Three Centuries on South Main Street
First Church of Christ Congregational, known across town as First Church West Hartford, has stood at the center of community life in West Hartford, Connecticut, for more than 300 years. The congregation was founded in 1713 as the "established church" of the West Division of Hartford, and its first worship service was held on February 24, 1713, when a recent Yale graduate named Benjamin Colton was ordained as minister to a flock of twenty-nine original members. Worshiping in five different meetinghouses since then, the congregation has shaped the religious, political, and educational life of the town across nearly every era of American church history.
Its Puritan roots trace back to the movement that began in England as an effort to reform the Church of England and was carried to the New World by the Pilgrims of Plymouth and the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Puritan theologian Thomas Hooker, citing religious and political differences with the leaders of Newtown, led his followers to settle along the Connecticut River and establish Hartford in 1636. The land that would become West Hartford was known for generations as the "West Division" of Hartford, and once the uprisings of Chieftain Metacomet (the King Philip Indian Wars) had been quelled, families began to settle there. By 1710 the West Division counted twenty-seven families and "164 souls," who petitioned the General Assembly of the Colony for permission to form a new parish, citing the poor roads and the long ride to Hartford. On May 17, 1711, the General Assembly approved the new parish over the objection of the three existing Hartford congregations, and two years later the Ecclesiastical Society ordained Benjamin Colton.
For generations the Ecclesiastical Society functioned as both church and town government. In addition to calling pastors and disciplining members, parish meetings levied taxes, fixed the minister's salary, and appointed tax collectors. Parish responsibilities included the construction of schools, the hiring of teachers, and the maintenance of highways. Until 1818 all freemen were required to pay taxes to support the local Congregational parish regardless of their own religious orientation. In 1854, when West Hartford incorporated as a town, the first Town Meeting was held in the church's vestry on the southwest corner of Farmington and Main Streets.
The congregation has worshiped in a series of meetinghouses, including the unheated wooden structure built circa 1712, a larger two-story meetinghouse completed in 1744 with box pews and footstoves of hot coals, the granite Greystone Church of 1882 designed in the Gothic Revival style by Hartford architect George E. Potter, and finally the present air-conditioned Georgian Revival sanctuary, which was built after a dramatic fire destroyed the Greystone Church on January 3, 1942. During the long construction, the congregation accepted the invitation of Rabbi Abraham Feldman to worship at Temple Beth Israel rent-free, forging a friendship with the Jewish congregation that is still celebrated at a combined Thanksgiving service. The cornerstone of the new sanctuary was laid in June 1946, the chapel was added in 1956, and a capital campaign for an elevator made the entire building fully accessible.
Today the congregation lives by the slogan Living in Spirit, Committed to Service, Open to All, a vision adopted across every ministry, from Sunday worship to the music program, the library, the preschool, and a long list of community partnerships.
Sunday Worship at Ten
Sunday Morning Worship is held at 10:00 a.m. in the Meeting House on the third floor of the building at 12 South Main Street. Visitors enter through the Rotunda Entrance at the rear of the building and ride the elevator or climb the stairs to the third floor. Parking is available in the lot behind the church, accessible from Farmington Avenue, with handicap spaces and an elevator to the sanctuary. Assisted listening devices in the Meeting House have been upgraded; ask Director of Worship Arts Jim Boratko for assistance.
Worship is led by Senior Pastor the Reverend Fredd Ward, who was called as the congregation's settled Senior Pastor on December 3, 2023, following a unanimous congregational vote. Before arriving at First Church, Rev. Ward served several United Church of Christ congregations in Connecticut: Director of Outreach Ministries at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Associate Pastor at the Congregational Church of Naugatuck, and Senior Pastor at South Congregational Church in East Hartford. He is joined on the chancel by Director of Worship Arts Jim Boratko, Handbell Director Jessica Berube-Sengupta, and Director of Faith Formation Amanda Bethune.
The sacrament of Holy Communion is celebrated during the 10:00 a.m. service on the first Sunday of each month, and the table is open to everyone. In the words of the church's communion liturgy: Welcome, family, to the feast. This is the feast of our God, where all are fed. No one goes away hungry. No one is turned away. At this table, there is room for everyone. Baptism is one of two sacraments recognized in the United Church of Christ, and baptisms take place in the context of Sunday worship as an act of worship in its own right. Arrangements begin with a conversation with one of the pastors.
Each week, members of the congregation may donate altar flowers in honor or memory of a loved one for $100 to $140, and after worship the arrangements are broken into three smaller bouquets and delivered to members who are celebrating birthdays, recovering from illness, or marking other occasions. Members may also sponsor the lighting of the steeple for $25 a week as a tribute. Both donations are acknowledged in the weekly Happenings newsletter and Sunday Notes.
Celtic Evenings and Communion
Once a month, the chapel hosts a Celtic Evening Worship service at 5:00 p.m. Celtic Christian worship is a contemplative liturgical tradition that invites everyone to experience the sacredness of all creation. Each gathering combines ancient rituals with the enduring message of Christianity through prayer, poetry, live music, and shared silence, creating space for deep connection and reflection. The format draws on Celtic Christian spirituality and the contemplative traditions that have been part of the congregation's Spiritual Life Ministry since the early 2000s.
In the same contemplative vein, the church maintains an outdoor labyrinth and Unity Green for meditation, with expanded memorial gardens and an outdoor labyrinth dedicated in 2003. Goodman Green, the historic common on South Main Street that was donated to the Ecclesiastical Society in 1747 by Timothy Goodman as a parade ground, was renamed Unity Green in 2021 in a change approved by the congregation, which still owns the land in the center of town.
Music as a Spiritual Practice
Music is woven into the life of First Church in a way few congregations can match. The Adult Choir provides choral music to amplify the spiritual message of each Sunday morning worship and draws on a repertoire that spans classical, gospel, folk, jazz, and contemporary sacred music. In addition to weekly offertories, the choir has performed major works in concert, including Fauré's Requiem, Duruflé's Requiem, Vierne's Missa Solemnis, and Paul Winter's Grammy-winning Missa Gaia. Rehearsals are held on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the Choir Room, and new singers of all skill levels are welcome without audition. Membership in the church is not required.
The Handbell Choir, directed by Jessica Berube-Sengupta, rehearses on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. A Trombone Choir adds another brass dimension to the music program. Each fall the choirs begin rehearsals the first week of September.
Beyond the choirs, the church is home to the First Church Carillon, a striking feature of the West Hartford skyline that was the subject of a major steeple restoration completed in 2023. After the congregation voted to undertake desperately needed steeple repairs using the endowment, volunteers raised an additional $40,000 during the summer of 2023, and the steeple was rededicated that October. The Carillon Concert Series, held on Thursdays in July, brings the instrument to life each summer, while the Sun is Shining concert series runs on Tuesdays in August under a tent on the lawn. The Arts in the Center chamber music series continues through the rest of the year, and visiting groups such as the Choral Club of Hartford and the City Singers perform at the church during the holidays.
Weekly recitals, special services, funerals, and concerts are all broadcast on the church's YouTube channel, where a team of volunteers now operates live-streaming cameras from a behind-the-scenes control room installed after the pandemic.
The John P. Webster Library: A "House of the Word"
Beneath the Meeting House sits the John P. Webster Library, a spiritual resource center that has been open to the public since 1978. It was established through a bequest from Florence Sidette Crofut, a Hartford philanthropist who joined First Church late in her life, and was named in honor of the Reverend John P. Webster, who served as the congregation's Senior Minister from 1956 to 1976. At the dedication Rev. Webster expressed his hope that the library would become "the House of the Word," a place of acceptance where patrons of all ages and backgrounds would find inspiration for their faith journeys.
The library is staffed by Director Jennifer Ackerman deSimas and Assistant Librarian Molly Bohman, and it offers a wide collection of books and media on Christianity, world religions, spirituality, and social justice. The library is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 9:00 a.m. until noon, when the Sunday morning worship service is also live-streamed in the reading room for anyone who would like to worship in a quieter setting. The space is closed Friday and Saturday. Admission is free, and a library card is available to anyone. Visitors may also browse the catalog, use the free wi-fi, or watch a child play in the children's area.
Three adult book groups sponsored by the library meet September through June. Awakening the Spirit gathers on Mondays from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. for interfaith dialogue, ethics, theology, and biblical scholarship, with refreshments provided and members encouraged to bring a bag lunch. Food for Thought meets on the first Tuesday of each month from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., reading autobiography, biography, literary fiction, sociology, and historical fiction through the lens of faith and spirituality. A third group, an Early Christianity Book Club, alternates between Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings. A separate book group for sixth through eighth graders, Believe in YourSHELF, meets on the third Sunday of each month at 10:15 a.m. The library also lends multiple copies of books to outside book groups and maintains a Senior Resource Manual developed in 2017 by member Julia Rosa, R.N., to assist older adults and their families with care options, aging at home, transportation, illness management, spirituality, and legal concerns. Five Wishes living will booklets are available free of charge, and a Seed Library shares heirloom seeds with the community.
The library's vision statement names its role plainly: The John P. Webster Library contributes to the transformation of the world by cultivating a diverse community of faith exploration and spirituality. Its mission is to provide resources, events, and services consistent with the mission of First Church to meet the spiritual, faith, and social justice resource needs of the congregation and communities in Connecticut and throughout New England.
Faith Formation for Children and Youth
The Faith Formation for Children and Youth ministry, under Director Amanda Bethune, nurtures children from church school age through high school. On Sundays during the academic year, programming reaches children at their developmental levels and weaves in discussions of generosity, justice, and radical hospitality. On the first Sunday of each month, children join the whole congregation for an All-Ages Worship service in place of church school to engage the sacraments and traditions of the church together.
Special events throughout the year give the program a familiar rhythm: a Christmas Pageant in December, a Nativity Gingerbread Workshop, Children's Sunday in June with the theme "Bloom Where You're Planted," Shrove Pancake Sunday with Mardi Gras festivities to kick off Lent, an Easter Egg Hunt that once moved indoors to the Meeting House when the weather did not cooperate, and "First Sunday" in September, when the church year opens with DJ Miles, face painting, balloon animals, glitter tattoos, and a congregational lunch on the lawn.
For teenagers, Confirmation is a series of classes and faith experiences, typically offered to those in ninth grade and older, that uses the Confirm not Conform curriculum to explore questions of faith, learn more about Christianity and the church, and consider how to live a life of faith in the world today. The most recent Confirmation class, welcomed on April 6, 2025, included fifteen teenagers, and a new class is forming each year under the guidance of Rev. Ward and program mentors. The youth ministry also includes Middle School and High School groups that meet roughly two to three times each month, with one of their regular activities being the Sunday preparation of eighty bagged lunches for Loaves and Fishes Ministries.
Faith Formation for Adults
Adults at First Church have several long-standing opportunities to study, exercise, and serve together. The Exploring Scripture Bible Study meets on the first and third Sundays from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. in the John P. Webster Library, where participants wrestle with the meaning of passages and how they apply to daily life. FitMix, led by Kathi Boratko, meets on Tuesdays at 5:45 p.m. in the auditorium for a well-rounded workout of resistance training, cardio, and balance, with modifications for seated and standing participants. Tai Chi and Qi Gong with Cynthia Hoag meets on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. in the chapel, balancing mindfulness with gentle movement and ending in a short heartfelt meditation.
The Spirit Team supports transformational spirituality in practice and celebration through worship, faith formation, and music. The team is launching Sisters in Spirit, a new circle for spiritual exploration for the women of First Church that will host gatherings, speakers, spiritual practices, and retreats throughout the year. The Climate Change Workgroup, formerly the Climate Justice Team, focuses on earth stewardship both at the church and at home, building on the congregation's recognition as a Green Church by the United Church of Christ. The church also hosts occasional day trips to local theaters, seminaries, and houses of worship to explore spirituality in the wider community.
The Inreach Team
The Inreach Team is the congregation's ministry to itself, supporting the First Church family of members and guests through Parish Care, Hospitality, and Fellowship. Coffee Hour after Sunday worship, hosted by volunteers, is the most familiar gathering, and the team actively invites members to sign up. Other long-standing gatherings include Gather 'Round the Table, a potluck dinner group in which hosts invite friends old and new to share a meal, and Creative Crafters, which meets every Friday from 10:30 a.m. until noon in the church activity room to knit and crochet twiddlemuffs for local memory care facilities, along with bed quilts, shawls, lap blankets, hats, mittens, and scarves. The Crafters have produced more than 200 twiddlemuffs and countless other items since the group's founding in 2019.
Coffee and Conversation meets on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. at Hartford Baking Company on Farmington Avenue. Parish Care volunteers send cards and notes for birthdays and holidays, provide transportation to church when needed, and stay in touch with members through Phone Friends. A team of ushers is also recruited and scheduled by the Inreach Team for Sunday services, special events, memorial services, funerals, and weddings.
The Outreach Team and Mission Partners
First Church understands itself as the body of Christ, and the Outreach Team's work reflects a belief in showing kindness and compassion to all of God's creation. Once a month, after Sunday worship, members gather in the auditorium to make eighty bagged lunches for residents of the Asylum Hill neighborhood who experience very low food security, with each bag containing a sandwich, chips, an apple, and homemade cookies. On the fourth Tuesday of each month at 10:00 a.m., a First Church team volunteers with Loaves and Fishes Ministries at Immanuel Congregational Church to serve a hot meal, and members regularly donate grocery items to the meals-to-go program.
On the first Sunday of each month, the Outreach Team spotlights a different Reach Out mission partner. Recent and ongoing partners include the West Hartford Food Pantry, where blue collection buckets around the building accept non-perishable donations; Fern Street Backpack Program, which provides weekend nourishment to West Hartford Public School students in need; Covenant to Care for Children, for which members fill Easter baskets, backpacks, and Thanksgiving baskets and run a Hat and Mitten drive; and DonorsChoose Hartford Public Schools, which channels teacher requests from across the district. The Outreach Team also maintains active relationships with the Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance (GHIAA), Hands on Hartford, Interval House, the Bridge Family center, the Village, South Park Inn, House of Bread, Loaves and Fishes, Habitat for Humanity, My Sister's Place, Chrysalis Center and Freshplace, Mercy Housing, KNOX, and Journey Home. In the wider community, members help pack Blessing Bags delivered to Loaves and Fishes and House of Bread, plant herbs and vegetables with LEVO International, host a booth at West Hartford Pride Day, march in the Memorial Day Parade, and gather each October for the Blessing of the Animals, a simple service of worship led by Rev. Ward to honor God's gift of creation.
The West Hartford Festival of Trees
Each December the congregation sponsors the West Hartford Festival of Trees, a fundraiser that has become one of the most cherished holiday traditions in the area. Individuals, families, businesses, and organizations create and donate original decorated artificial Christmas trees, wreaths, and wall hangings, and the entries are displayed over the West Hartford Holiday Stroll weekend and the following Saturday. Visitors pay nothing to stroll the festival and may purchase tickets for a chance to win their favorite entry, with $1 for one ticket, $10 for ten tickets, or $20 for twenty-five tickets. Gift card presents bundle approximately ten to eighteen gift cards each and are sold separately for $5 a ticket.
Proceeds from the festival are distributed to the church's mission partners, including the Bridge Family Center, Hands on Hartford, Covenant to Care for Children, Interval House, Foodshare, Loaves and Fishes, Chrysalis Center and Freshplace, My Sister's Place, Habitat for Humanity, South Park Inn, House of Bread, and the Village. The 2024 festival alone raised more than $5,000 for charity.
First Church Academy for Young Children
In 1941 the congregation opened a preschool that has welcomed children of all faiths and backgrounds for more than eight decades. First Church Academy for Young Children provides a consistent and nurturing environment for the growth of the whole child, with programs for toddlers, two-year-olds, and three-year-olds, including enrichment activities such as releasing butterflies raised in the classroom into the Memorial Garden. The academy is led by Education Director Dawne Quinn, with NAYEC Coordinator and Administrator Nicole Cook and Bookkeeper Torrey O'Connor. The academy maintains its own phone line at 860-232-2106.
Weddings, Memorials, and the Memorial Garden
First Church hosts weddings, baptisms, and funeral and memorial services for both members and non-members. Weddings may be held in the elegant Georgian Revival Meeting House, with its cream and white interior, deep red furnishings, and a tall-columned, 100-foot expanse that seats a large gathering, or in the warm, flexible-seating Chapel for smaller ceremonies. The first step for any couple is to make an appointment with a pastor to meet, talk about the ceremony, and tour the worship spaces; weddings are then scheduled at the discretion of the Senior Pastor. Couples are required to attend three to four premarital mentoring sessions in addition to the initial meeting, with the Director of Worship Arts helping to plan the music. A rehearsal is usually held at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. on the evening before the ceremony. First Church is an Open and Affirming church and welcomes and affirms each person regardless of age, ability, economic standing, gender, nationality, race, or sexual orientation.
For funeral and memorial services, the pastor arranges for the organist, and the family coordinates any additional music. Receptions are not a general practice, though the officiating pastor may choose to extend the service as circumstances warrant. The auditorium is air conditioned and has an attached kitchen for catering. The sanctuary has an elevator and is fully accessible, and services can be live-streamed on a private YouTube channel for remote viewers. The Memorial Garden, a planned garden of beauty and meditation in the care of the church, provides for the disposition of cremated remains of loved ones of present and former members and their families, regardless of faith. Memorial bronze plates are mounted permanently on the south side of the garden terrace, and a $450 donation to the Memorial Garden Fund covers the cost of each plate and ongoing maintenance.
Open and Affirming at the Center of Town
First Church of Christ Congregational is a member congregation of the United Church of Christ and lives out its identity as an Open and Affirming church, welcoming and affirming each person regardless of age, ability, economic standing, gender, nationality, race, or sexual orientation. The building at 12 South Main Street has served as the spiritual, civic, and educational heart of West Hartford since 1713, and the present sanctuary, parish house, and chapel have done so since the late 1940s. From the John P. Webster Library open beneath the Meeting House to the First Church Academy for Young Children on the lower floors, from the choirs and the carillon in the steeple to the tables of bagged lunches assembled each month for Loaves and Fishes, the ministries of First Church continue to take shape around the same charge that has guided the congregation for more than three hundred years: to be a center where spirituality and caring come alive in faithful community.