Tucked into a hillside just off Route 31 in the Village of Fairport, Mountain Rise United Church of Christ has been a fixture of southeast Monroe County since the mid-1960s. The congregation gathers each Sunday morning for creative, justice-seeking worship and maintains partnerships that stretch from the church's accessible lower-level classrooms to a sister church in Flor del Campo, a poor neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Mountain Rise carries two designations from its national denomination: it is an Open and Affirming congregation and a Global Mission church, two labels that shape everything from its welcome at the door to its grant-making choices and the missions its members travel to support.
Sixty Years on the Hill
The story of Mountain Rise begins in 1961, when the United Church of Christ Board of Homeland Ministries accepted an invitation from the Rochester Area Council of Churches to plant a new congregation in southeast Monroe County. Land was purchased on Mountain Rise and a parsonage on Little Spring Run. The Reverend Charles Higgins was called as the congregation's first minister in 1962, and 110 charter members signed a covenant that first year. Mountain Rise was accepted into the UCC's Genesee Valley Association, and a Church Constitution and Bylaws were written. For its first few years the congregation worshipped in a temporary home on Ayrault Road beside the Erie Canal while member-architect Jack Morton designed the building that still anchors the site. The first worship service in the new sanctuary took place in May 1966.
The Reverend J. Harrison (Harry) Petter was called as the second minister in 1966, the same year the Social Action Committee began laying the groundwork for what would become the Genesee Ecumenical Ministry's Pastoral Counseling Center. In 1968 and 1969 the congregation published its first cookbook (Company's Coming), became a teaching church for Colgate Rochester Divinity School, and launched the My Brother's Keeper program on inter-racial understanding with fourteen other area churches. The Karl Johnson Years (1972 to 1988) brought a more than 38 percent increase in giving, a move to two Sunday services to accommodate growth, a Youth Club with 46 young people, and a Refugee Friendship Project that resettled members of the Rasichanh family from Laos and, over time, 26 additional Lao relatives.
A major sanctuary and kitchen expansion was completed in 1979. The Reverend Richard Weir arrived in 1988, beginning many of the traditions that still define Mountain Rise: an outdoor summer service tradition, the Joyful Noise (now House Band) jazz series, the Ecumenical (Advent House) hospice partnership, the first church-wide CROP Walk for Hunger along the Erie Canal, and Earth Day observances including the planting of a white pine as an Iroquois peace symbol. Weir also led Mountain Rise to begin sponsoring a medical student each summer to work with the rural health organization ASAPROSAR in El Salvador.
In 1995 the congregation formally adopted a resolution to become an Open and Affirming church, welcoming all people regardless of race, sex, nationality, physical ability, or sexual orientation. The Reverend Dr. Greg Osterberg, a former student minister from Colgate Rochester, became the church's fifth minister in 2004 and served for nearly 18 years. Under his leadership the building was renovated for full ADA compliance (a roughly one-million-dollar project completed in 2007 and 2008), Suzanne Gangemi was named Director of Family Life Ministry, and the Peacemakers preschool peace-education program celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Osterberg retired in mid-2022, and the Reverend Dr. Kelly Sprinkle served as Intentional Interim Pastor from January 2023. In 2024 Mountain Rise welcomed a visit from the Rev. John Dorhauer, the ninth General Minister and President of the UCC. The Reverend Corey Keyes was called as the settled pastor in 2025 and his installation is scheduled as part of the fall of the program year.
Open and Affirming, Global Mission
Mountain Rise is one of the long-standing Open and Affirming congregations of the UCC, a designation it adopted in 1996 and renewed through three decades of work. Its Open and Affirming Group continues to educate the congregation on current LGBTQ+ issues, creates a safe and affirming space, and stands as allies in the wider community, including sponsorship of the Rochester Pride Parade each July. The church also carries the UCC's Global Mission Church designation. Its primary mission relationship today is with Viviendo en Amor y Vida (Living in Love and Faith), an UCC congregation in Flor del Campo, a poor neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Mountain Rise members travel to Honduras to deliver Christian education supplies and college scholarships, and the Honduras Team publishes regular reports describing the work. In 2022 a member of Viviendo en Amor y Vida, Evelyn Cantor, founded Lidera, a nonprofit focused on early childhood education. With a grant from Mountain Rise, Lidera established Grow Academy, a nursery school for children ages six months to four years, in the lower level of the sister church.
These designations shape the church's theology as well. Mountain Rise teaches that God's love embraces all persons equally, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation; that the Bible is taken seriously but cannot always be taken literally; that justice is the social expression of God's love; and that God is still speaking, including through other faiths and other sources. Worship, study, and service are organized with those commitments in mind.
Sundays at Ten
Sunday worship at Mountain Rise begins at 10:00 AM in the sanctuary and is also livestreamed. The service is described as creative worship: each week typically includes readings, music, a special Children's Offering and Message, and a sermon. Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, and the table is open to all. On the second Sunday the House Band (a jazz ensemble with piano, bass, and percussion) leads the music; that monthly gathering is the spiritual descendant of the Joyful Noise tradition begun in 1990. Greeters and ushers hand out programs and hearing loops as needed, and media operators handle both the in-sanctuary visuals and the livestream broadcast.
Children are present for the first portion of the service. After the Children's Offering and Message they are invited to leave for their Sunday school classrooms, although families are welcome to keep children in worship. Children's offerings have supported the Heifer Project, Cameron Community, and other projects chosen by the children themselves. Activity bags are available in worship throughout the year.
Visitors who drive in will find two parking areas off Mountain Rise Street: an upper lot at the top of the driveway and a lower lot behind the building. Handicap parking is available in both. From the upper lot, the main entrance leads into a narthex with the sanctuary on the right. From the lower lot, an elevator or staircase reaches the main floor, where a welcome table sits just before the sanctuary. The building is fully accessible, and an accessible outdoor worship area is maintained east of the upper lot for summer services.
Mountain Rise encourages people to dress comfortably. Some worshippers dress up, others come in casual clothes; both are equally welcome.
A Music Program in Many Keys
Music sits at the center of Mountain Rise worship. Jeanne Grace has directed the choir since 1973 and welcomes adult and teen singers at any time. From September through June the choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings and again before Sunday services, providing hymns and anthems each week. Service music year-round is supported by a rotation of pianists: Jamilya Arzanesh, Scott Bradley, and Katherine Snelling.
The House Band brings a jazz sensibility to the second Sunday of each month. Scott Bradley plays piano, Doug Fien plays bass, and Don Sherman plays percussion and flute. The Mighty Wind Ensemble opens its doors to brass and woodwind players of all ages, joining the choir and House Band for an anthem once or twice a year, with one optional Wednesday rehearsal and a Sunday morning run-through.
The handbell choir was a gift to the congregation in the late 2010s and now offers music on occasional Sundays. Director Janice Hanson, a long-time choral singer and former member of bell choirs at a UCC church in Vermont and at the American Church in Paris, welcomes interested young people and adults with or without ringing experience. Rehearsals run in concentrated six-week sessions in the lead-up to a featured Sunday.
Faith Formation for Children, Youth, and Adults
Mountain Rise's faith-formation work is built around the A Joyful Path curriculum, a progressive, story-centered approach. Children's classes meet every Sunday after the Children's Offering and Message and are led by a team of caring adults who have completed background checks and the church's safety training. The curriculum is supported by a Safe Church Policy covering children, youth, and vulnerable adults, with copies of the Child and Youth Safety Policy and the Workplace Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy available in the church office.
Youth are encouraged to participate in worship through ushering, Scripture reading, music, and the multi-age Soulful Soup fellowship evenings. Confirmation begins in seventh grade and follows a multi-church model: the current Confirmation class draws youth from five area churches and meets twice a month for Bible study, exposure to other faith communities, and service projects. A Children and Youth Ministry Coordinator, Elisabeth Hammer, supports this work.
Adults have a number of recurring formation opportunities:
- The Sunday Morning Bible Reflection meets at 8:30 AM during the school year around the common lectionary readings, with supplementary material from the UCC's Weekly Seeds.
- Bibles and Books gathers on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 10:15 to 11:30 AM for discussion of Bible versions, books, and short readings.
- Four Spiritual Growth groups currently meet monthly for two hours, sharing life experiences and a chosen topic under ground rules of confidentiality and mutual respect. Groups typically include eight to ten people.
- The Mountain Rise Book Group meets on the third Monday of each month at 7:30 PM via Zoom, reading nonfiction, history, memoirs, and novels chosen by the group.
- First Monday brings a guest speaker to the sanctuary at 7:15 PM for a roughly hour-long presentation and discussion; members may come for an optional 6:00 PM dinner beforehand.
Family programming includes a monthly Game Night, Advent-ure at Powers Farm Market (an outdoor Nativity walk under the stars after a shared meal), family retreats, and service projects such as kindness bags, a pollinator garden, and handmade sandwiches, pillows, and cards for local organizations.
Fellowship Beyond Sunday Morning
Hospitality at Mountain Rise begins at the front door with greeters and a welcoming table staffed with greeter bags for first-time guests. After worship, coffee hour features Fair Trade coffee from The Women's Coffee Connection, served in compostable cups, and on the last Sunday of the month the fellowship becomes Sundae Sunday with ice cream and treats in the Fellowship Hall.
Sunday is only the beginning. Dinner Groups sign up in the fall and meet four times a year in homes or restaurants in groups of six to eight. The Knitters Group convenes on Tuesdays from 10:00 AM to noon in the church library, knitting hats and mittens for the Angel Christmas Project, Jewish Outreach Center, and Saints Place at St. Louis Church. Game Nights happen on the second Saturday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in the lower fellowship hall, with participants bringing games and a snack. Romeos (the men's lunch group) meets Fridays at noon at Jeremiah's Tavern in Penfield; Juliets (the women's lunch group) meets on the last Friday of the month at a rotating restaurant.
The church building itself becomes a community hub when outside groups use the space. Congregation Etz Chaim, the Perinton Nursery School, the Mountain Rise Discussion of AA, the American Wine Society, the Federation of Monroe County Environmentalists, the Town of Perinton, and a variety of music studios currently rent or share Mountain Rise's rooms.
Caring Connections
Pastoral care at Mountain Rise runs through a Caring Connections ministry that operates as several overlapping teams. A Ride Share Team offers transportation to and from Sunday services for those who enjoy in-person worship. A Flowers Team delivers arrangements donated for Sunday services to brighten someone's week. A Prayer Circle commits to daily prayer for members and friends who request it. A Memorial Reception Team prepares meals for bereaved families gathering with extended friends. A Cards of Caring Team sends personal notes. A Visitations Team visits members living in care facilities at least once a month. The Caring Connections ministry is overseen by Co-Chairs Cheryl Pipkin and Sherry Shaffer.
Service and Advocacy
Service work at Mountain Rise is led by a Service and Advocacy Committee and organized into several teams. Each year the Endowment Committee funds a slate of community grants; a partial list of recipients includes Advent House, Church World Service, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, Dimitri House, Family Promise of Greater Rochester, Foodlink, Genesee Area Campus Ministry, Habitat for Humanity, HOPE Haiti Outreach, Isaiah House, Learning Links of Fairport, Lidera, Mary's Place, Metro Justice, MHA Rochester, NAMI Rochester, the Perinton Food Shelf, RAICA (Rochester Area Interfaith Climate Action), REACH, the Salem Nutrition Center, and Teen Empowerment.
The Universal Justice Team encourages members to engage with the National UCC Justice and Peace platform through educational, civic, and spiritual opportunities. The Green Team promotes a Green 15 List of Actions, conducted a church energy audit, set up an outdoor composting facility, and works closely with RAICA on climate conferences and marches, including the annual Rochester Climate March in September. The Honduras Team tends the sister-church relationship with Viviendo en Amor y Vida and supports Lidera's Grow Academy. The Salem Clothing Team collects, sorts, and delivers quality used clothing to guests of the Salem UCC soup kitchen once a month.
Members also give direct volunteer time to Advent House (a two-bed hospice in Fairport), Isaiah House (a hospice for those without financial resources), the Learning Links tutoring and ESOL program at Evergreen East in Fairport, Habitat for Humanity (with other Perinton congregations every three years), and the Rochester Pride Parade.
The Pastor and the Staff
The Reverend Corey Keyes, the current settled pastor, was raised at West Bloomfield United Church of Christ, where he later served as full-time pastor for 28 years (1996 to 2024). During his tenure West Bloomfield UCC grew to support a full-time minister for the first time in more than two decades, built a 4,300-square-foot addition, achieved Open and Affirming status by unanimous vote in 2007, became a 5-for-5 church, and streamlined its governance. After a stint as Executive Director of the Haden Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, Keyes felt called back to parish ministry. He holds a Master of Divinity, awarded with distinction, from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (1999); is an award-winning writer and a skilled spiritual director; and prefers to be called Corey.
The church office is staffed by Administrative Assistant Kate Wahl, a longtime Fairport resident whose previous role was at St. John of Rochester Church. Custodian James MacDonald, who has kept Mountain Rise clean since January 2008 and clears snowy walkways in winter, is a Rochester native with more than three decades of service in the Pittsford schools before joining the church.
Beliefs and Practices
Mountain Rise describes itself as a vibrant, progressive, faith-based, justice-seeking, service-minded community. The congregation has publicly stated that God's love embraces all persons equally regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation; that faith is a matter of mind as well as heart; that diversity, acceptance, and inclusivity are strengths to be taught; that justice is the social expression of God's love; that the Bible is taken seriously and therefore cannot always be taken literally; and that spiritual life can heal the soul, equipping believers to heal their community and the Earth. The church approaches the Bible as a sacred text that can reveal new truths on every reading while recognizing that the Spirit also speaks through other sources and other faiths.
The Wider UCC Connection
Mountain Rise belongs to the New York Conference of the United Church of Christ and to the UCC's Genesee Valley Association. The church affirms the UCC's covenantal polity: each local church is autonomous, but the guidance of the General Synod is held in highest regard. Mountain Rise's current governance is built around a smaller Council that emphasizes long-term planning, ministry committees (Spiritual Life and Worship; Service and Advocacy; Faith Formation; Fellowship; and Caring Connections), and governance committees (Finance; Nominations; Communications; Church and Pastor(s); Property; and Endowment). The Council Chair is Mike Tiss; Vice Chair, Kathy Nixon; Secretary, Gail McClain; At-Large members Deborah Nettle, Tom Prins, and Mike Riley; and Communications Co-Chairs Elisabeth Hammer and Cheryl True. The annual budget is approved by the congregation, and copies of the church's bylaws are available from the office.
Getting to Mountain Rise
The church sits at 2 Mountain Rise in Fairport, New York 14450, and is easiest reached from Route 31, with the upper and lower parking lots both served by an accessible path to the sanctuary. From the east, take Route 31 west, turn left onto Mountain Rise, and immediately turn left into the church driveway. From the west, take Route 31 east, turn right onto Mountain Rise, and turn left into the driveway. From the north or south, take Interstate 490 to the Route 31 east exit, turn right onto Mountain Rise, and turn left into the driveway.
The church office is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and visitors are welcome to call (585) 223-2433 or email office@mtriseucc.org with questions. Sunday services are livestreamed on YouTube; giving is available online; and weekly sermons are also available as a podcast. Monthly newsletters in PDF format stretch back several years and are a good way to read the latest reports from the Honduras Team, the Universal Justice Team, and the Caring Connections ministry.
From a single charter meeting in 1962 to a winter evening Bible study, from a Sunday morning jazz service on the second Sunday of the month to a long flight to Tegucigalpa, Mountain Rise United Church of Christ continues to grow into the long shape of its calling, welcoming all to be a community for good in God's world.