Jackson Community Church

Summit, Spirit, Sky: connect to community and creation!

About

Church contact:

Facts & Figures

  • Active members & friends: 101
  • Weekly attendance between 8am outdoor services: 5-8 people and 10:30am traditional worship: 25-30 people.
  • During holidays we expect about 125 people per service.
  • Our church is a member church of the UCC/United Church of Christ, a denomination formed in 1957 as the nation’s youngest mainline Protestant denomination, born from the merger of the oldest Christian traditions in the United States: congregational, Dutch and German Reformed, and independent church movement.
  • Our community church includes about 9 families with children from 7 to 18 years old.
  • More than half our members range between 50 & 75 years old; Jackson’s average resident is 53 years old, 11 years older than the national average.
  • Over 60% of our members are college graduates or post-grads.
  • More than half of our members are retired, but many have an ‘encore career’ or a serve in a variety of volunteer roles.
  • Some staff, friends and members work 2-3 jobs to make ends meet.
  • Our congregation represents many economic backgrounds: we have affluent  and/or comfortable median income friends and members as well as friends and members who live at or below the poverty level.
  • Our church is located in a 4-season recreation & resort area; many friends and members live in Mt Washington Valley part of the year and reside elsewhere in summer or winter. Many are here year-round.
  • We identify as a spiritually diverse congregation with backgrounds ranging from Jewish, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions to mainline Protestant denominations, humanists, Unitarians, Buddhists, and more.

In the last twelve months, we …

  • Walked, ran, biked, hiked, and danced for cancer research, Alzheimer’s cure, pediatric patients, education, environmental issues, mental health, addiction, pets, and other causes. And just for fun, too.
  • Welcomed cultural events like our annual Mardi Gras celebration, participate in 9/11 observance, Pumpkin People, Christmas caroling, partners in community care packages, community meals, seasonal concerts, book groups, other arts/culture events
  • Collaborate with community center, schools, historical society and libraries on community engagement including field trips and on-site presentations around architecture, art, culture and religion
  • Offer monthly grief groups for the community
  • Facilitate civic-oriented events such as Emergency Responder recognition, Veterans Day observances, 9/11 engagement, Thanksgiving gatherings and other cultural festivities
  • Host visiting ministers, guest speakers, workshop leaders, and youth groups on retreat
  • Participated in valley interfaith gatherings such as Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, Solstices: celebrations of light, Ash Wednesday, Holy Friday, prayer vigils.
  • Offer outdoor worship and outdoor ministry, with gatherings as local outdoor settings, communal hikes, snow shoe outings, and other ways of being present to the outdoors.
  • Expanded pastoral care to wider community.
  • Introduced interfaith chaplaincy as part of public presence.
  • Held book groups, study groups,  and adult faith formation study events.
  • Initiated community conversations
  • Revisited church governance and expanded congregational engagement in leadership decisions
  • Started Appreciative Inquiry’ process to focu mission, vision and strategic planning this year and next year
  • Supported several local, national and global charitable causes.
  • Remained open 24/7 for visits
  • Witnessed special life moments: hosted weddings and funerals, baptized babies and adults; cared for the ill, attended deaths and witnessed covenants of new love
  • Raised funds for a new roof for our partner church in Zimbabwe
  • Supported local families facing housing and health crises
  • We seek what it means to become a 21st-century faith community by taking church beyond the building’s walls and serving as a spiritual center for a small town in a breathtaking valley
  • We are active in service and advocacy for a sustainable creation and an equitable world for all people

Brief History

  • The Church was first formed, in 1803, as the First Free Will
    Baptist Church.
  • Current building erected in1847.
  • About 100 years later, in January 1951, approximately 40 people met to initiate formation of the Jackson Community Church. Within three months, those 40 people were joined by an additional 26 who were received as Charter Members of the New Hampshire Council of Churches, initially becoming affiliated with the Congregational Christian and the Evangelical and Reformed Churches.
  • In 1981, we joined the United Church of Christ (denomination).
  • The church’s building and land are still owned by the Protestant Chapel Association.
  • Two major renovations, in 1982 and 2004, brought the Church to its current state: a beautiful old New England church with all the amenities of a modern facility.
  • In late 2016, the church hired our current pastor and music staff members.
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