The Congregational denomination came to America on the Mayflower.  It stems from the founding in 1620 of Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims and the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritans.  These early settlers left the Old World and came to the new in order that they might be free individuals to worship God according to their own consciences.  That individual freedom remains the most proud tenant of congregationalism today.  In Pilgrim Church it means that we never stop seeking answers to even the most complex questions, as each individual member attempts to follow the age old commandment of Jesus that we all worship God not only with our hearts and souls but also with our minds.

Recognizing the need to stimulate the minds of their children, the Pilgrims established schools which were the forerunners of the American system of free education.  Aware of the value of trained leaders and a rational approach to faith, the Congregational churches also began a program of organizing and sustaining colleges that has continued for well over 350 years.  Harvard, founded in 1636, was the first of a long list that now stretches the length and breadth of the country.  Yale, Amherst, Bowdoin, Carlton, Grinell, Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke, Oberlin, Pacific, Pomona, Smith and Wellesley—these and 32 other institutions of higher learning owe their origin to the Congregational devotion to developing the God-given gift of intelligence.  That God-given gift is still cultivated in every worship service of a true Congregational church today.

Pilgrim Congregational Church is proud of its magnificent heritage and it is its constant prayer that the faith of all might be further developed through the preaching and teaching that it brings to its new home in Warren.

PilgrimChurch is pleased to be an active, contributing member of the Connecticut Fellowship of Congregational Christian Churches and a member of the National Association of the Congregational Christian Churches with headquarters in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.