A Small-Town Church with a Long Reach
First Presbyterian Church of Clinton sits at 312 Church Street in the village of Clinton, Wisconsin, a few miles east of Beloit. Its members describe themselves as a congregation rooted in faith and serving in love, and the church has earned a reputation in the area for turning its building into a hub of practical help. A food pantry operates in the basement, the lawn gives way to a community garden, the parking lot hosts a before-and-after-school program run by the YWCA of Rock County, and the people of the church cook and serve meals at a family transition center. Inside the sanctuary on a typical Sunday morning, the music is a mix of old and new and the pews hold everyone from longtime farm families to newer arrivals who moved in for the small-town feel.
Sunday Morning at 9:30
Worship at First Pres happens on Sunday mornings at 9:30 in the sanctuary. The service is blended, drawing on both traditional and contemporary hymns and weaving in songs from around the world, sung live or played through video. A combined Sunday school class for children ages 3 to 11 meets during the service, beginning after a brief Moment for the Young when younger worshippers are invited forward. Nursery care is available on request for those who need it.
Fellowship is built into the rhythm of the morning. After the service, the congregation moves into a room adjoining the sanctuary for coffee, conversation, and catching up. A few times a year, the adult education series takes the place of the regular pattern and offers deeper study in small groups.
The sanctuary is the church's main worship space, but the building has other rooms in regular use. The fellowship hall hosts the Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday services during Lent and serves as a gathering spot for seasonal celebrations, movie nights, and fundraisers. The basement is home to the food pantry and the YWCA's before-and-after-school program. Members describe the building itself as a community hub that has been in continuous use for generations of faithful servants.
Children, Youth, and a Back-to-School Carnival
Children and youth are central to the life of the church. During the school year, children ages 3 to 11 gather for Sunday school in a combined class that runs alongside the worship service. Nursery care is available on request for the youngest visitors. The middle and high school students are not parked off in a separate room; they take on leadership in worship and service throughout the year, reading scripture, assisting with music, and pitching in on church projects.
The youth calendar is full of seasonal events that draw families in from the wider community. A Back to School Carnival kicks off the fall. A Halloween dress-up party follows. In December, the children put on a Christmas pageant. One Great Hour of Sharing is observed at Easter. The school year closes with an end-of-the-year Water Wars celebration on the lawn. Throughout it all, the children sing and participate in worship regularly, building habits that last long after the pageant costumes are put away.
For working families in the area, the church building also serves as the home of the YWCA of Rock County's before-and-after-school care program. Parents can drop off and pick up their children at a familiar location, and the church's partnership with the YWCA means that families in the Clinton School District have a dependable option for childcare right alongside the congregation's own programming.
Food, Clothing, and the Garden of Blessings
If the church has a second identity beyond Sunday morning, it is as a center for community outreach. The Mission and Evangelism committee frames the church's approach with a line from 1 John: "Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." The committee supports and encourages the church's mission work locally, nationally, and globally, and members lift up those in need through financial, physical, and spiritual means.
The most visible outreach is the Clinton Community Outreach food pantry. Housed in the church basement, the food pantry is a separate organization supported by a network of area ministries, churches, and donations. It is open the second Saturday of every month from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m., serving anyone in need who resides within the Clinton School District. Donations are accepted the same morning from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., and the CCO on-call volunteer can be reached at 608-290-5440 for other drop-off times. A 2025 addition has grown out of this work: a "snacks and more" give-and-take shelf at the front door of the church offers nonperishables year round, even when the food pantry itself is closed.
A clothing pantry launched in 2025 as a complement to the food pantry. It opens on selected Saturdays throughout the year and stocks seasonal clothing so that people in the community can find warm coats in winter and lighter wear in summer without having to make an appointment.
Outside, on a patch of church lawn, the Garden of Blessings grows vegetables and herbs during the warmer months. The garden produces free fresh food for neighbors during the growing season and is tended by church members and community volunteers alike. Its success has spilled over into the snacks and more shelf inside, so that the spirit of the garden lasts all year.
Beyond its own walls, the church serves meals at Family Promise, a family transition center that helps families experiencing homelessness move toward stable housing. Members have also organized light in-home repair projects for neighbors and have led special offerings for missions beyond the local area.
The Deacons, the Session, and the Pastoral Team
First Presbyterian Church is governed in the Presbyterian way, through a Session of elected elders with the pastor serving as moderator. The Session is the primary decision-making body, and the church's life flows from its work. A board of Deacons supports the congregation with tangible care: when prayer requests come in, the Deacons follow up with food, cards, and visits. Kim Bates, who has been a member of First Pres since 1980, leads the Deacons ministry and oversees much of the children's work, including Sunday school and seasonal crafts.
Rev. Rebecca White Newgren joined the church in March 2023 as Transitional Pastor. She is a Presbyterian minister with a couple of decades of pastoral experience, including seven years of ministry in Rockford focused on missional outreach and eight years in Philadelphia doing multicultural new church development, where she also started a preschool. She lives with her spouse and their three children in an old Victorian home in downtown Rockford, and she is known for enjoying time outside and meeting new people over coffee or tea.
Kennedy Mumm serves as part-time Communications Coordinator. A child of First Pres who grew up in the congregation, she handles the e-newsletter and the online presence of the church during the week. In her day job, she teaches children with special needs.
How the Church Came to Be
The roots of First Presbyterian Church reach back to the middle of the nineteenth century. First Congregational Church of Clinton was established in 1858, and the Clinton Methodist Church grew up alongside it. In 1919, the two congregations merged to form First Presbyterian Church of Clinton. The building, owned by the Congregationalists, became the home of the new church, and the former parsonage next door became the manse where the pastor lived. At the time of the merger, the combined congregation numbered 149 members.
The building was enlarged by a necessary addition in the 1980s and has continued in use ever since. Today it serves as both a place of worship and a community hub, a pattern that mirrors the way the church itself has grown from a small-town merger into a congregation with a wide circle of ministry.
The Church Year, from Advent to Lawn Chairs
The worship life of First Presbyterian follows the rhythms of the Christian calendar. During Advent, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas are observed at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary. On Christmas Eve, the congregation gathers at 4:00 p.m. for a candlelight service with a children's moment and special music. Ash Wednesday brings a 6:30 p.m. worship service in the sanctuary, and Maundy Thursday follows with a 6:30 p.m. worship dinner in the fellowship hall. Palm Sunday and Easter are celebrated together at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary. When summer comes, the congregation often takes the service outside, gathering on the lawn with lawn chairs brought from home.
Adult Education and Fellowship
Education for adults takes a few different forms across the year. The church enjoys several Bible studies and book discussions focused on the seasons of the church year, and members can join in once or on a regular basis. Coffee hour after worship is a weekly fellowship tradition, and special events run throughout the year: seasonal celebrations, fundraising events, and movie nights are all part of the rhythm. The fellowship committee keeps a close eye on the church's Facebook feed for the latest news and announcements.
Beliefs and Denominational Identity
First Presbyterian Church of Clinton is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), part of the Presbytery of Milwaukee, a regional gathering of PCUSA churches represented by their pastors and elders. Members come from many different places and backgrounds. Individually and collectively, they hold that Jesus is Lord and Savior. The congregation enjoys the freedom of a local PCUSA church and the support of the larger denomination, and its beliefs flow from the PCUSA tradition.
Getting Involved
There is room at First Presbyterian for anyone who wants to pitch in. Volunteers help sort and distribute food at the pantry, plant and tend the garden, staff the clothing pantry, serve meals at Family Promise, and lead Bible studies and seasonal events for children and youth. Financial giving is supported through an online giving page, and members keep in touch through a weekly e-newsletter and the church's Facebook page. Visitors and newcomers are welcomed warmly, whatever their background, and the church's own members note that there is no need to worry about how casually one might be dressed. The first Sunday of every month brings communion, open to everyone regardless of background.