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Welcome!

First Congo branded border for hero banners

COME SEE US!

We welcome drop-in visits anytime but would also love to be able to call you by name when you visit, so please share your information with us here:
PLAN A VISIT
NEW MEMBER CLASS REGISTRATION

Let’s connect!

Please click the button below to fill out a form that shares your contact information with our New Member and Engagement Coordinator, Jeannette Lloyd, so she can help you get connected to our faith community.

Share Your Info

Becoming a Member

We hope that as you get acquainted with our faith community, you decide to journey toward membership. We invite anyone interested to join us for New Member Orientation sessions, offered quarterly. During these sessions, you can:

  • Get to know our pastors while learning about the history and beliefs of our congregation and the UCC denomination.
  • Hear about our church’s ministry and missions while identifying ways to connect personally with the life of the congregation.
  • Discover how membership at First Congo empowers us to become disciples of Christ.
  • If you are interested in our next New Member orientation, please fill out this form to reserve your spot.

If you have questions about our New Member process or our faith community, contact jeannette@wscongo.org.

EMAIL Jeannette
First Congo kids dancing outside of the church
First Congo members having fun outside on the lawn
Becy, Susan and a friend smile for the camera at an event

WHAT TO EXPECT

We welcome you to First Congregational Church of Western Springs. This is a community where Sunday worship is meant to inspire us to respond to a loving, gracious God during the week. It is a community where people find comfort, respite, open arms and numerous ways to live out actively their call to serve Christ in the world. All are welcome here and that means you.

Our family of faith includes members from many Christian traditions. This breadth of theological perspectives allows us to learn from one another and grow in our own Christian faith in an atmosphere of love and respect. It is one of our greatest joys as a church family to share what we have found here with others.

WHO WE ARE

At First Congregational Church of Western Springs, we seek to be a faithful people, to introduce our children to a loving Jesus, and to live out our faith in Christian mission and service. We feel called to love God through worship, which is the central act of our faith.

We welcome all people as children of God and value that our members come from many traditions. This breadth of theological perspectives allows us to learn from one another and helps us to grow in our own Christian faith in an atmosphere of love and respect. We ask our new members to bring the best of what they have experienced and to acknowledge that all of us have come from a variety of backgrounds and may be in different places in our faith journeys.

Kathryn Rich Meredith

We do not take the words of the Bible to be literal truths, but we take them to be eternal truths, which speak to us as powerfully in this century as they did in Jesus’ day. We try to connect these truths to our everyday lives and we lift up Jesus’ teachings of love, justice and peace.

We believe God is still speaking to us and hope our faith will always continue to grow. We invite and welcome you to look for many opportunities to expand your faith with us.

READ OUR MISSION & VALUES
Pastor Rich speaking outside of church doors
First Congo members having fun outside on the lawn

Please take a moment to hear our Senior Pastor Rich Kirchherr’s reply to the question “Why do you have the tradition of ‘Ask the Pastor’ Sunday?” His answer truly explains how First Congo is Diverse in Thought and United in Christ.