Loving God by Serving All

How We Decide How to Give

Our church’s Mission and Action committee spearheads most of our missional giving and service work. Each year the church budgets funds that will be given directly to other non-profits. The committee researches the needs of our community, reviews possible fund recipients, and then makes financial gifts on behalf of the church. In addition, the committee may call on the church to take up a special offering, as they did for those who were fleeing Ukraine or impacted by the 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Among the many things they do, the committee works to put together Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets for local families who might not be otherwise able to celebrate the holidays.

Refugees and Immigrants

Since 2017 we have been working with the International Institute of New England to help prepare homes for our newest neighbors. When families who have fled war and famine are about to arrive as refugees in New Hampshire, we get to work. We collect gently-used furniture and take it to the family’s new home. There we also clean the home, and prepare the kitchen with essentials. To date we have helped over 20 families to move to this state, and to feel welcome.

Seacoast Family Promise

We are a partner congregation with Seacoast Family Promise, and amazing organization that works to keep unhoused families together. Volunteers prepare a meal for guests, and spend an evenings with them, often helping students with their homework. One volunteer also stays overnight to help in case of emergencies. We have been blessed to walk with a number of families through this process, and have celebrated with them as they were able to find housing of their own.

Ukama Partnership

The Ukama project of the New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ matches churches here with churches in Zimbabwe. Our sibling church, in Pfizda, Zimbabwe, is always on our heart. Through the years we have helped to send container shipments to Pfizda as they have built necessary infrastructure. We have learned a great deal from our sibling church, and are proud to share our faith with one another.

Our Covenants

In the 1990s this congregation engaged in the Open and Affirming process of the United Church of Christ. As a church we examined what it meant to be truly open to LGBTQ Christians and their friends and families. At the end of the process we voted to become an Open and Affirming church, one which warmly welcomed people of all sexual orientations and gender identities to the full life and ministry of our church. As the years have gone on, we have leaned into this covenant as we welcomed same-sex weddings, called LGBTQ clergy, and affirmed our transgender members. We see our commitment as being an important part of our mission and we aim to serve those who have been traditionally excluded by some parts of the church.

In the 2010s we also became an Eco-Covenant congregation. We are committed to the work of being good stewards of God’s Creation. We look for ways to live into this covenant in our lives together both by “reducing, reusing, and recycling” as well as by following environmentally-friendly guidelines in our investing policies. Additionally, we engage in service projects, such as beach clean-ups, for a hands-on response to our environmental crisis.