(802) 442-2559 | Worship every Sunday @ 10 a.m.
(802) 442-2559 | Worship every Sunday @ 10 a.m.
Browse our activities and volunteer if you like!
For more than 15 years, we have hosted a hot meal every Sunday night to those in need in the community. We serve up to 250 people each week. In 2025 we served 7,000 meals.! We serve a hearty, balanced supper, most of which guests take out. All meals are served on BPI certified compostable service ware that can be composted in bins at the church as a part of our care for the earth.
A wide range of local faith and community groups participate in Sunday Supper: Grateful Hearts produces the main dish for our meals. GBCS (Greater Bennington Community Service) funds much of the costs. Sixteen groups make these meals possible including Second Congregational Church, Temple Beth El, The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Bennington Rotary, students including Interact, ACTS, Boy Scouts, The Mount Anthony Cross Country Team, Honor Society, Earthfire Abbey, Myers-Prouty Children’s Campuses, Nefesh, Greater Bennington Peace and Justice Center, Old First Church, The Friends’ Meeting, and the Quiet Valley Quilters.
The Second Congregational Leaders for their two teams include: Jen & Bruce Clarkson-Smith, Nora Parsons, Tim Foley, Doug Bissell, Debbie Briggs, and Cindy & Marsh Hudson-Knapp.
In conjunction with our mission to care for the earth, we (almost always) hold a plant sale in May, featuring a wide variety of flowers, vegetables, plants and shrubs collected from church and community members’ gardens. These are offered to the community at low cost.
This year the sale will be at the church on Saturday, May 16th from 9-2 pm. Many members, non members, and community members volunteer to help make it a success.
The now famous bazaar has been a holiday event for the past 77 years. The bazaar includes a bake sale, huge ‘Serendipity’ tag sale, cafe, greens (wreaths, centerpieces, etc.), silent auction, crafts and pet items. The popular community event serves to help build and strengthen community. For many, it is a chance to connect and re-connect with church family and old friends while spending a day supporting a good cause. It supports our care of the earth by recycling and reusing goods and helps the community do their holiday shopping on a budget, all while supporting financially SCC and its missions.
We love music! Our music director, Matt Edwards, is a well-known local musician and educator. Choir rehearsals are held on Wednesdays at 7 pm and Sunday at 9:30 am in the sanctuary of the church and all are welcome. We would love to have you join us to make beautiful music!
Each Sunday after worship, we love to enjoy time with our friends and visitors over coffee and snacks. We have fun activities, like dinner and movie nights, as well as trivia and game nights. Members and non-members alike are always welcome.
Eaarth* Advocates – The UCC and our group, the Eaarth Advocates, are passionate about all of God’s creation, working to preserve it and combat climate change. We educate, advocate and act to protect the earth.
*Eaarth refers to a book by environmental activist Bill McKibbon, titled Eaarth, who states the earth as we know it has died, and we must find ways to live in this new ‘Eaarth’.
You can learn more about the UCC and our pledge to care for the environment and combat climate change by visiting the UCC environmental justice blog: The Pollinator.
https://www.ucc.org/category/column/the-pollinator-ucc-environmental-justice-blog/
SCC serves as a gathering place for individuals and groups to hold meetings, celebrations, activities, concerts, memorial services and weddings. These groups include:
Visitors to the church in the afternoon might be surprised to hear the sound of children happily playing in the education wing! We proudly serve as a home campus of Myers-Prouty Children’s Care, where they offer afterschool programs. Myers-Prouty provides meals before and after school, as well as summer meals and programming at our church. To learn more, go to
The Rainbow Connection group meets on the first Sunday of the month after the Sunday service. We are an inclusive LGBTQ+ member-oriented group without a “bouncer.” The purpose of the group is to build community with the LGBTQ+ community within the church. It’s a time of sharing and incorporates Bible studies.
All are invited to a potluck fellowship luncheon that is always held on the last Wednesday of the month in Webster Hall. If you would like to bring a salad, sandwiches, or a dessert to pass, there is a sign-up sheet in Webster Hall: however you are not required to bring a dish. We would love to have you join us!
A men’s fellowship breakfast meets at Second Congregational Church in Webster Hall at 8 am on the first Sunday of the month. Men of all ages are welcome to drop in.
Rev. Mark Blank leads a two-hour Bible Study usually on the second Saturday of the month from 10 to 12 am, where participants explore texts through interactions with the Bible, each other and the Divine. Participants all engage in lively interactions with the Divine and the Bible.
Second Congregational Church is a member of the Greater Bennington Community Services (formerly known as Greater Bennington Interfaith Community Services) whose main work is providing food to those in need and a free clinic for those without medical care.
GBCS also sponsors weekly a weekly column in the Bennington Banner, helps organize interfaith events, and provides groups to help with Sunday Suppers.
Through GBCS we are members of Vermont Interfaith Action which works for justice and compassion across the state, and locally through organizer Martha Mackey. Emergency shelter has been a major work of the group, in addition to work in transportation, and hospital chaplaincy.
Learn more about GBCS here: https://gbicsbennington.org/
Bennington Habitat seeks to build strength, stability and self reliance through shelter. It brings people together to build affordable shelter and create home ownership opportunities in southwestern Vermont. Volunteers also do home repairs and run a ReStore in Manchester, where they sell donated items to fund their work. SCC supports Habitat financially, and many members volunteer with our local chapter.
We partner with Church World Service by supplying and assembling hygiene kits and Kids Kits for refugees and victims of natural disasters. For people in need, we send money for Emergency Blankets and to Tools for Hope, which provides tools, materials and training. Second Congregational Church also serves as a depot for regional churches to bring their kits of the heart so that all are picked up by the CWS truck at SCC.
Learn more here:
Learn more here : https://www.heifer.org/
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