Photo by Donna Agusti The Rev. Dr. David Wheeler greets Keyanna Burns, 7, after the first service in the First Congregational Church’s new sanctuary Sunday, June 29. The site for the church’s current location was purchased in 1953, while groundbreaking took place in 1960. Services first were held on July 30, 1961.

By Jennifer S. McDonald
C & G Staff Writer

ROCHESTER — Tucked back along North Pine Street, nestled among peaceful homes in Rochester, the city’s First Congregational Church has provided a place of worship for more than 181 years.

Founded in 1827, the church was the first in Rochester and is currently known as the oldest Congregational church in Michigan.

At the time of its origin, John Quincy Adams was president, and Napoleon Bonaparte had only been dead for six years. There was no such thing as a steam railroad, and the first telegraph line had yet to be constructed. Michigan wasn’t even a state. 

Now, through all of the challenges, relocations and change, the church has grown, and was filled to capacity as members gathered to celebrate a recent expansion and the opening of a new sanctuary and community service building June 29.

“With these tremendous economic uncertainties and the difficulties in the region, this really was a test of faith for our congregation,” the Rev. Dr. David Wheeler said. “Instead of saying, ‘Let’s slim down,’ or saying no, the congregation said ‘Let’s move forward.’ This shows our congregation is dedicated to providing much-needed community service and a worship community for those who live and grow up here in Rochester.”

The $3.5 million project includes 2,400 square feet of additional space and a 2,000-square-foot addition to First Congregation Church’s food ministry, the Pantry Shelf. It also includes a 4,500-square-foot sanctuary that will seat 325 worshipers, a new organ, an elevator and a 50-foot steel cross, which towers 25 feet above the building.

Also, renovation of the church’s current facility included an 850-square-foot, state-of-the-art kitchen with a 3,000-square-foot fellowship hall that will be used for community functions.

“In my six years here I’ve seen this congregation come into their own and make things happen,” Wheeler said. “We have invested in the community over and over again for 180 years. The congregation has done so again in these difficult times.”

The mission of the church is the same as it was 181 years ago, Wheeler added: to seek and respond to the work and will of God.

The original church began with the Rev. Isaac Ruggles of the Missionary Society of Connecticut and 10 worshipers who met at a log cabin home one mile south of Rochester on Rochester Road July 1, 1827.     

In 1838, a small wooden meeting house was erected on the southwest corner of Pine and Third streets. A second church was dedicated on April 19, 1854, on the northwest corner lot of Walnut and Third, where the first schoolhouse in Rochester had been erected in 1828. 

The site for the church’s current location was purchased in 1953, and groundbreaking took place in 1960. Services first were held on July 30, 1961. Currently, more than 600 members attend services at Rochester’s First Congregational Church, including Paula Mage, a third-generation family member to attend.

As a child, Mage remembers staring up in wonder at the depictions of Jesus in the church’s stained glass windows, she said. She celebrated her 1982 marriage at First Congregational to her husband, Ken; had both her children baptized there in the early 1990s; and currently attends service every Sunday, calling the place “home.”

“We live in such a small neighborhood but (the church) has such a tremendous impact on the community,” Mage said. “This is my home. I remember going to the old church on Walnut.”

As a member of the church’s Evangelism Team, Mage has seen the church’s impact first-hand, she said, not only through the food pantry, which partners with the Rochester Area Neighborhood House, but through other ministries, including Careers in Transition, a group that strives to support those in need of job search assistance, and The Upper Room, a place where teens can meet weekly to take part in different activities.

“When something happens to one of us, we are all there to put our arms around each other. We have such a strong sense of family,” Mage said. “We’re not a huge congregation, but now we have room for more people. No matter how big we get, I don’t think that church family concept will ever change.”

Rochester’s First Congregational Church is located at 1315 N. Pine in Rochester. The summer service schedule includes services every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Social hour and church schools begin at 10 a.m.

For more information, visit www.fccrochester.org or call (248) 651-6225.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer S. McDonald at jmcdonald@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1112.