A Place Where Everyone Belongs

Brookside Congregational Church sits at 2013 Elm Street in the North End of Manchester, New Hampshire, on a ten-acre property known as "The Brook" that includes a 1908 neo-Classical estate house, a 1960 brick Georgian Revival sanctuary, and grounds that slope down to Ray Brook. The congregation describes itself as Open and Affirming and as a community that intentionally welcomes people "regardless of their age, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status." At the start of every worship service the words "Everyone Belongs" are spoken aloud. Holy Communion at Brookside is offered as an invitation to anyone who wishes to come to the table, and the baptismal font is open to people of every age.

The church's mission statement reads, "The purpose of Brookside Congregational church, UCC is to proclaim our faith in God, living as disciples of Jesus Christ through worship, outreach, and compassionate care toward all." That conviction shows up in the building itself: more than thirty local non-profits, support groups, and community organizations meet at Brookside during the week, including grief and addiction support groups, community gardeners, a parish nurse program, a local farmers market, a soccer league, and community theatre groups. Two other congregations, including a Romanian Orthodox parish, worship regularly in the chapel. Brookside is home to the Brookside Thrift Shop and to Bright Leaf counseling services.

Sunday Worship on Elm Street

Sunday morning worship takes place at 10:00 a.m. in the sanctuary, with summer services moved to 9:00 a.m. between mid-June and mid-September. Each service is offered in person and livestreamed on Facebook Live, and recordings are posted afterward on Facebook and on the church's YouTube channel. The service includes live music, a sermon, prayers, a children's message, and scripture readings. The weekly bulletin is available for download on the church's page.

Holy Communion is shared once a month, typically on the first Sunday, served in the pews, in the round, or by intinction. Gluten-free bread and grape juice are available. People joining the livestream are invited to prepare their own bread and cup at home. Baptism is offered by request to people of any age, and Baptisms are typically celebrated during Sunday worship so the whole congregation can welcome the new member. Worship is described as creative, diverse, and fun-loving, and visitors are welcomed in whatever attire feels comfortable. A "Kid's Corner" in the narthex holds quiet worship activities that children may take into the service and return afterward.

The Spirit Squad is an intergenerational ministry that meets before worship to greet, set the communion table, read the Call to Worship and Invocation, serve communion, and light the Christ candles. Families serve together about once every two months, and the program is open to members and non-members alike.

A Music Program Built Around Two Organs and Two Steinways

Music is a priority at Brookside and sits at the front of every service. The music ministry draws on a wide range of instruments - piano, organ, guitar, saxophone, ukulele, violin, brass, flute, drums, and bells - and presents styles that range from classical to contemporary. Congregational singing uses the New Century hymnal for its inclusive language, alongside traditional hymns from the Pilgrim hymnal.

The church owns two Steinway grand pianos and two three-manual Austin pipe organs. The Sanctuary organ was custom-built by the Austin Organ Company in 1933 for the Franklin Street Church and was moved to the Elm Street property in 1959. With roughly fifty ranks, it is large by modern standards and unusually rich in 8-foot pipes. A second Austin organ sits in the chapel. Both instruments have been tuned and restored through gifts from the Cogswell Benevolent Trust and the Madelaine G. von Weber Trust.

The adult Brookside Choir rehearses before the worship service and is open to anyone ages 15 and up who loves to sing. The Youth Bell Choir, led by Youth Troupe Leader Christina Alvarez, welcomes youth ages six and up; no musical experience is required beyond the ability to count to four. Bell choir members rehearse before worship for several Sundays before each performance and play during Christmas Eve and Easter services and at other times during the year.

Children, Youth, and the Performing Arts

Children of all ages are welcome to stay in the sanctuary for the full service and to participate in both the serving and receiving of Holy Communion. A nursery is offered for children through age three with two staff members, although it is not currently available. After the children's message each Sunday, young worshippers may attend Spiritual Art on the second and third Sundays of the month and Performing Arts on the first and fourth Sundays.

Spiritual Art blends Bible stories with art and science projects, led by Amber Nicole Cannan of Unchartered Tutoring, a local, government-certified woman-owned small business. Performing Arts engages K-12 youth in theatre, dance, and music projects that they help develop - writing skits, arranging music, choreographing dances, and bringing the result into worship several times a year. Youth Troupe, which meets after worship, brings those performances together for the wider congregation and is open to all skill levels. Confirmation classes for high school students explore the Trinitarian aspects of God and the responsibilities of being an active participant in the life of the United Church of Christ.

The Manning House and a Property on the State Register

Brookside's ten-acre setting came as a gift from Mary Manning, daughter of Manchester philanthropist Frank Carpenter and a longtime member of the church. The property includes the 1908 neo-Classical Manning House, the brick carriage house that now houses the Thrift Shop, a caretaker's cottage, a gazebo, a garage, a shed, gardens, and two-story brick hyphens that connect the buildings. In October 2020 the State Historical Resources Council added the Brookside Congregational Church complex to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, citing both its architecture and its role in Manchester's religious history.

The Manning House is used today for small gatherings and houses Bright Leaf counseling, an independent non-profit that offers an integration of mind, body, and spirit. It also hosts the annual Christmas at the Manning House event, a collaboration with the Manchester Historic Association and Dew Collective that invites visitors into the home as Mary Manning for a 1925 holiday experience. A butterfly garden created by The Compassionate Friends and a community garden sit on the grounds, along with the outdoor spaces used for worship on summer Sundays and for fellowship throughout the year.

From Franklin Street to the Brook

Brookside's roots reach back to 1844, when the Second Congregational Society in Manchester was formed after the First Congregational Church outgrew its space. The early congregation worshipped in Manchester City Hall, then at a series of other locations, before dedicating the Franklin Street Church building on December 22, 1847. By the mid-1950s the Franklin Street building needed major renovation, and in June 1957 the congregation voted to accept Mary Manning's offer of her North Elm Street estate as the site for a new church. The first service at the Elm Street location was held on Palm Sunday, April 3, 1960, and the anniversary is still marked with an all-church group photo taken at the Palm Sunday service.

The original chapel from the Franklin Street Church was moved to the present property and now stands there alongside the new sanctuary. Its stained-glass window of St. Michael is dedicated to the memory of Frank Carpenter Manning, Mary Manning's grandson, who died in 1929 at the age of fifteen. Pastoral Counseling Services and The Compassionate Friends continue to offer grief support on the grounds.

Called to Care

The Called to Care ministry is a large group of volunteers who respond to members and friends in times of need and celebration. They send cards for grief, illness, isolation, birthdays, and graduations - sometimes hand-crafted by members of the congregation. Prayer shawls and baby afghans are knitted and crocheted with prayers and given to those receiving them. Visitation teams reach out to the homebound and hospitalized for conversation and prayer, and Holy Communion can be brought to those who cannot attend in person. Flower arrangements from Sunday worship are delivered after the service to brighten the day of those who are homebound or in the hospital, and meals are provided to those in need of compassion and support.

Fellowship, Men's Breakfast, and Women's Union

Fellowship at Brookside centers on coffee hour after Sunday worship and on monthly events for children, teens, and adults. The No Green Bananas group gathers retired men of the church at 9:00 a.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month at Moe Joe's Family Restaurant for breakfast and conversation about faith. The Women's Union meets four times a year for a shared meal and supports the church's Corned Beef and Cabbage fundraiser, decorates the first floor of the Manning House at Christmas, and organizes an annual pie-making event in the fall.

The Brookside Thrift Shop

The Brookside Thrift Shop operates out of the brick carriage house behind the church and serves as a fundraising arm of the Mission Ministry. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and the doors are open whenever the flag is flying near the ramp entrance. The shop sells gently used clothing for men, women, children, and infants, plus housewares, small appliances, linens, books, music, decor, toys, sports equipment, and small furniture. Items that cannot be resold are recycled and routed to organizations supporting the homeless, foster families, veterans, and people in need.

The shop is 100 percent volunteer-run and relies on donated time alongside donated goods. Its proceeds support local outreach including the resettlement work with Afghan families described below, and it has provided household furnishings and furniture for families served by Families in Transition.

Feeding and Housing Manchester Neighbors

Brookside's local outreach responds to needs for food, clothing, and shelter as a means toward self-sufficiency. The church participates in the annual interfaith Religious Response to Hunger, when a caravan of cars from area congregations delivers bags of food to the Families in Transition (FIT) food pantry between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Brookside volunteers serve the evening meal at the FIT Soup Kitchen four times a year, in months with a fifth Tuesday. Monthly canned-good and toiletry collections under the Loaves and Fishes banner help stock the shelves of the FIT pantry and shelter.

Holiday collections at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter provide food and diapers for families served by Child Health Services / Amoskeag Health, Southern New Hampshire Services / Head Start, and Waypoint's programs for human trafficking and homeless youth. Brookside supports Bright Leaf counseling services and has helped resettle more than eighty-five evacuees from Afghanistan, including twelve families, in partnership with the International Institute of New England. The church has delivered food to hotel rooms, provided household furnishings through the Thrift Shop, hosted drives for new bedding, tools, and personal items, and opened its commercial kitchen so Afghan families can cook and share traditional food.

Wider Mission in Zimbabwe and Beyond

Beyond Manchester, Brookside participates in the United Church of Christ's Our Church's Wider Mission and supports four special all-church offerings each year: One Great Hour of Sharing, Strengthen the Church, Neighbors in Need, and The Christmas Fund Offering. The church has sponsored a child through Compassion International for many years, writing letters and sharing photos across the distance.

A partnership with Sakubva Church in Mutare, Zimbabwe, has been in place since December 1996. The relationship includes financial support for Sakubva's outreach, regular letters, phone calls, emails, Skype conversations, and face-to-face visits between the two congregations.

Holiday Lights and the Christmas Season

Each December the Brookside grounds glow with a community light display created in partnership with The New England Holiday Light Company. Visitors can donate a strand of lights in honor or memory of a loved one for $25, or a Christmas Star to honor an entire family. The names appear on the sanctuary doors and in the narthex throughout the month. A Blue Christmas service is held the week before Christmas for those who are missing loved ones - a candlelit evening of music and prayer. Christmas Eve brings a candlelight service in the Sanctuary featuring The Nottingham Brass, and Christmas at the Manning House invites visitors into a 1925 holiday in the landmark home.

Holy Week at Brookside begins with Palm Sunday, when children help re-enact the entrance to Jerusalem with palms and processional hymns. Maundy Thursday brings a Tenebrae service with Holy Communion and an original drama written by Rev. Laura Biddle. Easter Sunday opens in the garden at the empty tomb, with music by The Nottingham Brass, the ritual of decorating the empty cross with flowers, and an Easter Egg Hunt for children in fourth grade and under.

Venue Rental and a Building That Hosts Manchester

Brookside's ten-acre property and its indoor spaces are rented for weddings, performances, meetings, conferences, and other events. The Sanctuary seats up to 600 people and offers a concert piano, organ, sound system with assistive listening devices, ramp access, and a bridal suite. The Chapel, with stained-glass windows and a smaller organ, seats up to 110. Fellowship Hall, with a wooden stage, dressing room, and industrial kitchen, seats up to 380 for larger gatherings. The Historic Manning House hosts up to 75 guests for smaller events, and the grounds include the Manning House Lawn for gatherings of more than 300, the Garden Courtyard for 25 to 50, and an Open Outdoor area for soccer-field-style events. The property offers up to 102 parking spaces, ADA access, an elevator, and Wi-Fi throughout the building. Weddings, funeral services, and rental of the building and grounds are all available.

Getting Involved

Visitors who want to learn more can join Sunday worship in person at 10:00 a.m., follow the livestream on Facebook Live, or browse the archive of previous services on YouTube. Bible studies led by Rev. Laura Biddle meet on Zoom during Advent and Lent and are open to anyone who signs up through the church office. Volunteers are needed in the Thrift Shop, with the Spirit Squad, in the Called to Care ministry, on the Fellowship Team, and with the Brookside Holiday Lights. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and can be reached at (603) 669-2807 or admin@brooksidecc.org. Online giving, including pledges to a $25,000 Matching Gift Challenge supporting capital and safety improvements, is available through the church's donations page.