About Storrs Congregational Church

Our Mission

Conveniently located on the campus of the University of Connecticut, the Storrs Congregational Church, as a member of the United Church of Christ, seeks to make traditional Christian beliefs and values relevant to the experience of students, faculty, and townspeople. We are committed to unity without requiring uniformity. Our trained ministers provide an encouraging presence and caring counsel. This church is open and affirming to every person who desires a welcoming place for worship, fellowship, and outreach. Students are encouraged and welcome to use the lounge in our Parish House as a quiet place to study.

Our Covenant

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 of Christ to proclaim the gospel to all people, exalting the worship of the one true God and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace, and the realization of human fellowship. 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.

Our History

The history of the Storrs Congregational Church begins in 1737 when the General Assembly authorized formation of the Second Ecclesiastical Society in north Mansfield. Its parent church was the First Congregational Church of Mansfield Center and its grandparent, the First Congregational Church of Windham Center. On October 21, 1921 the church was incorporated as the Storrs Congregational Church.

In the 1820s, “the cause of foreign missions began to excite the interests of the people of this country,” wrote Gilbert Southwick in the first published history of the church in 1879. Southwick reported that Pastor William Ely “advocated the cause with Christian activity and zeal.” It began a tradition of mission and outreach that is a vital part of the Storrs Congregational Church in its third century of ministry.

As Sunday schools were beginning in the 1820s, Elisha Williams was superintendent of the first "Sabbath School" organized about 1822. It was the forerunner of the Christian Education and Faith Formation endeavors of the church.

The first meeting house was built in 1745-6, located approximately where the present and fourth church building, constructed in 1927, now stands. The tracker organ in the rear balcony of the sanctuary was completed in September, 1981, and the sanctuary renovated in 1986-7 as one of the projects commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the church. The meeting house bell tower became the home of the University’s Austin Cornelius Dunham Carillon commissioned by the Board of Trustees of Connecticut Agricultural College in 1930. The Carillon was refurbished in 2011 and expanded with additional bells.

The Parish House was erected in 1926 with statewide contributions and donations by individuals, groups, and churches starting the tradition of a community gathering place. The Education Building and Waggoner Chapel were completed in 1960. Our Waggoner Chapel is open 24 hours for meditation.

For its first 150 years the church ministered to a rural congregation not unlike many others in Eastern Connecticut. The next 100 years reflected efforts to meet the spiritual needs of a growing academic community. The church has opened its facilities to services by Jewish, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran groups, and most recently to the Storrs Korean Church. Until 1932 the church provided religious education with college credit for students and until 1960 the minister served as college chaplain. The Parish House served as a center for campus educational and social needs until 1952.

During 2012 we are celebrating the 275th anniversary of the church with a variety of programs throughout the year.

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