52 Sundays

Monadnock Covenant Church, Keene, NH

January 8, 2012 (Sunday 2)
Monadnock Covenant Church
Pastor Garth McGrath
90 Base Hill Road
Keene, NH 03431
603.352.6816 

Church History: Monadnock Covenant Church was founded in 1994. Meeting initially at Pilgrim Pines Conference Center in Swanzey, within a month they moved to a more permanent location, worshiping at the Symonds School. Land was purchased and once a building permit was eventually obtained, construction began on what was to become the Monadnock Covenant Church. During this time, membership grew steadily from less than fifty parishoners to over 200.

Affiliation: Evangelical Covenant Church (278,000 members)

Visiting Monadnock Covenant Church seemed like it would be a nice juxtaposition to last week’s visit to the First Congregational Church in Rindge. The Church itself is very modern, and its affiliation, Evangelical Covenant Church, is not even two centuries old. Continue reading →

First Congregational Church, Rindge, NH

January 1, 2012 (Sunday 1)
First Congregational Church and Society
Interim Pastor Roger Daly
6 Payson Hill Road
Rindge, NH 03461
603.899.5722

Church History: The First Congregational Church of Rindge is housed in the Rindge Meeting House, which was built in 1796 and is one of the few civic buildings in the region that still straddles the separation of church and state. The building is owned by the town of Rindge, and the second floor is leased to the church.

Affiliation: United Church of Christ (UCC) (1.2 million members)

To begin my journey, I chose the First Congregational Church in Rindge  because it is one of the few churches that I have any kind of connection to, no matter how tenuous. I was a casual acquaintance of the previous pastor, Jim Melhorn, who was kind enough to invite me to play at the monthly coffeehouse that he ran while he was pastor of the church. Continue reading →