Welcome!
We are so happy you’re here!
We are First Congregational Church of Hartland, United Church of Christ, AKA: The Brick Church. We are an Open & Affirming congregation. We’re a compassionate, open-minded, active congregation seeking to do the work Jesus asks of us by loving our neighbor and helping those in our community and in our wider world most in need.
For more information about our denomination, the United Church of Christ, click here!
History
Church Founding
Evidence of religious interest and services does not appear in any Church records, but appears instead in the town records dating back to May 10, 1779, when the Church and town records were one.
The earliest town records refer to a meeting of the freeholders of the Town of Hereford (as Hartland was then called). The free holders voted on May 10, 1779 to ask Mr. Martin Tuller to preach on probation for “ten Sabbaths more.” This indicates that Mr. Tuller had served the town as religious leader prior to the date of this meeting.
From 1779 to 1789, the town hired the following ministers: Rev. Isaiah Potter in 1779; Rev Nathanial Merrill in 1780; and Rev Wait Cornwall in 1785. By 1785 the Congregational Church had become an independent body, and it was sufficiently organized in 1789 to call and install Rev. Daniel Breck as its pastor. Simultaneously, differences of belief arose, and certain churches of other denominations in other towns. Still, the Congregational faith was the majority faith, as evidenced by the town’s vote to call Daniel Breck to be its minister. (… continues in 2002 church manual)…