Category: News

Starting on July 1st, members brought up from the church basement the pieces of the huge model of the FCC sanctuary and the bell tower which Alan Berry designed last year, Ron Gamon built with his construction team, and a whole crew of members painted and decorated. This year was easier. We only had to bring the pieces of the model up and reassemble and decorate them on the flatbed that ELJ Construction again generously donated to us, along with their truck and driver, for the July 4th parade.

Also different from last year was the splendid reenactment by our costumed church members of the moment in 1785 when their new minister, the Rev. Henry Wight, was the first in the nation to celebrate the Fourth of July by reading the entire Declaration of Independence out loud to the assembled Bristol population. This practice, in which Rev. Wight was personally involved for more than 40 years, has continued unbroken from 1785 to the present day.

Sam Halt Harcourt portrayed the Rev. Wight, reading from a huge version of the Declaration of Independence. The Bailey and Fontaine families, both parents and children, along with Sandy, Rei, Brady, and Bella served as the Revolutionary era congregation. Katie Evans and Katherine Harcourt did yeoman’s work carrying the “walking banner” in front of the float for the entire length of the parade. And three cheers for our own wonderful minister, the Rev. Dr. Nancy H Soukup, for joining the crew in her special July 4th stole. Perhaps it was just as hot in 1785, but this July 4th was exceptionally hot–well into the 90s. The reenactors were greeted all along the way with great enthusiasm, offers of beverages, and even some offers to douse them with cool water from a hose! All were gratefully accepted.

Thanks to Rei Battcher for providing all of the meticulously recreated adult costumes and also to the Bristol Historical & Preservation Society for loaning us the costumes worn by the young girls on the float. Thanks also to the Harcourt family and the Patterson family for providing costumes for Rev. Wight and other children on the float. And thanks especially to ELJ Construction and the entire Francis family for their great kindness in again generously providing the flatbed, the truck and the wonderful driver who made this church float possible.

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.

More than 30 of our church’s most seasoned members gathered on Friday, February 13 for the annual Senior Luncheon.

It is always a welcome time of fellowship, when we can sit over a plate of delicious food and enjoy hearing the latest news and future plans of our dear friends.

Caterers for the event were the Common Pub. Their food was absolutely delicious and their service was kind, thoughtful and prompt.

We were especially happy to see some members who have been following our services via Live Stream rather than brave the cold winter winds. It was great to see Michael, now 99 years old, and Pat, and Tom.

We are already looking forward to next Valentine’s Day, when we can again let all of our senior parishioners know how much they are appreciated.

The Mt. Hope High School gymnastics team won first place in the 2026 Rhode Island state championship on Saturday night, Feb. 14, at Rhode Island College. Two of the members of this outstanding team are our very own Kara Pisasale and Naty Quezada-Grant.

The Huskies were the unmatched best team throughout the winter season. They finished unbeaten in regular meets and continued their winning record last weekend with a team total of 140.225 to claim the school’s second state title.

The team earned their way into the 2026 New England Gymnastics Championships scheduled for Saturday, March 7, at Fitchburg (Mass.) High School.

Responding to the congratulations directed at her team, Kara Pisasale responded: “Thank you so much! We’re super excited!”

MHHS head coach Nicole Daniello said of Mt. Hope’s entry in the New England State Championships: “We finished No. 1 in the state, so the entire team is going. It’s super exciting.”

You can read the full article in the Phoenix HERE.

Council President Amy Halt and Deacon Katherine Harcourt rewrote Clement Moore’s classic Christmas poem to answer our children’s many questions about the church’s recent fire. They turned it into a stirring message of communal caring and action that brought the FCC church family together to meet the challenge of unforeseen disaster. So, with municipal police and volunteer firefighters, instead of shepherds and their sheep,

and with church members responding to an early morning fire, instead of 3 wise men, the words of the revised FCC Night Before Halloween Christmas Pageant, are printed below for your pleasure.

If you would like to see the pageant, click the start button on the video below.

For Closed Captions, click the icon and select English
For Full Screen video, click the icon; press ESC to exit
For an Audio Transcript, use Full Screen, and click the icon

Christmas pageant

Twas the night before Halloween
And all through FCC
Not a creature was stirring
Not even mice in the pantry.
The kitchen was dark
and the dishes were clean,
The children were home asleep
Dreaming of candy on Halloween.
The dishwasher was silent,
Asleep, until “zing” . . .
Was it a power surge that kindled
a flame that made the alarms ring?
And Reverend Nancy in her kerchief
And Nikita wearing his cap
Had been all settled down
For their Hallows Eve nap
When on the church lawn
There arose such an uproar
As the Bristol police and fire department
Tried to get in the door.
The fire alarm was sounding,
Smoke was billowing out
Of the kitchen which was burning.
But thankfully its doors were shut.
The moon that rose over
the bell tower that night
Illuminated all those
Who came to battle the firefight.
But what to their wondering eyes did they see
When the kitchen doors were opened
Exposing all of the casualties?
Well, that wooden coffee cart,
So little and stout,
Was untouched by the flames.
It had no embers to rout.
More rapid than eagles
Some church members came
When called by emergency
Responders by name.
Now Sandie Campbell,
Now Charlie Tupper,
Now Roger and Donna Dubord too.
And Rev Nancy
broke speed limits.
She practically flew!
To the top of High Street
On a night in the fall
They came straight away rapidly fearful of all.
As dry leaves in the yard fluttered on by
What a relief it was to see the bell tower standing so high.
In such a twinkling, life’s hurdles are rough
And FCC has known challenges more than enough.
Yet we drew a collective breath
As we all stood around
In the yard on November 2nd,
what hallowed ground.
What to do, what to do, when trouble’s afoot?
Nancy cursing the stove didn’t cause
All to be covered in soot.
There was so much to do with the upcoming season  
-- Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Jesus is the reason!
We had community commitments
And the Harvest Bazaar
What about the Cookie Walk?
Well now we weren’t going far!
But a church is not just made
Up by a building.
It’s the people within
It’s the love. It’s a feeling.
A church should spread the message
Of God’s love sent down
In the form of a baby.
Not a king with a crown.
So instead of lamenting,
We all went to work.
No time for fomenting.
We didn’t go berserk.
We just relied on the strength
Of God’s love in each other.
With the helping guidance of
Reverend Nancy, Roger, and one another,
We adapted and changed
Our plans to accommodate
The repairs to be made.
We did not curse fate.
So now we all can exclaim:
We have seen God’s love in spite
Of our Halloween Eve!
Merry Christmas tonight!

On November 30th we celebrated the First Sunday in Advent. The first Advent candle — the candle of Hope — was lighted. The worship service was led by the Deacons, as our minister, the Rev. Dr. Nancy H. Soukup, was indisposed. Our hearts and minds turned in anticipation toward the long-expected birth of the Christ child with hope — with trust — for a world where peace reigns, where swords are turned into plow shares, where nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.

The Deacons provided personal reflections on what “Hope” means for them. The choir provided “Three Shaker Songs,” ending with the gentle and affirming melody “Tis a Gift to be Simple.”

We invite you to join us in worship and in fellowship through this season of Advent.