Our History

The church is located in Center Harbor, at the northwestern end of Lake Winnipesaukee. The Center Harbor Congregational Church was built on the land donated by the John Coe family on November 8, 1837. The congregation was organized in May of 1838 and the original church structure was dedicated during the winter of 1838. In 1885, a vestry was built under the structure, adding office space and a small kitchen area. A narthex was added to the front, altering the appearance of the entrance.

The present Mollor pipe organ was installed in 1983. In 1988 the church undertook a major building program and added a two story parish house. It contains a large hall and kitchen on the upper level. The hall is dedicated to longtime member Bernice Gilpatric. On the lower level is a nursery, two classrooms and storage space. In the summer of 2008, both furnaces for the church were replaced with new systems.

In 1994, the church purchased some adjacent land, bringing the total land size to three acres.

In January 2006, we honored Rev. Earl W. Miller, Jr. who served our congregation for six years, with a retirement party.

The Rev. Carol Snow-Asher came to us in March of 2006 and serves as our interim pastor today. She resides in Hill, New Hampshire.

Our congregation currently has approximately 150 full and associate members.

Our Beliefs

Faith: This church acknowledges as its sole head, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of man. It acknowledges as brothers and sisters in Christ all who share in this confession. It looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the word. It claims as its own the faith of the historic church, expressed in the ancient creed and the reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant Reformers, given expression in the declarations of the Congregational Christian Churches, and as expressed in the Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ. It affirms the responsibility of the church in each generation to make this faith its own. In accordance with the teaching of our Lord and the practice prevailing among evangelical Christians, it recognizes two Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion.

Covenant: We covenant one with another to seek and respond to the Word and will of God. We propose to walk together in the ways of the Lord, made known and to be made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the Church to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all the world, while worshipping God and striving for truth, justice, and peace. As did our foreparents, we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead and empower us. We pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God, and we look with faith toward the triumph of righteousness and eternal life.

Church Circa 1838
Gilpatric Hall 1988