Slatersville Congregational Church stands on the village green at 25 Greene Street in North Smithfield, Rhode Island, an old New England congregation that traces its roots to the earliest years of the nineteenth century and pours much of its energy into the surrounding community. The church describes itself as a "UCC church in northern Rhode Island" and points to a slogan that captures its priorities: "We make a living by what we get, but a life by what we give." Its welcoming statement is simple and direct - "No matter who you are, no matter where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here." Inside the doors, a Stephen Ministry for difficult seasons, a prayer shawl circle, two choirs, and a food pantry called Nourish share the building with a traditional Sunday worship and the church's long-running Sunday School.
Sunday Mornings on Greene Street
Worship is the steady center of life at Slatersville Congregational Church. Services begin at 10:00 AM each Sunday and fill the sanctuary of the 1838 building that faces the Slatersville Common. The order of worship gathers the congregation for praise, prayer, and a sermon, and Sunday School plus nursery care are both available during the service so that families with young children can attend together. The church extends its welcome to visitors plainly on its contact page, and baptisms, weddings, and funerals are all performed for both members of the congregation and the wider community through arrangements with the church office.
Healing Services, Candlelight, and Apple Sunday
Beyond the regular Sunday gathering, the congregation marks several seasons of the year with special services. Healing Services are offered during Lent and Advent for anyone who is sad, grieving, or simply in need of prayer. Two Christmas Eve candlelight services fill the building each December: an early service from 5:00 to 6:00 PM that is especially friendly to families, and a late service from 11:00 PM to midnight for those who want to ring in Christmas Day with prayer. Luminaries are lit on the Common from 6:00 PM to midnight that night, turning the village green into a glowing welcome. One Sunday each September - Apple Sunday - brings the congregation together around the harvest season, and the Apple Dumpling Gang gathers the following Friday to keep that tradition in dough and spice.
Stephen Ministry for Difficult Times
Slatersville Congregational Church identifies itself as "A Stephen Ministries Church," the local expression of a national program that trains laypeople to walk alongside those in crisis. Stephen Ministers are congregation members who are trained by Stephen Leaders to provide one-to-one, confidential, Christ-centered care to people struggling through grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness, relocation, military deployment, or another life crisis. They typically meet with one care receiver at a time, once a week for about an hour, and men are matched with men while women are matched with women. The relationship is confidential and free, and the church invites anyone in the community who is going through a hard season to reach out to learn more.
Shawls Knit by the Pins and Needles
For a different kind of care, the congregation runs a Prayer Shawl Ministry in which members of the Pins and Needles group and other knitters create handmade shawls to give to people going through difficult times. The shawls are knitted or crocheted in a variety of colors and patterns and are presented as "healing hugs," tangible reminders that the wearer is being prayed for. The ministry takes its inspiration from the verse in 2 Corinthians that speaks of the "God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction." Alongside the adult shawls, handmade fleece blankets are made for children who may be hospitalized, so that even the youngest members of the community can be wrapped in prayer.
Nourish: A Food Pantry in the Basement
The most visible community ministry of the church is the North Smithfield Food Pantry, called Nourish, which is housed in the building's basement and helps to feed about sixty families per month. The pantry is open to North Smithfield residents and to members of the congregation, with hours on the last two Tuesday evenings of each month from 5:30 to 7:00 PM and the last two Saturday mornings from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Beyond its own shelves, Nourish runs a Food Rescue Program that picks up excess produce, meats, cereals, breads, and baked goods from grocery chains, smaller retailers, and area farmers and shares the surplus with other pantries and soup kitchens in the area, helping to feed hundreds each week. The Missions Committee and the wider congregation provide holiday meal baskets for local families each year, and the youth of the church sell Super Bowl grinders that fill bellies both at home and at local shelters, with well over a hundred donated each year. From November through March the church also provides a monthly dinner for residents of a local men's shelter.
Missions Outreach in the Wider Community
Supporting the needs of the community and the wider world is described by the church as fundamental to its identity. In addition to Nourish and the men's shelter partnerships, the Missions Committee coordinates involvement with a local men's shelter, a family shelter, and a women's recovery house, and each Christmas the congregation adopts families, providing gifts and gift certificates so that the season is warmer for neighbors in need. The youth of the church take part in National Days of Service by assembling Blessing Bags of food and hygiene supplies for people experiencing homelessness in the area. Beyond North Smithfield, the Missions Committee has responded to outside disasters with monetary donations for floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes in the South, for Haitian relief, and for the war in Ukraine. The church also hosts a periodic Rise Against Hunger event, at which members of the congregation package meals that are sent to people in needy areas around the world.
Bells, Choir, and the Lil Rhody Ringers
Music is woven into both Sunday worship and the wider life of the congregation. The adult Choir rehearses weekly on Thursday evenings and helps to lead Sunday services, with the director coordinating the musical program alongside the pastor. The handbell program is led by Jill Boday, who also serves as a Sunday School co-superintendent and a confirmation teacher. Hand Bells rehearse most weeks on Thursday evenings, and an introductory group called the Lil Rhody Ringers meets separately for newer ringers. A practical one-day workshop on bell care and repair has been offered as well, inviting ringers from across the region to learn about maintaining their instruments.
Sunday School, Nursery, and Confirmation
Children are a thread that runs through the church's life. The Sunday School is run by three co-superintendents - Jill Boday, George Briggs, and Michell Eskeli - and is offered during the regular 10:00 AM Sunday worship so that young members can learn and worship alongside their families. The nursery is staffed for the same hour, allowing parents of infants and toddlers to take part in the service. Jill Boday also shares the teaching of the confirmation class, walking youth from the congregation through the UCC confirmation tradition as they prepare to affirm their own faith. Summer programs include Vacation Bible School rhythms that draw families into the building during the warmer months.
Open and Affirming Since 2019
In 2019 the congregation took what its leadership calls the most important step of the past decade: voting to become an "Open and Affirming" congregation of the United Church of Christ. The vote formally dedicated and confirmed the welcoming statement that now greets visitors: "No matter who you are and where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here." The decision was tied to the broader UCC Open and Affirming movement, and the church describes its identity as one that holds deep reverence for its long traditions while continuing to adjust and shift with the times, accepting all people by respecting differences and moving beyond tolerance into acceptance and affirmation.
Two Centuries on the Common: 1808, 1816, 1838
The history of the church reaches back more than two centuries. According to the congregation, the Sunday School was begun in 1808 - the oldest Sunday School in the country, by the church's telling - and the congregation itself was established in 1816. The current sanctuary building was completed in 1838, giving the church the long, low profile that still defines the village green. In 1974 a neighboring congregation known as Globe Church joined the Slatersville body, and in 1988 a multi-use hall was added to the building and named Globe Hall in honor of that merger. The next major step came in 2019, when the Open and Affirming vote reaffirmed a long tradition of welcome and moved the church toward a more public witness of inclusion. Today the building stands as a working monument to that history, hosting worship and Sunday School, Nourish and the food rescue program, Stephen Ministers and the prayer shawl knitters, the choirs and the Lil Rhody Ringers, and the steady rhythm of AA meetings and committee nights.
Beliefs in the UCC Tradition
The congregation keeps its theological identity rooted in the United Church of Christ, following the denomination's statement of faith that speaks of God as the Eternal Spirit made known in Jesus our brother and through the work of the Holy Spirit. The church traces its core teachings back to love, kindness, and service to those in need, alongside a commitment to peacemaking, social justice, and spiritual discernment. Its mission statement, "We strive to be God's people through worship, caring, sharing, and outreach," is paired with the charge that "Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves." The church joins the broader UCC in the conviction that "Justice and Jesus are inseparable" and that "God is still speaking," welcoming all people unconditionally and uniting them through God's love.
Pastor, Staff, and Ministry Leaders
Pastor Sean Amato leads the congregation and is available to meet with anyone interested in baptisms, weddings, funerals, or pastoral conversations. Music Director Joe Godfrey oversees the choir program, and Jill Boday directs the handbell choirs while also serving as a Sunday School co-superintendent and confirmation co-teacher. The Sunday School is co-led by George Briggs and Michell Eskeli alongside Boday, and the program is supported by a long list of lay leaders including a church moderator, clerk, financial clerk, treasurer, and a nursery attendant who cares for the youngest members during Sunday worship. Together this team keeps the rhythm of the week moving from Sunday morning worship to the food pantry, the music rehearsals, the recovery meetings, and the committee work that sustains a two-hundred-year-old village church.