshipers through each part of the service. The order of worship usually runs about an hour, sometimes a bit longer or shorter depending on the season and the type of service.
After roughly twenty minutes, the pastor invites children forward for a "Word for All Ages." The young people then head downstairs to Sunday School in the Undercroft beneath the sanctuary.
For those who cannot be in the sanctuary, the service is broadcast live on Facebook Live and YouTube Live at the same 10:00 a.m. hour, then replayed on Madison Public Access TV at noon and 10:00 p.m. Recordings remain available on the church's YouTube channel and as audio on its podcast feed, so anyone can catch up at any hour. Giving is also available online through the church's secure giving page.
Parking is available in the church's lots and along the street in front of the church and along the green.
Children and Youth
Sunday School classes run from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade and meet every Sunday during worship. The curriculum shares stories from the Bible through activities, crafts, and discussion. Children put on a Christmas pageant each year, lead worship on Children's Sunday, and take part in service projects throughout the year.
Nursery care is available for children age three and under in the church's crib room. A nursery attendant who is also a preschool teacher in town staffs the room, with volunteers always on hand. The church follows a Safe Church policy to protect the wellbeing of every child.
The youth program serves grades six through twelve. Sunday mornings are spent in Sunday School during worship, and Sunday evenings bring the youth group together for fellowship, faith formation, and service projects. Each summer the youth travel with Appalachia Service Project for a week-long mission trip, helping make homes warmer, safer, and drier in some of the most impoverished communities in the United States.
Eight- and ninth-graders are invited to participate in Confirmation Class, which meets after worship on Sundays. The program leads students through faith explored by scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, with class topics that include God as Relationship, God as Spirit, UCC history, Incarnation, God in Word, God in Tradition, God in Community, God in Many Ways, Claiming Our Own Words, and Our Response to God.
The church partners with the Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Society and North Madison Congregational Church to offer Our Whole Lives, a values-based sexuality education program created jointly by the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association. Two curricula are offered, one for grades four through six and one for grades seven through nine. Vacation Bible School has been a major intergenerational ministry for more than twelve years; the church partners with St. Andrew's Episcopal Church to host a week of games, arts and crafts, music, theater, and field trips that has drawn more than 150 children and 50 teen volunteers in a typical summer.
Two Senior Ministers, One Pulpit
The pastoral leadership is shared. Rev. Todd C. Vetter and Rev. Sarah E. Vetter both serve as Senior Ministers, an unusual co-equal arrangement in the region. They are supported by Nathan J. Bayreuther as Director of Music Ministry, Kristen Skonieczny as Church School Director, and Alex Green as Youth Minister.
Faith, Identity, and an Open Welcome
The church describes itself as rooted in the Reformed Protestant tradition and as a member congregation of the United Church of Christ. Its statement of faith affirms the Trinity of Creator, Christ, and Spirit; declares that God's saving grace is incarnate in Jesus Christ; recognizes the Holy Spirit as active in the life of the church; teaches that each person is created in the image of God; and treats the Bible as an inspired work that each believer is free to read and discern for themselves. The longer Statement of Faith, used in worship, traces God's call through history, names Jesus Christ as crucified and risen Savior, and prays for the church's mission of justice and peace.
The congregation formally declared itself an Open and Affirming church, drawing on the Great Commandment of Mark 12:29-31. The statement opens the church's doors and ministry to all, affirming the dignity and worth of every person. It welcomes people of any age, race, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, marital status, physical, emotional, and mental capacity, and those in both traditional and non-traditional families. The declaration follows the recommendation of the Fifteenth General Synod of the United Church of Christ and that of the Connecticut Conference.
Music at the Meetinghouse
Music has long been one of the church's signature ministries. The sanctuary houses a 1929 M.P. Möller pipe organ, two Steinway grand pianos (an 1875 model and a 1917 model), an 1896 Mathushek piano, a 1975 Zuckermann harpsichord, and a set of 2008 Schulmerich handbells.
The Adult Choir, open to high school students through adults, rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. and sings every Sunday. The choir joins the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving service and the area Consociation Choir Festival, and travels to sing at local nursing homes. A Spirit Choir for children, a rotating Handbell Choir, and the Music at the Meetinghouse concert series round out the program. The church also hosts a popular mid-day music series that has been featured in regional press.
Adult Faith Formation
Bible Study meets twice on Wednesdays, at 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., in the Chapel and on Zoom. Each week the group dives into passages from the Lectionary, the three-year cycle of scripture readings used across mainline Protestant churches. No prior Bible experience is required.
The Men's Group gathers on Tuesday mornings at 8:00 a.m. in the Study, the downstairs room in the church house next door to the Meetinghouse, for fellowship and study over coffee. Connection, a ministry for women, meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Parlor for candid conversation, prayer, and support. A Book Group gathers on Zoom to discuss thought-provoking titles; a recent read was Adam Hamilton's 24 Hours that Changed the World. Exploring a Full Life, a casual gathering aimed at people in their thirties through fifties, uses books like Wayne Muller's Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal and Delight in Our Busy Lives as a starting point for conversation.
The Healing Prayer Ministry offers prayer in the Chapel after worship on the last Sunday of each month. Team members ask simply, "How can we pray for you?" and lay hands on those who wish. The team is on call throughout the month for prayer before or after surgery, during major life transitions, or in times of gratitude. Confidentiality is respected.
Coffee Hour and Nine to Dine
Sunday Coffee Hour, held in the large hall after worship every week, brings the congregation together for tea, coffee, and refreshments. Nine to Dine, an adult dinner group program, places participants in groups of nine who meet once a month on Friday or Saturday evenings, usually at someone's home, with everyone bringing part of the meal. The program runs in three sessions: fall, winter, and spring.
Outreach Along the Shoreline and Beyond
Outreach is woven into almost every ministry of the church. Each week, donations of non-perishable food are brought to worship and delivered to Christian Community Action to stock their food pantry. Every Thanksgiving, the church collects ten to twelve pound frozen turkeys for CCA's basket program, which in 2020 served more than 400 people. Each Christmas, the congregation partners with CCA's Angel Giving Tree to fulfill wish lists for families in the family shelter, often including bedding, warm clothes, and toys, and adding homemade cookies.
Volunteers serve breakfast at the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries in Old Lyme on the first Saturday of each month from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m., and assist at the food pantry as needed. The church collects men's and women's clothing and personal items for the patients of CT Valley Hospital's psychiatric unit at Christmas, who often lack family support. Each summer the church hosts a Farmer's Market on the church-owned Green and has partnered with vendors to encourage reusable grocery bags.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and crochets shawls that are given away to people during hard times and celebrations, each one carrying prayers into the warmth of its yarn.
The congregation partners with several mission organizations. Village Mountain Mission serves the Dominican Republic. The church has sponsored an asylum-seeking family from the Congo through IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services), with volunteers helping with English lessons, bike riding, grocery shopping, medical appointments, and rides. Every year the congregation chooses a mission to support with a five thousand dollar donation. Love Your Neighbor Actions, born during the COVID-19 lockdown, continue as a way to rally around simple, creative ways of caring for the community, from decorating trees to thank frontline workers to baking treats for hospital staff to collecting fans for refugee families.
Vigils, Forums, and the Farmer's Market
Community Family Forums are occasional Saturday-evening gatherings from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in Hubley Hall. These dinner events bring youth, teachers, activists, and community leaders together to focus on topics such as food insecurity, pollution in Long Island Sound, and refugees, with a small donation suggested to cover the cost of food. The church also hosts and supports vigils, rallies, and protests on its lawn and Green, including a "Say Their Names" vigil, a youth BLM protest, and a vigil at the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Madison Diversity and Inclusion Club finds a home at the church, and First Church continues to position itself as a meetinghouse for community life. With two co-equal senior ministers, a deep music tradition, programs for every age, and a far-reaching network of local and global partnerships, the congregation keeps a single Sunday-morning service at the center of a remarkably wide life.