"ONE BIG FAMILY," the church's own tagline reads, and that spirit runs through nearly everything North Madison Congregational Church does. Set on a leafy stretch of Durham Road in the North Madison section of Madison, Connecticut, the congregation gathers around an Open and Affirming identity, a serious choral tradition, a mission-driven heart and a long-running play-based preschool, Circle Nursery School, that shares the same campus. The "Church at the Circle," as longtime members sometimes call it, is a congregation of the United Church of Christ that welcomes believers and questioners of every background, every ability and every identity.

Sunday Worship and What to Expect

Worship begins at 10:00 a.m. each Sunday in the sanctuary, with a 9:30 a.m. schedule during July and August. The service generally runs about 75 minutes and is offered both in person and virtually on Zoom, with a Facebook Live feed also streaming from the sanctuary.

A friendly usher greets visitors at the door, name tags are offered, and at the start of the service guests are invited to introduce themselves. The order of worship includes scripture, a children's message, preaching, prayer and music, with frequent opportunities to stand, sing, pray aloud, greet neighbors, sit in silence or read responsively. Congregants share joys and concerns before the service closes with the special hymn "Shalom."

Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month and is intentionally scheduled before Children's Church so families, teachers and children can share the sacrament together. The church welcomes everyone to the table. Attire is entirely up to the individual; some dress in their Sunday best, others in casual clothes, and the community emphasizes that God cares more about the heart than the wardrobe.

Accessibility and accommodations

Assisted listening devices and large-print bulletins are available for every service. Gender-neutral ADA restrooms are on both levels. Handicap parking sits near the front door, and three entrances are accessible: one on the main floor and two from the lower parking lot to the lower level. Handrails line all stairs, though there is currently no elevator between floors.

A Music-Centered Tradition

Music is woven deeply into the life of the congregation. Minister of Music Linda Juliani, who grew up singing in a 300-voice youth and high school choir program in West Hartford and went on to study music at Middlebury College, leads a choir that has recorded three CDs and frequently presents choral works spanning Bach and Fauré to contemporary anthems by Craig Courtney and Kenney Potter. Palm Sunday typically features an extra-special choral offering with strings, keyboard and harp, and the choir has represented the church at ChoralFest, a multi-congregation gathering of about 100 singers.

Each week Juliani writes "Musings from Linda," a short reflection on the music chosen for the coming Sunday. A long-running concert series hosted in the sanctuary brings additional programming to the wider community.

Children, Youth and Confirmation

Children and youth ministry is a major focus. Children's Church welcomes children from birth through eighth grade, beginning right after the children's sermon in worship, with volunteer teachers leading age-appropriate lessons that connect scripture to everyday life. Nursery care is available throughout worship, and yellow entertainment bags sit at the back of the sanctuary for restless little ones. Older teens are invited to serve as teaching assistants, nursery helpers and junior deacons.

Youth groups are organized by age: a Senior Youth Group for ages 14 to 18, a Junior Youth Group for ages 10 to 13 and a Junior Junior Youth Group for ages 7 to 9. Activities include game and movie nights, pizza dinners, snow tubing and discussion groups, plus service projects such as preparing and serving meals for unhoused neighbors in New Haven, making fleece blankets for guests at Columbus House, and a summer mission trip focused on building projects.

Confirmation is offered through a yearlong Journey Group for high school students, exploring questions of faith and spirituality with adult mentors and peers and culminating in a confirmation service and welcome into adult membership.

Other offerings include a Girls Empowerment Workshop Series for girls in fourth through eighth grades, developed by a twelfth-grader as her senior project and supervised by Youth Minister Sue Timony-Hall, and Kindness Club, an after-school drop-off program for children ages five through ten that visits HarborChase Assisted Living in Madison.

Circle Nursery School

Sharing the lower level of the building and much of the surrounding grounds is Circle Nursery School, a play-based, non-religious, NAEYC-accredited early childhood education center and an outreach ministry of the church. Programs include Circle Tots for two-year-olds with a caregiver, a Three's class, a Four's class and a Pre-K, all running weekday mornings. Favourite in-house field trips have included visits from Meigs Point Nature Center, Curious Creatures, Bauer Park and the North Madison Volunteer Fire Company.

Director Amy Heilmann oversees the program with Lead Teachers Katie Wilker and Kelly O'Connell and Assistant Teachers Eileen Cavanagh, Brie Ilardi and Nichole Carpenter. The school's garden, including a star magnolia tree named "Steve," is shared with the church's Garden Ministry, and the children regularly take nature walks around the property.

Mission Partners Along the Shoreline and Beyond

The church maintains four long-standing mission partnerships:

• Columbus House. For more than 25 years, the congregation has supported Columbus House's work to end homelessness in Connecticut. Volunteers serve a hot breakfast one Saturday morning per month in the dining room and on the Medical Respite floor, and at Christmas provide socks, scarves, hats, gloves and gift cards to those awaiting housing.
• Connecticut Quest for Peace. This partnership supports educational opportunities for children experiencing poverty in Latin America and Appalachia, with annual collections of school supplies, clothing, medical equipment and household goods.
• St. Martin de Porres Academy. A holistic twelve-year program educating students from low-income families in New Haven. NMCC volunteers serve as tutors and a librarian and respond to specific needs such as headphones for remote learning and bicycles for skill-building.
• Call to Care Uganda. The church has helped fund the construction of two wells to bring health, safety and education to communities in need.

Caring Ministries and Creation Care

A wide-reaching Caring Ministries network tends to members of the congregation and the wider community. Called to Care, coordinated by Peter Haff, works with the pastor and deacons on phone outreach and personal visits. Caring Cooks, led by Julie Abbott, delivers home-cooked meals to families dealing with medical issues, loss or other stress. The Knitting Ministry, led by Lyn Boling, makes prayer shawls that are blessed during worship, baby and child hats for New Reach (which assists families with housing insecurity), and hats and scarves sold at the Madison Pride Festival to support the ACLU. A Prayer Ministry, led by Linda Young, lifts up urgent prayer requests and maintains the prayer lists.

Food support takes the form of monthly collections of canned tuna, chicken, pasta and cereal for the Madison and Clinton Food Pantries, plus a coin collection each Communion Sunday for the Clinton pantry.

The Prison Ministry supports families and individuals affected by incarceration through Free Forever Prison Ministry in New Haven, providing food, personal care and toys, and partners with First Church Congregational in Guilford to fill backpacks for people re-entering the community. Letter-writing campaigns and guest speakers such as Rev. Dr. Dietra Wise Baker help inform and strengthen the work.

Caring for Creation, the church's environmental ministry, organizes activity around gardening, sustainability and exploring local ecosystems. The Garden Ministry maintains eight gardens and the star magnolia "Steve" on the grounds, plus a vegetable patch in the upper parking lot that has donated more than 125 gallons of lettuce and a season of summer crops to the Madison Food Pantry. NMCC gardeners have also helped restore gardens at four Columbus House properties and at the homes of several church families. "Tuesdays in the Garden," a long-running YouTube series of short videos by NMCC gardeners, grew out of the early pandemic and remains an active resource for the wider community.

An Active Calendar Beyond the Sanctuary

Several signature events punctuate the year.

The annual Harvest Dinner fills Fellowship Hall in early November with sit-down seatings and take-out meals of roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, mashed turnips, green beans, cranberry sauce, and apple or pumpkin pie, with herbs grown on site in the Harvest Dinner Herb Garden. The building is alcohol-free.

The annual Holiday Artisan Fair on the first Saturday of December brings more than 35 juried Connecticut artisans and crafters, a "cookie walk" of more than 2,500 homemade cookies baked by the congregation, and Karen's Café serving homemade turkey pot pies and signature cranberry chutney.

The Occasional Coffeehouse is a listening-room concert series hosted in the sanctuary, featuring singer-songwriters such as Buddy Mondlock. Sponsored by Shoreline Pastoral Counseling and hosted by Milton Brasher-Cunningham and Heather Arcovitch, the evenings are open to the public but are not Christian-themed events.

The Witch Tryal is an immersive theatrical experience that recreates a 1692 Connecticut witchcraft trial, with audience members cast as participants and a colonial-style reception to follow. Tickets are $20. The program is not recommended for young children.

Advent and Lent bring their own rhythm of services: a Christmas Pageant, a Longest Night / Blue Christmas service, Christmas Eve services at 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., Palm Sunday, Good Friday Tenebrae, an Easter Vigil, Easter Sunrise at the church's cemetery less than a mile from the Meetinghouse, and Easter Worship.

Skunk Misery Ramblers Fiddle Club, a community outreach program hosted by NMCC and led by Charlie Schafer, welcomes players of violins, mandolins, guitars, banjos and other instruments of all abilities, from beginners to seasoned pros, mixing old-time, Western swing, bluegrass, Scots, Irish and a touch of classical. The group meets on Sundays at 4:00 p.m.

Open and Affirming, With a Healthy Relationship Covenant

The congregation adopted an Open and Affirming (ONA) Covenant in February 2017, committing publicly to welcome all persons regardless of age, race, ethnicity, mental and physical capability, marital choice, sexual orientation, gender identity, faith background or socio-economic status. As an ONA congregation, NMCC offers weddings, baptisms and Communion to all, accessibility for those with mobility challenges, virtual and in-person worship, progressive Bible study, "Our Whole Lives" sexuality education for youth, and community support for at-risk youth and adults.

A separate Healthy Relationship Covenant, drawn from Ephesians 4:15 ("speaking the truth in love"), sets expectations for kind, direct communication and constructive conflict resolution among members.

The Building and the Gardens

The historic Meetinghouse at 1271 Durham Road anchors the campus. Modern, bright event spaces are available to rent for weddings, memorial services, meetings, retreats and classes, with a kitchen, tables, seating and technological amenities. Fellowship Hall hosts dinners, yoga classes, coffeehouse concerts and other large gatherings. The building is also home to Circle Nursery School.

Eight gardens surround the Meetinghouse: a Hosta Garden, a Serenity Garden, the Betty Gutt Garden, the Circle Nursery Garden, a Rock Garden, a Rose Garden, the Harvest Dinner Herb Garden and the Vegetable Patch. They are tended year-round by NMCC gardeners and enjoyed by Circle Nursery School students.

Pastoral Leadership

Rev. Dr. Heather Arcovitch has served as Senior Minister since 2019. Ordained in the United Church of Christ since 1996, she brings a background in healing modalities, studio art, international service, community engagement and justice and inclusion work. An Intentional Interim Ministry Specialist, labyrinth facilitator and Reiki master, she is described by the church as a "dynamic, funny, engaging preacher and teacher" who is passionate about ministry that draws people on the edges or outside the church into deeper connection with themselves, the holy and one another.

Linda Juliani serves as Minister of Music, Meredith Young as Director of Christian Education, and Sue Timony-Hall as Youth Minister. Jackie Fix has been Office Manager since 2011, Donna Michalski is the Bookkeeping Clerk, and Jason Marchi is the Property Manager. Council Moderator Carol Luckenbach leads the lay governance of the congregation.

Giving is offered through Vanco, PayPal and Venmo (@NMCChurch), and videos of past services are posted on the church's YouTube channel. Newcomers can find detailed visitor information on the Plan Your Visit page.