We believe…
That God is greater and more mysterious than we could ever fully know. Farther from us than the most distant star, and yet nearer to us than our next breath. That the opposite of faith in God is not doubt, but certainty. That asking questions can be a form of prayer. That none of us have all the answers. And that wonder and awe belong at the heart of the Christian life.
That Jesus Christ showed us what it means to make the mystery of God’s love and presence and power a part of our lives. That, as he took children into his arms, healed the sick, fed the hungry, served the poor, and proclaimed God’s dream of justice, so too should we. That following his teachings and his example makes us more human. That the story of his life, death, and resurrection is a story which each of us must enter into, explore, and experience for ourselves.
That the Holy Spirit is with us and within us. At the baptismal font and at the communion table. When we bow our heads in prayer. As we work to make a difference in the world. At home and at school and at the office. In our joy and in our sorrow. Anywhere and everywhere. Guiding us and growing us. Emboldening us. Comforting us. Freeing us. Changing us. Calling us to be compassionate, to be generous, to be a help and a blessing to our neighbors, to forgive freely, to hope against hope, and to love and live with abandon.
God at work in the community…
For more than 275 years, our church has served God by serving our neighbors.
We have always had a heart for Darien. (In fact, we helped found the town when our forebears broke away from Stamford Parish in 1737!)
During the Revolutionary War, our church was so active in the Independence movement that Tories surrounded our meetinghouse during a Sunday service, kidnapped our minister, Rev. Moses Mather, and 47 other parishioners, and imprisoned them in a British garrison on Long Island.
Our church was active in the anti-slavery cause and other movements of conscience. During World War II, we helped resettle European refugees displaced by the war. In the 1970s, helped establish the “A Better Chance of Darien,” program, which provided scholarships to academically talented young women of color so that they could live in Darien and attend Darien High School. Today we support nearly a dozen local nonprofits with financial contributions and hands-on mission work.
To learn more about our rich history — and the key role we played as a conscience for the community for more than 275 years, check out this short history of the congregation: The Church with a History
More on the Tory raid on the meetinghouse…
In 2021, to celebrate the town’s bicentennial, The Museum of Darien and a Heritage Day Committee staged a reenactment of the 1781 Tory raid on the meetinghouse and arrest of Moses Mather, along with 50 members of the congregation. View the video here: