Worship & Ministries

Children from ages five to eleven join their parents for the first 15 minutes of our 10am worship, then head out of the sanctuary for faith and learning activities. For school age children, we offer Kids in Action, faith formation learning and activities for children from kindergarten through 5^th grade. This program follows the school year (September through May).

Typically offered on Thursday afternoons from 5:00-6:00 pm throughout the school year, children in kindergarten through 6th grade have creative play and learning opportunities. Scheduling is dependent on parents’ schedules.

CAFÉ, which stands for “Creativity, Acceptance, Food, Everyone” is typically offered on Thursday evenings from 6:30-7:30, high school-age youth gather for conversation, arts activities.

“Oh taste and see that God is good.” Snack Bar is new program for middle school-age children to gather for creative plan and learning opportunities. Scheduling is dependent on parents’ schedules.

Progressive Christian Discussion (PCD) program explores—through a variety of presentations and discussions—matters of faith and theology, how our understanding of faith affects our actions, and the faith aspects of various justice and environmental concerns. Recent topics have included creation care and environmental justice, issues impacting transgender adults and youth, and presentation of the Blanket Exercise, a 3 hour participatory experience where participants learn about the traumatic history of colonialism in Wisconsin.

The theme of learning how to become anti-racist actors will continue in 2022 with the following book reads and discussions:

• Wait is this Racist, Filled to be Emptied: The Path to Liberation for Privileged People, and a special Christmas read in December for adults and children of The Give-Away.
• A one hour simulation game – The Racial Wealth Gap – will be offered in November 2022.

The following films will be shown in October and November 2022:

• Conscience Point – the Shinnecock tribe’s battle to protect their land and cultural heritage from the ravages of development and displacement in “The Hamptons.” (2019)
• Daughter of a Lost Bird – “Lost birds” is a term for Native children adopted out of their tribal communities. Film follows one woman’s search for her mother, also a Native adoptee. (2021)
• Sisters Rising – is the story of six Native American women fighting to restore personal and tribal sovereignty in the face of ongoing sexual violence against indigenous women in the United States. (2020)
• Home from School: The Children of Carlisle – tells the story of a delegation of Northern Arapaho tribal members who travel from Wyoming to Pennsylvania to retrieve remains of three children who died at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in the 1880s.

Bible studies, book groups and other offerings are available periodically throughout the program year based on interest.

The Women in Good Company walk on Mondays at 10:30am, Stokke Trail and meet for lunch after the walk. We also organize other gatherings for fun and companionship. If you would like to be on the email list for WIGC, please email the church at [email protected].

Beginning in fall of 2020, the Mission for Peace and Justice began leading the congregation in an anti-racism initiative. Now in its second year, this process offers a variety of suggestions for individual and group learning with the goal of equipping our church and the wider Menomonie community to work actively to dismantle systems of racial injustice.

Some of the many books read by congregation members during the first two years include: Me and White Supremacy, Caste: The Lies that Divide Us, The Warmth of Other Suns, My Grandmother’s Hands, Waking Up White, Between the World and Me, Native Son, White Fragility, Begin Again, Nickel Boys, and The Underground Railroad.

Citizens United Against Racism (CUAR) is a group of concerned citizens from First Congregational UCC and the wider Menomonie area who seek to confront systems of racial oppression. CUAR holds a monthly vigil—prayerful and largely silent—acknowledging violence and police brutality against people of color. Vigils are held on the third Wednesday of each month from June through October at Wilson Park on Wilson Avenue in Menomonie.

The Peace and Justice Committee also supports local groups dedicated to justice and mercy.  With an eye to our broader mission, we back established state, national, and international charitable groups.

The Mission Committee provided support to Afghan refugees resettling in Wisconsin and to victims of Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Locally, we have supported groups including, but not limited to, Boys and Girls Club, Bridge to Hope, Free Clinic, and Stepping Stones. Stepping Stones of Dunn County receives monetary support from us in addition to the food, household, and personal goods collected from church members during the year in addition to a major drive in November.

On Sundays, the congregation assembles in the Fellowship Hall to drink Farmer-to-Farmer’s fair-trade coffee. Farmer-to-Farmer provides markets for Guatemalan and Honduran coffee farmers (and artisans).  We support economic justice through fair trade projects and educational efforts to make peace a priority.

Free-will offerings from the congregation are given on Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. Past offerings have gone to the Free Clinic and to the Boys and Girls Club. A Helping Hands fund, which the pastor uses for emergency short-term help for those in need, is also replenished this way.

Farmer to Farmer is a nonprofit located in Western Wisconsin with members throughout the U.S. Farmer to Farmer works directly with family coffee farmers, buying their organic coffee directly for an above fair trade price. The profits from the coffee sales go back to the farmers and help support various projects including school scholarships for students in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala.

The congregation has worked toward just peace by supporting local and national peace movements.  In the past we have supported participants demonstrating at the School of the Americas and the Native American resistance through the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

In recent years the Congregation has established relations with the Ho Chunk Nation and various band members of the Ojibwe, acknowledging and recognizing their stewardship of these lands prior to colonization and settlement. Mission Committee members remain active in offering technical and financial support to The Alliance for Justice, Inc., a nonprofit organization of the Ho Chunk Nation in Wisconsin. The Alliance focuses on educating people on the harmful impacts of the Doctrine of Discovery on indigenous people and works to promote environmental justice and reparations between non-indigenous and indigenous people in Wisconsin.

Thursdays Table is a weekly free meal served each Thursday from 5 to 6 PM at the First Congregational Church in Menomonie. Thursdays Table is both a partner organization and a public ministry of our congregation.

The choir rehearses Wednesdays from September through May and sings 3-4 Sundays a month during that time. We sing a variety of familiar anthems as well as newer pieces by contemporary progressive composers. Middle School age and older are welcome. Whatever your skill level as a singer is, you are invited to become part of the choir. Choir members just have more fun!

Bell choir may start meeting in September 2022.

Each week while the choir and bell choir are not performing, we invite members and friends of the congregation—all ages and experience levels—to play during the anthem time at our 10am service. On a given Sunday, you may hear a jazz saxophone solo, a classical song, folk or classical guitar, a violin or cello piece, a Broadway classic or an instrumental ensemble. Always a surprise, always a pleasure.

Local and member artists of all genres share their quilts, paintings, fabric creations, card making, and all other visual arts displayed throughout the main floor of the church building. Creative writers and vocal and instrumental musicians showcase their talents in a live performance in our beautiful and historic sanctuary. This event is open to the public on a Sunday afternoon in the spring. Date to be announced.

Some years (not every year) we put on an intergenerational musical, usually during early spring. Over the years, folks of all ages have performed musicals such as “Amal and the Night Visitors,” “Godspell,” and “Cotton Patch Gospel.” If you like to perform and make music, this can be a great opportunity to make friends, improve skills and deepen faith.

Here is a video for music:

Watch Music Video