WHAT IS WORSHIP LIKE?

Our services include sacred and secular readings, poetry, and litanies; preaching, prayer, and various styles of music. You will be invited to stand, sing, pray, greet your neighbor, be in silence, or read responsively. As a music-making body, we are sometimes accompanied by a variety of instruments: the organ, piano, drums (drum set, djembe and other hand percussion instruments), guitar, cello, trumpet, and trombone. Some of our musical refrains are sung in multiple languages, with attention tot he fact that we are a multi-lingual community. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month and is open to all. On Fifth Sundays we often observe a Service of Healing that includes the laying on of hands and anointing prayers for those yearning for healing for themselves, others, and the world.

Our membership reflects the diversity of God’s world. Some people come in traditional clothing from their countries of origin. Many of us dress casually when we attend worship. Each Sunday we end our service with a blessing and sending forth, because we gather every week to be sent out again into the world, refreshed in spirit and inspired to grow in God’s light.

ARE CHILDREN WELCOME?

We strongly believe that practicing our faith is something we do from cradle to grave: there is no single age group to which worship is geared. In planning worship, we seek to engage many way and forms of knowing, we celebrate the reality that apprehending God’s work among us comes from all senses and forms of cognition. Therefore we welcome movement, wiggles, squirms, exclamations, and questions. In other words, worship is for children as much as adults. On most Sundays*, children leave worship following the Early Word to attend special lessons taught by elders of our church, helping them to connect what we do in the Sanctuary to the words of Scripture, and to the world they inhabit. Childcare is available during the entire Sunday service for infants and toddlers. Our nursery is staffed by a paid staff person who is always assisted by a rotating volunteer who has been screened and approved to assist in childcare. We have a “Prayground” in our sanctuary where children may sit at a table specially designed for them with art materials and other resources that allow them to respond to the scripture, songs, and prayers as they desire. They will find there too an order of worship with pictures that help to decipher what is happening in worship.

*between September and early June

WHERE DO I PARK?

FPCH is located on Capitol Avenue and Clinton Street in Downtown Hartford, just east of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.

With State of Connecticut construction projects around us, parking is sometimes a challenge. We have a small lot on the east side of our building. There is on-street parking most Sundays along Capitol Avenue. State lots are also available on most Sundays directly across Capitol Avenue from our building. When the Bushnell Theater has a Sunday morning program, those attending worship can usually speak to the Bushnell parking attendants and still enter the State lots along Capitol without being charged a parking fee.

ARE YOU ON THE BUS LINE?

Our church is on the following bus lines, stopping at The Bushnell on Capitol Avenue: CT Transit 63 and FasTrak 121. There are other buses on this route on weekdays, check the CT Transit map or app for schedules.

WHERE DO I ENTER?

The best way to enter our building is either through the main doors at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Clinton Street, which has a ramp entrance. You may also enter through a red door to the east of the main doors that leads into our office wing, and follow the long hall to the sanctuary and other gathering spaces of the church.

DO YOU REQUIRE MASKS?

Visit our Masks in Worship page for more information.