About Hampshire Colony Congregational Church
We are a historic Christian community continuing to live our faith through grace and believing in the importance of Scripture, relying on the help of God. We encourage individual spiritual growth and the expression of our rights in congregational self-determination. We are welcoming of all individuals seeking the Christian faith.
Hampshire Colony Congregational Church (HCCC) began 187 years ago in 1831 when a group of New Englanders went west to start a new town. One of our first pastors was Rev. Owen Lovejoy, a well-known abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad. He later took our anti-slavery values to serve as a US senator.
HCCC has a dynamic history and a deep love for God and each other. Today we offer modern ways to pursue a personal friendship with Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
We embrace the Congregational Way of "Faith, Freedom, and Fellowship."
Faith: We celebrate that we can trust Jesus to lead us.
Freedom: We celebrate a freedom to follow Christ ourselves!!
Fellowship: We celebrate our friendships together in God's family!!
Regular Sunday Worship Service
Regular Worship Service is held every Sunday and is preceded by a brief Fellowship.
Fellowship: 10:00AMWorship Service: 10:30AM
Our History
Hampshire Colony Congregational Church (HCCC) traces its life to early New England Congregationalism. It is one of the daughter churches of First Congregational Church, North Hampton, Massachusetts and the first Congregational Church in the State of Illinois. A small band of people, proposing to migrate west and settle in Illinois, organized HCCC in Northampton, Hampshire County, in 1831. The first official entry in the old church record book reads, “The Hampshire Colony Church of Christ founded at Northampton, Mass., March 23, 1831, settled on the Bureau River county of Putnam State of Illinois, July 6, 1831, and named the town Greenfield”. Soon the town founded by these New England settlers was renamed Princeton.
HCCC has occupied four buildings during its history. Community settlers first met in the log cabin of one of its members. As the church and the community grew, HCCC occupied a crude frame structure on the site of the present county jail and courthouse on Park Avenue West. Later, the church occupied a brick building with a tall spire on the present site. In the early 1900’s, church members found the basement under the building had weaken the foundation, and members decided to rebuild the church. Church members erected the present building in 1906, with its addition for Christian Education and Fellowship rooms added in 1956. The high tower with its chiming clock, which has distinguished the building over the years, was the gift of Minnie Colesbury in 1911.
HCCC has had a vital history of community service, starting with the abolition movement preceding and during the Civil War. Later years, HCCC sent forth missionaries to Turkey, started the first county day care program and opened its doors proclaiming the gospel of Christ Jesus in Bureau County and surrounding communities. HCCC elected to join the Northern Association of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ in 1957. The United Church of Christ is a denomination composed of Congregational Christian churches and Evangelical and Reformed churches that merged. Today, HCCC is a member of the National Association of Congregational Churches staying true to its roots of congregationalism.
Hampshire Colony, in the Congregational tradition, has no fixed creed to which it demands assent. Rather, it asks of its members that they covenant together in the sight of God “in striving to know the will of God…land in our purpose to walk in the ways of the Lord.” To all who can sincerely affirm this covenant, HCCC extends fellowship and service, inviting all to share in both seeking and serving.