Author: Caroline

Last night on June 11, we welcomed the Bosworth Lecture Series back to the church for its June lecture. The Rev. Dr. Nancy H. Soukup, FCC’s minister, and DeWolf Fulton from St. Michael’s Mens Club who each year provide a series of Bosworth Lectures, spoke briefly to the role that FCC’s sixth pastor, the Rev. Henry Wight, had played in 1785 when he began the first ever patriotic exercises in the nation by reading the entirety of the Declaration of Independence publicly.

Wight called for reflection on the veterans who had won the war and for a celebration of the new nation’s freedoms. This tradition has continued in Bristol unbroken for the past 241 years with the addition over the years of speeches by Rev. Wight and other notable guests as well as the now famous July 4th parade in Bristol.

Dyan Vaughn and Rei Battcher, both members of FCC and historians specializing in the early centuries of Rhode Island’s colonization and revolutionary era, brought some 75 attendees into Rev. Wight’s world from his birth in Medfield, MA in 1752 to his death in Bristol in 1837.

Wight’s ancestors came to the New World from the Isle of Wight in England. He served in the American military forces during the Revolution and subsequently carried on his education at Harvard University and pursued ministerial studies. He was a lifelong reader with a good knowledge of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, mathematics and science. He was called to the First Congregational Church in Bristol in 1785 and married Alice Burrington in 1789 in Little Compton. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 1 daughter. After Alice’s death, he remarried to Clarissa Leonard. They had 7 children of which 5 daughters survived him. Wight practiced medicine as well as religion. He routinely called on sick members of his congregation and provided them with remedies as well as spiritual counsel. Wight died, much loved and respected, on 12 August 1837 in Bristol at the age of 85, 10 years after his retirement as pastor, and was buried in Juniper Hill Cemetery, Bristol.

At the end of the lecture, Steve Brosnihan read excerpts from one of Rev. Wight’s patriotic addresses that spoke to the primacy of democratic independence in the lives of Americans. During the Q&A that followed, members of the audience raised questions about several myths that are told relating to Wight or to the Rev. John Burt, who preceded Wight as pastor of FCC. Through their research, Vaughan and Battcher were able to confirm the story about how the Rev. Burt, educated at Harvard University and ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Bristol on 13th May, 1741, died at the age of 50 on 7 October, 1775, in the evening of the bombardment of the town by a British squadron. Burt was a strong advocate of liberty and religious freedom and a faithful pastor of his flock. Dyan pointed out the presence in the church’s museum, adjacent to the DeWolf Chapel, of the actual cannon ball that had landed in the field nearby the spot where the Rev. Burt’s corpse was found after the British attack. It is thought that he died of a heart attack while running from the bombardment.

This past Sunday was a celebration of our Sunday School students, now numbering 22, who gather each Sunday to learn about God’s love for our world. Our children have so much to teach us through their love of life, their curiosity, their enthusiasm, determination and vulnerability. Throughout the service on June 7 , we recognized these children who ranged in age from 2 -18 years. We recognized our 3 long-serving acolytes, Naty, Katie and Teddy, and our new team of young acolytes, Tekla, Gabe, Bella, Brady and Sam, who have so ably taken over the symbolic bringing in and taking out the light of God’s love and knowledge during our worship.

We recognized the Sunday School teachers and the two high school-age assistant teachers, Naty and Katie. And finally recognized our graduating seniors, Naty, Gavin, Logan and Izzy, with prayer shawls and gifts and the hope that they will come back and visit us as often as they can, even as they pursue new adventures in their lives.

The service closed with wise words wishing our children grace and peace, telling them how much we love each one of them, how they remind us and teach us of God’s love and the gifts God has given to us through the glory of God that shines in their faces. Amen.

Following the service, the entire congregation poured out into the courtyard where they ate a delicious summer picnic, thanks to the Christian Education Committee, and caught up on the latest news with friends under the tents. A special congratulations to Janine, Marina and Ellie who participated and won many medals in the recent Special Olympics.

Chefs Paul and Doug oversaw the grill, turning out hamburgers, cheeseburgers and hot dogs and a big cake celebrating our children was enjoyed by all.

What a perfect way to celebrate our church family and kick-off summer!

The Deacons are partnering with the Women’s Resource Center to collect donations for survivors of domestic abuse, who often leave home with few resources. The list of special requests and urgent needs includes the listing in the flyer, above, focusing on items for all sorts of cleaning – both personal and domestic.

You can drop these off at the church in the Narthex and the DeWolf Room. Thank you for contributing to this important outreach to our community.

Since the early morning fire last Halloween, the Facilities Committee has overseen a massive amount of cleaning and rehabilitation throughout the church complex. Soot and smoke were professionally removed from all of the spaces including the entire Sunday School wing and the sanctuary. Then the DeWolf Room was painted, the sound baffles were cleaned, and new carpeting was installed. The Wardwell Room and vestibule were repaired and painted, and new tile floors were installed. In the area of greatest damage, the church kitchen which was completely destroyed, the first task was to empty the space of all the appliances and furnishings.

After stripping back all of the walls and ceiling to the studs, it was discovered that the roof of the kitchen space had been damaged by the fire and had to be replaced. Then the plumbing and electrics were replaced, insulation laid in, and dry wall began to be installed.

It won’t be long before FCC Bristol has an entirely new, professional kitchen. We’re looking forward making good use of it for many Fellowship events. There is nothing quite like cooking together and enjoying a good meal together to make friends and spread happiness.

First Congregational Church is grateful to all who were able to attend our Community Asset-Mapping Forum on April 15th. We had a full house of some 30 participants who shared their goodwill and expertise with our church members, other members of the Bristol community and our Partners for Sacred Places consultants, Dana Dabek and Caroline Lauber.

The Forum began with a greeting from our Settled Minister, the Rev. Dr. Nancy H. Soukup, who gave a special thank you to Steve Knapman, the representative from the Bristol Fire Department. It is due to the speedy response and the great skills of the professionals who responded to our fire alarm on October 31, 2025, that a kitchen fire starting in the wiring of an old appliance only destroyed the kitchen. The DeWolf Room, where the Forum was held, only suffered soot and smoke damage and was ready for our community event after a professional cleaning, painting, audio system restoration and new carpet.

Our Forum attendees came from all sectors of the Bristol community—the arts, education, houses of worship, health, human services, neighborhood nonprofits, philanthropy, business, government, and the media—bringing their particular knowledge of the East Bay, their understanding of all of the assets that could be tapped and brought together to meet the unmet needs of our community. We wish we could have stayed far longer to have those conversations with each of them about what needs their organizations are facing and how our church might partner with them to meet those needs. Following this forum, our FCC Asset-Mapping Task Force has reached out individually to each of the 65+ community leaders on our list to encourage them to take the next step. That would be to discuss some of the projects their organization has been dreaming of and explore how we might partner to accomplish them.

The afternoon started with a guided tour of the spaces within our church complex that might be of use for community events, meetings, worship , celebrations or other projects our attendee organizations would like to carry out. The tours were followed by a small group brainstorming session designed to spark ideas and grow relationships among Bristol’s leaders and our church.

Each small group was asked to identify as many of Bristol assets as they possibly could and to note each one down on a colorful post-it note. After that, each group brainstormed ideas for needed projects that could move forward through the coordination of these existing area assets. This process confirmed our common belief that all of the Bristol community will benefit when we work together, creating partnerships that share our assets to address projects these organizations have been hoping to pursue.

Our follow-up to the Asset-Mapping Forum is important to us. We are eager to move the process forward, both for those who attended the Forum and those who were not able to make it. As a result of this Forum, our hope is that all of us— coming from all sectors of Bristol’s nonprofit and for-profit sectors— came to a better understanding of the economic and social value that sacred places represent in communities when those assets are linked with assets outside the houses of worship. Together, we succeeded in identifying literally hundreds of assets, both within our church and within the community. Then we brainstormed and came up with new, exciting and needed initiatives that linked a constellation of assets from all over Bristol, some to space usage of the First Congregational Church.

We are eager to hear what ideas Bristol organizations have for partnering on new projects, creating connections among Bristol’s organizations, each with their own assets, to benefit our larger community. Moving forward for us is about hearing more about each organization’s vision, how they serve the Bristol community, and how our church can support their efforts through our buildings and our members.