About Us

NOW HIRING: We are currently seeking to hire a part-time Front Desk/Communications Coordinator for 24 hours per week.

This role encompasses a variety of essential duties to support our church community. Responsibilities include greeting and assisting visitors to the Church Office, managing incoming calls and emails, coordinating communications for church events, regularly updating website content, and producing, editing, and sharing weekly church service video recordings. The coordinator will also oversee internal and external communications, including signage, bulletins, printed materials, direct mail, email, social media, web postings, and other platforms. Additionally, the role involves assisting with general office tasks as needed to ensure smooth day-to-day operations.

Ideal candidates will possess strong writing and marketing skills, proficiency with social media platforms and Microsoft Office software, familiarity with website management tools, and excellent interpersonal abilities. Experience in communications or public relations is preferred, along with a demonstrated ability to learn video editing and manage multiple projects in a dynamic environment.

Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their resume to ERC.FirstCongUCCWttn@gmail.com

We are people - families of many shapes and sizes. Couples and singles, widowed, divorced, young and old. We come from many backgrounds – Congregational, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and many more, and some of us never belonged to a church until we found this one. The First Congregational, UCC has and continues to play an active and progressive role in Watertown. This was confirmed in 2014 when the congregation voted to be an Open and Affirming Church.

Membership in this church shall be based on an earnest desire to live a Christian life, public acceptance of the spirit of the covenant of the church, a pledge of loyalty to Christ and to cooperate with other members in the maintenance, worship and work of the church.

*** Membership: Contact the church office for more details. ***

The conflict in Gaza and now in the West Bank is a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The Israeli government is not allowing aid, neither food nor medical, to be delivered to Gaza in spite of the fact that people are starving, suffering and dying from lack of medical care. All of this in spite of the fact that over 62,000 Palestinians have been killed, over 18,000 of them are innocent children. Over 200,000 Palestinians have been injured, but the Israeli government continues to terrorize traumatized Palestinians. The Israeli Government continues to allow and even encourages settlers to confiscate Palestinian owned land in both Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli army has killed over 200 journalists supposedly protected under international law surely to control the messaging, or lack thereof, and not allow any independent verification of what the real situation in Gaza is. As a Christian and loving, compassionate human being, we can’t be blind to the suffering inflicted on the Palestinian people by the government of Israel. I encourage you, too, to study this as I have not only for myself but as a representative of our church.

Recently Speaker Mike Johnson of the House of Representatives was in Israel and during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the Israeli government for allowing settlers to confiscate land that will split the West Bank in two portions and limit Palestinian’s autonomy to travel in the West Bank. He offered this acceptance in spite of UN resolutions and International courts stating that this is not allowed. Speaker Johnson said nothing about the Gaza strip where Palestinians are being forced into crowded areas amongst ruined infrastructure that is only a fraction of the area of the strip lacking sufficient services for the two million people.

In the past week, President Trump has ordered that the United States no longer allow visas to be issued to injured Palestinian children seeking medical care. Most of these children were injured by American bombs and military hardware paid for with our tax dollars. American policies are allowing the mass killing and maiming of innocent Palestinians to continue, displacing millions of innocent Palestinians and forcing them to leave their homes if they are not already destroyed.

Back in June of 2024 at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ a resolution was passed requesting that congregations study the “Declaration for a Just Peace Between Palestine and Israel Resolution”. This was in response to the adoption of this Resolution at the 2021 General Synod of the United Church of Christ (national) prior to the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. The crisis has become more critical and more amplified since this time with the endless Israeli bombardments and military exercises. The Israeli government’s refusal to allow any significant aid has created a dire humanitarian crisis that the United States is complicit in supporting.

For further information or to give a donation in support of Palestinian basic care please visit :

https://wcucc.org/palestine-justice-working-group/.

You may have heard me talk about the importance of “showing up.” I have come to believe it is a sentiment at the very heart of Christian discipleship and ministry–we are called to show up with head and heart for worship; we are called to show up compassionately in relationship with others; and we are called to show up to stick up for the most vulnerable, marginalized, and oppressed. Showing up, in a nutshell, is what I think Christianity is all about. (In theological terms, it’s also exactly what happens in the incarnation–God shows up to begin the work of making things right.)

As many of you know, I’ve been spending significant time in efforts through Building a Welcoming Watertown at establishing a community overnight warming shelter in town. While we’re still not there…yet…something happened in August that I want to share.

Folks showed up. They contacted their city council alders, they demonstrated outside City Hall, and they flooded the Common Council meeting on August 19. No fewer than ten individuals spoke in favor of setting up an overnight warming shelter in front of a standing-room only chamber. Those who showed up forced those in power to begin addressing this need, just like the persistent widow kept pestering the unjust judge in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18.

This is what authentic Christian witness looks like in our time and place. When other voices claim that Christian identity is about speaking only English, kicking out immigrants, attacking ideals of diversity and inclusion, insisting that people are mistaken when they explain who they were born to be, destroying God’s creation, stocking up weapons of war, and “removing” the homeless in whatever way they find convenient, we are called to hear and act on the truly prophetic message in our midst. The God we know in Jesus Christ–the God of love and liberation–has nothing to do with the spirit of white Christian nationalism. And because of the powers and principalities of this present darkness, we are called to continue to serve as communities of resistance, just as the early church under the Roman Empire.

On August 19, the communities of resistance in Watertown–under whatever label we want to use, faith-based or otherwise–came together and showed what this resistance can look like locally, advocating for the unhoused who are here now. May it be only the beginning.

--Chris

God is the creator of the universe and giver of all that is good. God is the savior—known boldly and intimately in Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection—who shows us how to live and love. God is the Spirit who enables us to make a difference in our world and in the lives of others. We believe that grace is the love, honesty, and compassion that God gives and shows us in Jesus. It’s how Jesus saves us, heals us, sets us free, and increases our capacity for love. We believe that we need each other. Whether single, married/partnered, divorced or widowed, it’s a lot easier to follow God with friends than it is by ourselves.

With a gracious attitude for all that God has given to us, we, the members of First Congregational United Church of Christ, Watertown, WI, covenant:

To prayerfully respect the values of others without judging differences, by being wholly present with open hearts and minds, nurturing individual faith journeys, and providing a safe place for all voices to be heard.

To care for each other and our greater communities in mind, body, and spirit. We will offer emotional support, spiritual guidance, and provide for physical needs by graciously supporting the church through our various gifts.

To forgive each other when we make mistakes, and encourage each other to grow from those mistakes, by being respectful listeners who are open and honest. We therefore, being mindful to always have a Christ-centered attitude, will work together to resolve issues.

To recognize, accept, and encourage participation in the democratic governance of First Congregational United Church of Christ

“We the members of First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Watertown, Wisconsin do hereby declare ourselves for who we are, an Open and Affirming Church.

We believe that all people are created as God’s children. We welcome all people, regardless of age, race, physical or mental capabilities, socio-economic status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

All who seek to follow Jesus are welcome to share in the life, fellowship, sacraments, ministry, leadership, and responsibilities of First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. Jesus teaches us to welcome all God’s children.

You are welcome here as you are. Welcome home.”

Adopted by the congregation Sunday, July 13, 2014

Rev. Dr. Chris Ross