Welcome!
Welcome to The Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church of Saratoga Springs, NY. We are located at 24 Circular Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.
From September through June, our Sunday worship service starts at 10:45am and we welcome all people to join us. Child care is available during the worship service in the Nolan House next door. We have a nursery for infants to 3-year-olds and offer Sunday School classes for 4-year-old preschoolers through 5th grade.
Sunday School has concluded for the school year and resumes September 14th.
Sunday School runs concurrently with our worship service and usually ends about 15 minutes after the worship service - which gives you time to join us for coffee or tea in the church's Fellowship Hall.
Youth programs have concluded for the school year and will resume September 7th. If your child is in middle school, he or she is welcome to join our middle school youth group, which meets at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning in the Nolan House. Our senior high youth group meets in the Nolan House on Sunday nights at 6:45 p.m.
Our Summer Schedule starts July 6. During the month of July, there will be a worship service here at 10:45am on Sundays, or you have the option of a 9am service at the United Methodist Church on Henning Road at the corner of Fifth Avenue. (NOTE: The same minister will do both services. Childcare will be available at the 9am service only.) During August there is ONE service at 9am at the United Methodist Church. Sermon duties are shared among the United Methodist ministers, Jay and Eleanor. On September 7th, we’re back to our regular 10:45am service at 24 Circular Street.
Our office hours become somewhat “irregular” from June 26th through September 3rd. Voice mail and email will be checked frequently, however, so feel free to leave or send a message. We will get back to you in a timely fashion.
We are a federated church of Presbyterians and New England Congregationalists. We are two historically related congregations and maintain a certain separateness in our legal identities: each congregation has its own membership book, its own mission contribution, and its own denominational ties. However, we worship together as a single church family. For practical purposes, there is no separation between the two congregations.
Our church family is diverse in age, marital status, sexual orientation, theological outlook and political perspective, but we are united in the belief that a church that attempts to experience the love of God within its community must also be a church that is socially conscious and politically involved. That sometimes leads to controversy and discomfort; but we believe that relevance to human life is more important than a “comfortable pew.”
Everyone is Welcome Here
We hold to the beliefs expressed in the 1995 Covenant for Inclusiveness:
"We believe that God’s love for humanity is all inclusive and by our common baptism we are brought into union with Christ without distinction. Christ’s commandment to love one another is the foundation for our Christian faith. We believe that our value as human beings is given to us by God, and that God calls us to relate to each other as whole persons, with love, accountability, responsibility, trust and mutual nurture. Discrimination against any group of people should not exist within the family of God."
In accordance with this faith, membership in this church is open to all who profess Jesus according to their commitment to the Christian faith and their individual qualifications. Those we call as ministers shall be evaluated in the same spirit. Since homosexuality has become the focus of policies of exclusion in many churches, we are obliged to declare specifically that we will not prejudge individuals by that category. In this regard, we embrace the policy of non-discrimination recommended to the congregations by the 15th General Synod of the United Church of Christ (1985) and we strongly urge the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA to adopt a similar policy. We faithfully join in the fellowship of UCC “Open and Affirming” congregations and Presbyterian “More Light” churches.
Having long regarded our congregation as “open” to all, we shall continue efforts to become more truly welcoming and affirming through programs that promote understanding of our human diversity and appreciation of our similarity. May the message of God’s inclusive love thus be heard and felt within and outside this church."
Come, share your journey with us.
