Our History

1791

• The Church was organized with 28 members as the Church of Christ in Greenfield.
• At this time in New Hampshire a town could not be charter without first having an organized church.
• The Church of Christ was a congregational in polity, bound together by a covenant, a statement of faith and articles of discipline.
• The Town of Greenfield, New Hampshire was incorporated.
• At the first Town Meeting an amount of “thirty pounds was voted for preaching.

1795

• The Greenfield Meeting House was built by both the town and the church. The Meeting House was shared by the church and town until 2009,

1848 – 49

• The Meeting House was renovated, and the Sanctuary was moved to the second floor which had previously been a balcony.

1852

• The Sanctuary was dedicated to the worship of the Almighty God.

1891

• The New Hampshire Legislature passed the “Religious Tolerance Act”.
• The church reorganized as the Congregational Church of Greenfield, keeping it’s original creed and covenant and adding a temperance pledge.

1959

• A 50-year lease agreement was signed between the town and church which specified the sanctuary level for the church use and included the downstairs area for church fellowship activities on Sundays.

1961

• The Congregation voted to join the newly formed United Church of Christ.

1999

• Because of an increasing uneasiness with many positions the U.C.C. had taken the congregation voted to leave the denomination.

2001

• After a comprehensive analysis of denominational options, the congregation voted to join the Evangelical Covenant Church. What is the Evangelical Covenant Church, you ask? The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is an evangelical denomination with Pietist/Lutheran roots. The denomination has 130,00 members in 900 congregations and an average worship attendance of 219,000 people in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents.
• The Greenfield Congregational Church officially becomes the Greenfield Congregational Covenant Church.
• The Greenfield Congregational Church purchased what had been the offices of American Steel Erectors and converted it to the GCCC Ministry Center. The Ministry Center now provided space for the GCCC Food Pantry and Clothes Closet, as well as providing offices and meeting space.

2005

• Church leadership began negotiations with the town, because the Meeting House lease was to expire in four years.
• Voters at two annual Greenfield Town Meetings overwhelmingly approved an agreement negotiated between the church and the Board of Selectmen.
• The opposition enlisted the help of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which suggested the possibility of legal action.

2009

• The congregation decided they did not want to put the town through a protracted lawsuit and voted to leave the Greenfield Meeting House.
• The GCCC leadership began searching for alternative worship space and was offered worship space at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center’s Carter Hall Conference Center.
• For the next eleven years, the congregation worship in Carter Hall Conference Center while funds were being raised to build worship space at the GCC Ministry Center.