About Our Church

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFF99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Links</div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Home"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">About Our Church</div> <div> <A HREF="staff.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our Staff and Leadership"><U>Our Staff and Leadership</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id103.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events Calendar "><U>Events Calendar </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="sm.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stephen Ministries"><U>Stephen Ministries</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="youth.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Youth Ministries"><U>Youth Ministries</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="adults.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adult Ministries"><U>Adult Ministries</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="steepleshoppe.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Steeple Shoppe"><U>Steeple Shoppe</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="weddings.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Weddings"><U>Weddings</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>About Our Church</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>First Congregational Church</B></div> <div> <B>801 Bushnell Street</B></div> <div> <B>Beloit, WI  53511</B></div> <div> <B>Phone-608.362.4821</B></div> <div> <B>Fax-608.362.1967</B></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:firstcon@firstconbeloit.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:firstcon@firstconbeloit.org"><U><B>firstcon@hotmail.com</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>What Do We Believe?</B></div> <div> We have a wide array of belief systems in our church, with two basic truths in common: we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord in our lives, and we look to Holy Scripture as the definitive source of knowledge about God. We come together in worship and fellowship to discover together the truths of God, relying on scripture, rather than religious dogma, to govern our understanding. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>How Do We Govern Ourselves?</B></div> <div> A Congregational Church is governed by its members, under the leadership of Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. For efficiency, our church uses three boards: the Board of Church Life, which handles spiritual matters; the Board of Religious Education, which governs our educational offerings for children and adults; and the Board of Trustees, which oversees matters related to the physical plant. These boards meet on a monthly basis.</div> <div> Representatives from each board, church officers, plus members at large, meet together as the church council, to further communications and cooperation.</div> <div> The council is led by the moderator, who is elected by all members of the church at the Annual Meeting. The congregation meeting together under the direction of the Holy Spirit -- this is where Congregationalism is at its best.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The Covenant</B></div> <div> What unites Congregationalists is not a common statement of beliefs, but our Covenant. We worship a Covenant God, who binds Himself to His people through covenant relationship. Similarly, we voluntarily bind ourselves to one another in Christian love. This is our church covenant:</div> <bR> <div> <I>We are united in striving to know the will of God as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and in our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord, made known or to be made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the Church to proclaim the gospel to all humanity, exalting the worship of one true God, and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace, and the realization of human brotherhood and sisterhood. Depending, as did our ancestors, upon the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, we work and pray for the transformation of the world into the kingdom of God, and we look with faith for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting.</I></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.naccc.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.naccc.org"><U><IMG SRC="0a15b5c0.gif" border=0 width="91" height="92" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="15" VSPACE="15"></U></A></div> <div> First Congregational is a member church of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, or NACCC. To learn more about Congregationalism and/or the Association, click the NACCC logo to the right.</div> <bR> <div> We are also a member of the Wisconsin Congregational Association. For more on the WCA, click <A HREF="http://www.wiscongregational.net/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.wiscongregational.net/"><U>here.</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="http://www.wiscongregational.net/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.wiscongregational.net/"><U><IMG SRC="17c55610.jpg" border=0 width="85" height="97" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>