ABOUT us
WELCOME! For more than 300 years, First Congregational Church has ministered to the Sutton community, providing a spiritual home where generations have worshiped, laughed and cried, dreamed dreams and responded to the call of God. Today we continue to proclaim Jesus’ message of Love, Hope and Joy as we look to the challenges and opportunities of ministry.
The Mission of the First Congregational Church of Sutton is to:
Serve God by sharing the teaching, faith, love and forgiveness of Christ.
Provide an open and caring place of worship.
Serve our church family and community in the spirit of charity and faith.
Our Statement of Faith
Our roots are in biblical, historical Christianity as it emerged in the Protestant Reformation.
We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father, and to His deeds we testify:
He calls the worlds into being, creates people in His own image and sets before them the ways of life and death.
He seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.
He judges people and nations by His righteous will, declared through the prophets and apostles.
In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, He has come to us, has shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to Himself.
He bestows upon us His Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the Church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues and races.
He calls us into his Church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be His servants in the service of people, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at His table, to join Him in His passion and victory.
He promises to all who trust him forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, His presence in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in his kingdom which has no end.
Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto Him. Amen
Pastor Dave Buchanan
Pastor Dave loves preaching and worship, church music, Bible and Christian literature studies, and serving others…
Pastor Dave Buchanan grew up in Bangor, Maine. He graduated from Bangor High School in 1973, and from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1977. He served in the Army for fifteen years as an engineer and language teacher. He served in Virginia, 2 different assignments in Germany, New York City, and at West Point. While in the Army, he obtained a Professional Engineer license and a Master of Engineering degree (civil/environmental) from the University of Maine. Out of all that experience, he is fluent in both German and French.
On leaving the Army, Dave went home to Bangor, and graduated from Bangor Theological Seminary in 1995, with a Master of Divinity degree. Later that year, he was ordained at the Tremont Congregational Church in Tremont, Maine, where he had served as Pastor for two years.
Pastor Dave served for over five years at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Dallastown, Pennsylvania, before returning to New England to serve the First Congregational Church of Boylston, Massachusetts, for eighteen years. He came to serve as the Pastor & Teacher of First Church in Sutton in February, 2020.
Pastor Dave’s ecclesiastical standing as an ordained minister is held in the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Churches. (One can readily see why they refer to the group as the EA.) He is a member of the Massachusetts Corps of Fire Chaplains, and a Chaplain on the Central Mass. Critical Incident Stress Management Team. The CISM team supports first responders throughout central and southern Worcester County. He has also served and trained as a Police Chaplain.
Pastor Dave’s “tentmaker” (weekday) job is working as a civil engineer for an engineering firm in Boylston.
Pastor Dave is married to Kathleen Buchanan, who is a retired Special Education Director, and the Learning Support Coordinator at Tremont School in Concord. Kathy also serves on two advisory committees at UMass Memorial Healthcare. Dave and Kathy have two grown children, and two grandchildren.
Their daughter, Mary, is a special education teacher, wife of Greg, and mother of a special little boy, Bennett, in eastern Pennsylvania.
Young Dave is a high school history teacher and football coach. He is also the husband of Laura, and the father of a daughter, Iris.
Pastor Dave enjoys preaching and worship, church music, Bible and Christian literature studies, reading detective/action fiction, hiking with his dog Dixie, and playing recorders.
A Brief History of the Church
The history of the First Congregational Church of Sutton is a full and interesting story covering over 300 years. The Church was organized in 1720 with ten members, all male. The townspeople were taxed to raise the money for building a Meeting House and for paying the salary of the minister. Later, when church and town affairs were separated, the pews were deeded to members and taxes were set on the pews for these expenses. Now, we members make pledges each year to pay to support the church and its ministry.
The building we have today is the third built by the First Congregational Church. The first building, built in 1720, was on the west side of the Common (the Town Hall side) the second building, built in 1751, was on the south side of the Common (near or in front of the red brick store) and the present building was built in 1829. The first two buildings were plain with clear glass windows and simple wooden benches with backs. The second building burned in 1828.
