Church Profile

Setting

Greenwich, CT is a town of 64,000 residents that is located on the New York state border and on the coast of Long Island Sound. It is home to over 25 churches. RHCC is located on a picturesque twelve-acre site five miles from downtown. The Church campus includes an award-winning church building; a comfortable Parsonage, built in 1996; the Community House, built in the 1920s and renovated in 2009, which serves approximately 700 members of the community every week in day care, dance groups, Boy Scouts and other community functions; a Sexton’s cottage, and a Labyrinth walk.

The Community

Greenwich offers outstanding public and private schools, many parks and several beaches, and easy access to New York City and New England by train and highway. (For an overview of the town visit www.greenwichct.org/Home.) The Round Hill neighborhood is located on the highest point in Greenwich, immediately north of the Merritt Parkway, with a historic district and many lovely homes, interlaced with riding trails and nature preserves. Greenwich is a surprisingly diverse community with 2000 units of public housing and where English is not the predominant language spoken in over 20% of the homes.

Vision and Governance

RHCC is nondenominational and independent, completely self-sustaining financially and self-governing in its leadership. It is governed by a Board of Trustees, which is elected by the congregation for rotating terms of four years. The Trustees elect the Officers of the Church, who serve terms of two years. The Senior Minister serves as an ex officio member of the Board. Most Church programs are organized and overseen by committees, which are normally chaired by members of the Board, to whom they report on a regular basis.

The Church is “mainstream” in its Christian identity and Protestant background – with its previous Ministers having served in the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA), and with its members coming from these and a variety of other denominations. The faith statements that reflect the theology and religious values and visions of the Church are contained within the RHCC Creed, Church Prayer, and Mission Statement, which are attached. The Creed reflects Congregationalist leanings, rooted as it is in the Kansas City Statement of Faith from 1913. The Prayer was composed by Church members and has been used for many years. The Mission Statement was adopted in 1998. Each week at Sunday worship, the Creed and Prayer are recited within the Order of Worship.

Services

Sunday worship is at 10:00 a.m. followed by a popular fellowship hour. Average attendance at the worship service is 95 people per week. Church School meets during the service, convening after the children’s message. Childcare is available for children under the age of three. The ministry of music is one of our defining characteristics, featuring an outstanding choir with professional soloists and occasional instrumentalists.

History

The Round Hill Community Church was founded in 1921 by neighbors from various Christian denominations. Services were held at the corner of Round Hill Road and John Street until the late 1970s, when the majority of the congregation moved to the Round Hill Community House to continue to hold nondenominational services. The congregation raised money to construct the building it currently uses on land adjacent to the Community House, and began to worship there in 1983. Seven ministers have served the Church since 1921: Harold Wilson, John Prince, Jessie Thomas, Arnold Miller, Walter Wagoner, Ralph Ahlberg, and Robert Culp.

Membership

RHCC’s congregation consists of 325 adult members. Over fifty percent of the congregation have a post-graduate degree. One-half of the congregation is aged 65 years or older. Members come from a variety of religious backgrounds, with Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Catholic and UCC being the most common. Most of the congregation has lived in the neighborhood for many years. In a recent survey administered by the Hartford Seminary, sixty-five percent of respondents said that they had three or more of their closest friends in the congregation and cited that fact as an important reason for their continued attendance.

Church Finances

The Church has no mortgage. An endowment of $4 million partially funds its annual operating budget, with an annual stewardship appeal raising the remainder. The operating budget for 2009 was $785,000.

Benevolence and Outreach

The Church commits 10% of its operating budget and one-third of other income to Benevolence and Outreach (B&O) projects each year. The B&O committee meets regularly to review and evaluate supported causes, to consider proposals for new mission involvement and initiatives, to make decisions for the level of financial mission support annually for designated causes within its approved budget, and to serve in our church and community as a catalyst for mission. Recent mission activities include: