603.882.4861

Serve

Mission Trips

“God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship [and] to be servants in the service of the whole human family…” –From the UCC Statement of Faith

Grounded in the tradition of the United Church of Christ as expressed in our Statement of Faith, our church’s youth and adults are encouraged to participate in a variety of mission and service opportunities locally, nationally, and internationally. Each year the mission trip planning team explores opportunities for participation in service to others as well as environmental, cultural, and spiritual learning through the mission trip program. Together, we make a difference in the lives of others while learning about ourselves and our faith.

To Learn More About Mission Trips at First Church, Click Here

First Church Holiday Fair November 4 & 5, 2022

The First Church Holiday Fair is a yearly fundraising event.
This year our Holiday Fair supports the Ministers Discretionary Fund!

Friday, November 4th from 4pm – 7pm – Take out dinner (4:30pm – 6:30pm)
• Saturday, November 5th from 9am – 2pm – Take out lunch (11:00am – 1:30pm)

Homemade jams, pickles, and vegetables are available as well as new wreaths, ornaments, small decorated trees, flower arrangements, a variety of angels, baby items, cards and calendars, wooden reindeer, jewelry, teachers gifts, framed word art with photos within the church, scarves, pillows, flannel pillow cases, snowmen, wine glasses, and much more!

Buy baked goods of all kinds for your upcoming holidays baked by the wonderful bakers of First Church: cookies, pies, breads, etc. Any questions or donations, please call the church. Call the Church Office. Thank you for helping to make this year’s fair a success!

Check out some of our offerings below!

Serving on a Board

There are many ways to Serve at First Church. We offer many boards and committees

Thrift Shop

The First Church Thrift Shop is open every Thursday (except holidays), 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM providing clothing for women and children (infant-size 14) for very reasonable prices. 

The Thrift Shop is currently accepting donations of FALL & WINTER CLOTHING.

Items needed:
Boys’ and girls’ clothing up to size 14, baby clothes,
Women’s clothing (all sizes), costume jewelry, pocket books and accessories, small knickknacks.

Please leave donations – clean and in good repair – in the marked bin in the courtyard lobby. Contact the church office with any questions.
Location: The shop is located at the side of the brown brick office building attached to the church. Enter from the parking lot near Davis Funeral Home. Look for the sign.

The funds generated are used to support other local outreach programs.

Call the church office, 603-882-4861, to find out how to help in our Thrift Shop, or if you have any questions.

First Church Meals Team

Home cooked meals bring much healing to people as they recuperate. For when I was sick, you looked after me. Mt. 25:36.
Contact the church office with any questions.

Teaching

The First Church, Congregational, United Church of Christ of Nashua, NH is committed to creating a safe and healthy environment in which young people can learn about and experience God’s love. In order to ensure this, we require that all people applying to be volunteers who work with minors will have been members for at least six months or friends of First Church for one year. It is the policy of the church to provide adequate supervision for all youth activities. We also expect all employees or volunteers who work with minors to complete and submit a disclosure document.

Musical Ensembles

The music ministry’s purpose is to inspire, teach, challenge and further the cause of quality music across a wide array of genres and styles. Through the different facets of the music ministry, the program encourages the church’s congregants and the ministry’s participants to explore and find the right place for them, where they can enhance their own worship experience and that of others, through the joy of music.

ALL CHOIRS ARE OPEN to both members of The First Church and the wider Nashua community.

To Learn More About Music At First Church, Click Here

Caregiving

Caring Ministries at First Church consist of Visitations Team, Caregivers Support, Prayer Partners, Prayer Shawl Ministry, and the Labyrinth.  Through these ministries, we follow Jesus’ teaching to grow in love through service to others.  

Click here to view all of our Caring Ministry offerings.

Outreach 

Individually, members of First Church are encouraged to, and do in fact, participate in a wide variety of service organizations throughout the community. Together we seek to make life better for all God’s children, but especially providing care and support for those who are among the “least of these.”

First Church provides financial support to a variety of community help programs as part of its outreach.

People are an important part of outreach and members of First Church join with members of other faith communities and no faith community through church and secular helping organizations to make a difference in people’s lives locally. Members also join with members of other UCC churches in serving on various boards, committees and task forces within the New Hampshire Conference and the United Church of Christ as part of our support of wider mission outreach.

We believe that local outreach is important and allocate funds to a variety of community helping organizations.

First Church is an active member of the Nashua Inter-faith Council and supports dialogue and action between and among local faith communities.

– Learn about our Supported Organizations –

Crop Hunger Walk

CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local congregations or groups to raise funds to end hunger at home and around the world.

Visit CROP Hunger Walks at https://www.crophungerwalk.org/

Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter

“The Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter (NSKS) is dedicated to providing shelter and food to those in need. The overall objective of the agency is to advocate, create, and operate programs and services that promote dignity and self-sufficiency for those we serve. To ensure that basic needs are addressed, NSKS is committed to joining with others in a community-wide ethic of caring.”

Visit the NSKS website here: https://nsks.org

Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire

Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire

Family Promise

The mission of Family Promise of Greater Nashua at Anne-Marie House (AMH) is to support the needs of families experiencing homelessness as they work to achieve sustainable income and self-sufficiency. We do this by providing safe and secure transitional housing, wholesome meals, career search, continuing education and other support services, such as parenting and financial literacy programs.

Anne-Marie House began in 2005, as a program of the Greater Nashua Interfaith Hospitality Network which was founded in 2004. The program began and continues to operate out of a 17,000 square foot former novitiate, which is leased from the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary in Hudson, NH. The facility has 26 bedrooms, a large kitchen, dining room, parlor, library, laundry room, family/play room, offices and conference rooms. Entering our 11th year AMH has grown to engage a network of almost 300 trained volunteers, and a staff of 4 employees. With nearly 90 percent of our graduating families achieving sustainable housing, income and transportation, AMH is very successful in empowering families to get back on their feet and provide for themselves.

Family Promise provides a unique service to an often underserved population in the homeless community – families. Believe it or not, keeping families together during a period of homelessness is often nearly impossible to do as family members are often asked to split up amongst available spots at homeless shelters, women-only programs, men-only programs, between other family members, etc. At Family, we believe that keeping families together is of utmost importance in ensuring that our families achieve successful and sustainable lifestyles. We accept two-parent families, single mothers or fathers with children, grandparents raising grandchildren, etc. Children under the age of 18 represent approximately 60% of the residents at Family Promise.

All of our guests are referred to AMH through our host congregations and network of social service providers. Guests entering the program must be substance free; have a source of income and transportation, career searching or, involved in a job training program; and sign an agreement that is renewed monthly based on progress toward individual goals. Each family at AMH works with our Family Services Director to identify and maintain their plan for regaining independence and self-sufficiency. In addition, each family is offered the opportunity to attend classes on parenting, financial management, housing and real estate opportunities, and career searching.

Adult Learning Center

The Adult Learning Center is a vibrant, exciting place to learn. We provide academic programs, skills training, and support services to help people succeed, including:

  • Adults who want to better train themselves for the workplace
  • Young adults who want to complete their high school education
  • Children who need safe, nurturing child care and after school programs

Visit the website for the Adult Learning Center here: https://nashuaalc.org/

Front Door Agency

The Front Door Agency, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that invests in New Hampshire individuals and families as they transition from crisis to self-sufficiency by providing a hand-up opportunity to those at risk of homelessness.

Through our four core programs–Transitional HousingPrevention and Intervention of HomelessnessCrisis Advocacy and Resource Education, and Financial Literacy, we invest in those who need assistance with basic needs by providing direction and educational opportunities as they transition from crisis to self-sufficiency.

We take great pride our delivery of services and in our approach of offering hands-up opportunities to those who are invested in themselves to improve their situations. We believe in dignity, respect, and compassion for all people.

Our main office is located at 7 Concord Street, Nashua, NH 03064 and is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We are closed on Fridays.

Visit the website for the Front Door Agency here: http://www.frontdooragency.org/About/

Nashua Children’s Home

Nashua Children’s Home is committed to the care, welfare and educational achievement of children and youth within its Residential and Educational Programs, and the successful transition to adult living of young men and women in its Transitional Living Program. Nashua Children’s Home provides care and stability to boys and girls unable to remain with their families, special education services for students who have not been successful in public school settings, and supportive housing for youth that have “aged-out” of care.

Visit the website for the Nashua Children’s Home here: https://nashuachildrenshome.org/

Heifer International Learning Center

Heifer International is a charity organization working to end hunger and poverty around the world by providing livestock and training to struggling communities.
 
Learn more here: https://www.heifer.org/
 
 

End 68 Hours of Hunger

End 68 Hours of Hunger is a private, not-for-profit, effort to confront the approximately 68 hours of hunger that some school children experience between the free lunch they receive at school on Friday afternoon and the free breakfast they receive at school on Monday morning.

This weekend program, established in New Hampshire in 2011, puts nourishing food in the hands of school children to carry them through the weekend.

We are entirely volunteer based and 100 percent of funds go directly to feeding at-risk children unless otherwise designated by the donor.

Childhood hunger – or food insecurity – is a national problem. It occurs when children receive insufficient food on a regular basis and in many cases, missing meals entirely. After a while, these children also experience ‘fear of hunger’ that affects their behavior as much as physical hunger affects their bodies.

– CLAIRE BLOOM
Founder and Executive Director

Learn more about End 68 Hours of Hunger here: https://www.end68hoursofhunger.org/

Pastoral Counseling Services

PCS was founded to utilize the best psychotherapeutic techniques while respecting the natural connection between the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions in the healing process. Our desire is to provide a community in which clients Feel Heard, Feel Cared for and Feel Better.

In addition to our counseling services, PCS impacts the vitality of our community by partnering with other non-profit organizations to help underserved & at risk populations with stress management techniques and honoring those who “go above & beyond” with the Good Samaritan Award.

Learn more about Pastoral Counseling Services here: https://www.pcs-nh.org/

United Way of Greater Nashua

Improving Lives and Strengthening our Communities

United Way of Greater Nashua is an independent, non-profit organization controlled by our local donors. It was established in 1930 when business leaders helped raise $42,677 to assist local families who were suffering from the community’s greatest problems of the time: the Great Depression and the aftermath of the Crown Hill fire. We’ve been here ever since, bringing together donors, businesses, non-profits, government, and faith-based communities to make our region a stronger, healthier place to live and work.

Learn more about the United Way of Greater Nashua here: http://www.unitedwaynashua.org/about-united-way-greater-nashua/