Why Wachogue?

The area between the South Branch of the Mill River and the East Longmeadow line was called “Wachogue” or “Land near the Hill” by the local Indians.

From 1904 to 1926 local families had gathered together in various locations in the area. May 1926 the charter for Wachogue Congregational Church was signed. The first church building was a white building that faced Whittum Ave. It was in 1956 the construction of the building as we know it now was finished.

Wachogue Congregational Church is a member of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and Fellowship of Connecticut Congregational Christian Churches.

The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches offers one another the right hand of fellowship through state and regional associations. Their MISSION STATEMENT is to bring together Congregational Christian Churches for mutual care and outreach to our world in the name of Jesus Christ.

The Fellowship of Connecticut Congregational Churches is a regional association of churches that includes evangelicals and free-thinkers, traditionalists and progressives. The fellowship churches are old (1670) and new (2001), formal and informal.

For more information on the Associations, log on to their websites - www.naccc.org and www.connectiuctfellowship.org.

What is a Congregational Church?

It is that form of church government in which final human authority rests with the local congregation when it gathers for decision-making. This means that decisions about worship, membership, leadership, doctrine, conduct, missions, finances, property, relationships, and the like are to be made by the gathered congregation except when such decisions have been delegated by the congregation to individual members or to groups of members. The term “final human authority” suggests that the church is under divine authority, and this is most often described in terms of the lordship of Christ and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The term “local congregation” is designed to identify a congregation in distinction from denominational bodies. The term “gathers for decision-making” implies that the whole congregation is responsible for such decision-making and that each member has a voice or vote in such. Consequently, it is the intention under congregational polity that the congregation govern itself under the lordship of Jesus Christ and the leadership of the Holy Spirit with no superior or governing ecclesiastical bodies and with every member having a voice in its affairs and its decisions.

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