When We Worship
Sundays at 9:30 AM
Until we rebuild the church (see story below)...
services will be held at the Parish House, 27 Main St., West Cummington

Communion Sunday is the first Sunday of every month.
Lay Service is the third Sunday of every month.

The Order of Worship generally includes: Greeting, Announcements, Moment of Silence, Prelude, Call to Worship, Hymn, Children’s Time, Scripture, Sermon, Hymn, Offering, Prayers, Hymn and Blessing.

Children of all ages are invited to participate in their own program, which follows the opening of our Sunday meeting. Until we have rebuilt the church, they will adjourn after Children's time with their leaders to the Remington Lodge, at 21 West Main Street, West Cummington.

At the conclusion of our service, the children will join us at the Parish House for coffee, tea and cookies. Parents are always welcome to join the childrens program and everyone is welcome to volunteer and share their specific talent with the kids.

Rebuilding Our Church...Our Story

For 170 years, the Church stood on a hill in West Cummington. A small, beautiful, white , clapboard building, it married, baptized, comforted, challenged and celebrated the living and tolled the bell for the many who died. In January of 2010 our building burned to the ground.
But our church still lives.

Click here to see photos of the church, as it was, as it burned, and as it stood like an old ruin before the fire marshals had to have it torn down.

Since the 1840’s, the West Cummington Church has been the center of this tiny hilltown community. With an up and down history, from the days of no heat at all to pot-bellied stoves which sent heat through pipes held up by a scaffolding of wires ascending the ceiling, it has sometimes been a struggle to keep it alive at all. For many years, the church shared a pastor with the Village Church in Cummington and held services in its own building only in the summer. At one point, volunteers who earned $50 per sermon conducted services. Older parishioners tell of the hat that went round and round among the few attendees until the $50 was collected.

In the 1990’s everything began to change. One volunteer preacher, Stephen Philbrick, caught the spirit and the imagination of his listeners. He is still with us. Now licensed by the United Church of Christ but not ordained, Stephen has been our spiritual guide, leader and friend for 15 years. He comes to his calling as a poet and a storyteller as well as a former shepherd and consummate woodsman. Under Steve’s guidance, the church has grown. Sunday services are always well attended and all newcomers are welcome. Regulars, OR “irregulars,” as Steve calls some of us, and new people come from far and wide areas. Over these last years, the church became has become a BEACON OF LIGHT and a gathering place for many COMMUNITY events of musical, literary and spiritual nature.

Who We Are

The people of our church are all ages and run the gamut of religious convictions and preferences. We have no creed but come together to seek, to explore spiritual questions and to give assistance to those in need. We are an open and affirming church; we welcome seekers without regard to income, creed, race, gender, age, physical or mental ability or sexual orientation. The sacraments, including marriage, are open to everyone. We support each other in our respective journeys.

Children are cherished and welcome in our parish. We have a “children’s time” during the service and then the children adjourn for a program designed especially for them.

The church also seeks to help those in need beyond our doors. We have a monthly “Broader Mission” special offering that is designated for local or faraway causes or crises. We also help individuals in our community through the Minister’s Discretionary Fund.

As a congregation, led by Penny Schultz, we love to sing! Our old church was well known for its wonderful acoustics. Over the years, many musicians performed there – from up-and-coming children in our congregation, to members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, from local to world-renown groups and singers. All these musicians appreciated the quality of sound in our building and this is one of our priorities for the new church.

What We Need

For the past year and a half, the West Cummington Church community has been planning for rebuilding. We have a wonderful pro bono architect in Bruce Wood and we have approved a design. We have hired a builder/contractor. We have dealt with endless issues of site, engineering, regulations and variances, with the assistance of many officials and experts outside the church. We have committed to a budget of $800,000 to finance this reconstruction. We have gotten what we can from the insurance companies and have raised more than $250,000 in gifts and pledges, but $40,000 is still needed. Our goal is to raise this total by January 31, 2012. Now we are launching the public phase of our fundraising campaign and asking those who support our vision and community to give generously.

The money we raise will build a church that in most visible ways resembles the building we loved: a simple white clapboard structure with beautiful Gothic touches and large windows to let in light. The interior will also be similar to the old building with the addition of accessibility, bathrooms and a rear vestibule that will allow entrance and exit without disturbing the congregation. We plan a building that is “green” in all possible ways and that will use local materials and local labor, including volunteers, whenever we can.

What You Can Do

Rebuilding our church is a huge undertaking for all of us. It has already been nearly 2 years.
On July 16 th we are broke ground. We hope to be in our church by next spring. To compete the rebuilding of our church we need to raise the $40,000 that remains.

2012 Calendars with pictures of our church and poetry from our members
are available with a suggested donation os $ 15.00.
Click here to see the cover, the January page or, the December page.
Click here for details about how to get your calendar.

An account for our rebuilding fund has been established at the Florence Savings Bank, 85 Main Street , Florence, MA 01062 . Donations can be made out to the West Cummington Congregational Church – Rebuilding Fund.

Donations can also be made through PayPal directly into the Florence Savings Bank by clicking on the donate button below:

News from the WCCC Building Committee

Keep up with the building committee's discussions at;
http://buildingcommittee.blogspot.com