Williston-West Church

WHO ARE WE?

We are a worshipping community. . .
• We gather each Sunday at 10 AM to pray, to sing, to listen for the Word in
  Scripture and preaching, to join in the Sacraments of the Church, to comfort
  and support one another in our journeys.

We are a diverse community. . .
• Our people come in all shapes, sizes and backgrounds: younger and older,
  families with and without children, gay and straight, workers and retirees, a
  variety of religious, racial and ethnic roots, natives and newcomers to Maine.

We are a learning community. . .
• We have a growing number of children who worship and learn each Sunday
• As our children become youth, we’re in the process of exploring youth ministry
  and confirmation programs for our future
• Over the course of the year we offer occasional adult study and exploration
  opportunities

We are a witnessing community. . .
• We support the life and wider mission of the United Church of Christ, through
  OCWM and special offerings, and in Association and Conference life.
• We are an Open and Affirming congregation
• We support many local programs, including Wayside Soup Kitchen at Preble
  Street, Seeds of Peace Camp, Portland West, PROP, Migrant Health Program,
  Long Creek Youth Development Center.

What Do We Believe?

As a church rooted in the Congregational and Reformed traditions,
we believe that faith can be expressed in many different ways, that
there is no formula that is a test of faith. Through the centuries,
however, Christians have shared their faith with one another through
creeds, confessions, catechisms and other statements of faith. So we,
along with Christians of all ages, stand in the streams of the historic
statements as well as other testimonies of faith shaped and stated
by our forebearers.

Among these, the simple words of the Salem Church Covenant of 1629
affirming our covenant “with the Lord and one with an other. . .to
walke together in all his waies, according as he is pleased to reveale
himself unto us in his bless word of truth.” and the soaring phrases of
the United Church of Christ’s Statement of Faith reminding us that “God
calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to
be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the
gospel to all the world. . .” have particular meaning for us.

Where Have We Come From?

Williston-West Church began as a mission church of State Street
Congregational Church in the late 19th Century. Officially gathered
in 1873 to serve the burgeoning West End neighborhood of Portland,
it was named for the wife of State Street’s pastor and began its
life with a membership of twenty-two. In 1877 the present building
was designed and built by Francis Fasset, in a style which included
both Gothic Revival and Queen Anne architectural elements.

In 1904, noted Portland architect John Calvin Stevens designed a
parish house which was sympathetic to Fasset’s original design.

Williston Congregational Church joined with the congregation of West
Church in 1970 to form Williston-West Church, United Church of Christ.
The United Church of Christ was formed in 1957, blending the
Congregationalism of the New England Pilgrims and Puritans, the Christian
Churches of the South, and the Evangelical and Reformed Churches of the
Mid-West. Through the years the UCC has been enriched by the presence of
many different racial and cultural traditions who have joined these four
faith streams as well.

We are a member of the Cumberland Association of the Maine Conference of
the United Church of Christ.

Our Mission Statement

We are a community of faith and joy brought together by our belief in
the teachings of God as revealed to us through Jesus Christ in the Holy
Scripture.

We welcome all who share this belief or who wish to explore it in word
and deed. We seek to be an inclusive community that feels diversity is a
source of strength within our community of faith.

We also affirm the varieties of religious belief and welcome our contacts
with members of other faiths.

We are stewards of an historic house of worship. We care for it and preserve
it not merely for what it has been in the past but for what it will be in
our present and future mission to God’s people.

Our mission is to worship God so that we are brought closer to God’s teachings,
so that we grow in love of our fellow members, and so that we reach out to
the wider community in ways that let us live our faith.

As part of our mission, we have special responsibility to assist those who are
afflicted or less fortunate.

We owe special obligation to the children of our community, that they be
raised in the wisdom of God and in the love of their church family.