Outreach

We know from scripture that we all have spiritual gifts for ministry and that we are called to use them to build the beloved community.

We do this through our mission outreach locally, regionally, and globally. We encourage people to use their gifts to make a difference in this world by giving everyone an opportunity to do so which also leads them to grow in their faith.

Learn more about the annual grant program that First Congregational Church of Williamstown runs for local Berkshire County causes.

Berkshire Interfaith Organizing (BIO)

We care about making social change locally.

We are a founding member church of a county-wide grassroots organizing network called Berkshire Interfaith Organizing.

BIO is dedicated to cultivating active working relationships among diverse faith communities in the Berkshires to make social justice an integral element in improving our lives in the Berkshires.

Berkshire Interfaith Organizing logo.

Environmental Justice

First Church has a longstanding dedication to environmental justice.

Our faith compels us to do our part to steward the earth for future generations. We march with 350.org at the People’s Climate March; study thinkers as varied as Thomas Berry and Pope Francis; insulate the building; continue divestment from fossil fuels, and hold an annual Giant Tag Sale that raises funds and helps divert items from landfills.

Giant Tag Sale

Every year from May through September, First Church collaborates with students, with Williams College organizations, and with as many church volunteer hands as possible to put on what we call our Giant Tag Sale.

We collect lamps, rugs, refrigerators, appliances, couches, and random trinkets to keep used goods circulating in the community and raise money for the church. It’s traditionally the church’s largest fundraiser of the year, and we like to think of it as akin to those hours at a CSA (community-supported agriculture) spent trimming garlic roots: it builds community, it’s for a great cause, and you’ll feel better after you help.

Currently, our Giant Tag Sale coordinator is Hilary Greene with support from Jody Green.

Food Insecurity

FCC Williamstown partners with the Friendship Center Food Pantry, the Williamstown Food Pantry, and the meals-based service Berkshire Food Project in North Adams to support those who are most food insecure in our area. Non-perishable food items are collected at the church for donation to these organizations.

Take & Eat Program

The “Take and Eat” program at First Church Williamstown provides meals for local seniors on the fourth Sunday of each month. Preparation of the meals occurs on the Saturday before from 9–11am in the church kitchen. Meals are refrigerated for delivery on Sunday morning after church between 11am–noon. Help is always welcome for the Saturday preparation and Sunday delivery. Contact the church office for further information or if you have an interest in these acts of service.

See the Williams College article: Take and Eat Brings Meals to Williamstown Elderly

Habitat for Humanity

First Church Williamstown has a longstanding covenant with Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity (NBHfH).

Learn more about this covenant.

Immigration Justice

Our church takes seriously the biblical injunction to “welcome the stranger.”

We are in the midst of a moral crisis to which our faith must respond when political leadership demeans and destroys immigrant families. We provide support to the Berkshire Immigrant Center, the regional immigration service agency.

Our church’s Immigrant Family Support Fund is used to address critical needs of local immigrant families. To contribute to this cause, please donate to First Congregational Church Williamstown and designate your contribution to this fund.

LGBTQIA+

FCC Williamstown has a long history of welcoming LGBTQIA+ individuals.

We’re proud members of the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination, which ordained its first openly gay pastor in 1972 when that debate in the wider church was just beginning. In 1992, the congregation voted  to be Open and Affirming — a UCC designation that welcomes LGBTQIA+ people in all levels of church life.

As we state in our church’s Open and Affirming covenant, “We recognize our need and desire to be a household of God where people may enter, be welcomed and grow in the body of Christ, covenant with God and one another to receive and accept persons as members, employees and friends without fear, prejudice or discrimination due to race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith tradition, nationality, marital status, physical condition, or financial situation.”

Racial Justice

FCC Williamstown has a longstanding commitment to racial equality and to correcting our history of racial injustice.

When police shootings or mass incarceration become public policy, we remember that Jesus prioritized relationships with society’s marginalized, enacted a realm of radical inclusion (the “kingdom of God”), and himself died a violent death, executed by the Roman state.

We are involved in stand-outs for racial justice, book groups, racial justice preaching and worship service themes, and opportunities to work to repair damage to persons of color. In 2020, the Church Council signed the Not in Our County Pledge to counter the words and acts of hate, and to work to build a safe, inclusive community for all. Signing this pledge is a public statement of our congregation’s commitment to work with these principles in multiple ways, and we seek to to ally ourselves with other local organizations striving for these goals. 

Resisting Christian Nationalism

First Church Williamstown takes an active, ongoing interest in the spreading influence of Christian nationalism.

Our parishioners actively analyze the questions provoked by Christian Nationalism, and we continue to host films, study groups, and speakers to become better informed.

Christian Nationalism — How It Harms Us All

An Interfaith Discussion moderated by First Congregational Church (2021)

Land Acknowledgement

First Congregational Church, Williamstown, is located upon the homelands of the Muhheconeew, or Mohican Nation, today known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. The church has voted to sign the following declaration of the Native American occupants of the Berkshires:

“It is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are learning, speaking and gathering on the ancestral homelands of the Mohican people, who are the indigenous peoples of this land. Despite tremendous hardship in being forced from here, today their community resides in Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors past and present as we commit to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all.”