Mission Opportunities & Fellowship Events. 

Bridge of Faith

We have an ongoing project with Faith UCC in Union, NJ, in support of Bridge of Faith, a program that collects gently used clothing, school supplies, over-the-counter medicines, and used school and medical equipment and sends them to orphanages and a maternal-child health clinic in Awka, Nigeria.  We sell African crafts at churches, church meetings, and street fairs to help fund the project.   We recently raised over $1000 by selling crafts at the New England Women's Celebration 8, in Burlington, VT.  These funds will support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti and Chile, and purchase a solar suitcase to provide reliable electricity to a maternal-child health clinic in Okpuno, Nigeria, so that babies can be delivered at night more safely.

Church president Marjorie Royle recently returned from a Mission Trip to Awka, Nigeria.  After three years of planning, collecting, and raising money, she accompanied Douglas Taylor, and Felix Molokwu, representatives from Faith UCC churches, for a week in Nigeria delivering new and used items to a variety of educational and social service agencies.  They provided a used 14-passenger van, donated by the Volunteers of America, to Orphanage Tenderlove to transport children to schools and medical visits.  They also brought food, children’s clothing, toys and books, bicycles, a computer, and insecticide-treated mosquito nets to this and two other orphanages, and distributed mosquito nets to a maternal-child health clinic and several other groups as well. 

The most memorable visits were those where used textbooks were distributed to six primary and secondary schools in the area.  The children were so very eager to receive these books that were being discarded by New Jersey schools.  To the teachers, it seemed like Christmas, as they opened the books and found resources to make their work easier and more effective.  And the notebooks and pens and pencils we brought were snatched up as if they were gold.

Mission More Locally

First Congregational Church is engaged in several hands-on mission projects here at home. 

• We have an ongoing food collection to support a homeless family of four who are trying to get themselves back on their feet by finding work and affordable housing.
• We have advocated over the past two years to help a family of Liberian refugees to be reunited.  We are helping support the father and children living in the US while advocating with the US government to help the mother obtain a visa so she can join them from Liberia.
• We have an ongoing collection of gently-used children's books for school libraries in Paterson.

The Quilting Group

Rev. Barbara Ewton and Louise Stewart designed and made this lovely quilt, assisted by members of UCC congregations in Montclair.  The quilt  was given to Broadway House in Newark for its Chapel during World AIDS Day commemorations on December 1, 2007, at the First Congregational Church of Montclair.

One project of the quilting group, Star Stitches, was recently auctioned off to support the ongoing work of the group, which makes quilts for seriously ill children or others in need.  For more information about learning to quilt or the quilting group, please call the church at 973-239-3212.

Fellowship Events

Our church family likes to get together with each other for food and fellowship.  Visitors are always warmly welcomed to these events.

Every Sunday, we have a coffee hour after church where you can get to know us.  In fact, most members think they haven't been to church if they haven't been to coffee hour.

In addition, the Membership and Fellowship Committee sponsors other events throughout the year, including trips to ball games, service trips, and fun evenings.  One recent one was a Puzzle-Off, where teams of 3 competed to complete 500-piece puzzles.  This year, Heather Taylor's team (Heather, her father Doug, and Lois Reising) came in first, with the team of Louise Stewart, Gladys Singewald, and Pam DiPietro (not shown) taking second place.   See more photos of the work in progress by clicking here.