Fellowship is very important in our church, as evidenced by the many scheduled and informal fellowship events we hold beyond our regular Sunday worship service, Sunday School, and Nursery time together.

Events throughout the church year are enjoyed by our whole congregation. This includes our Welcome Back! Cookout and Melrose Porchfest in September, Halloween Party in late October, Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon/Pie & Coffee in November, Home for the Holidays, and Christmas Caroling in December. In February, a favorite tradition is the Annual Chili Cook-off where chefs (and junior chefs) vie for prizes in numerous chili categories.  We eagerly anticipate Souper Bowl Sunday & Easter Caroling in March/April. In June after a beautiful outdoor service, we wrap up the program year with the annual End-of-Year Cookout. We have always enjoyed the annual Pool Party as well when the weather – and water – warms up, and our Pizza Party in July is always buzzing as we reconnect when church is out of session!

We’re leaving out all the fun & fellowship we enjoy together at annual church events like our spring and fall cleanup, Antique Show & Sale, huge Christmas Fair, Wine Pull & Raffle, and enormous Spring Yard Sale.

We offer so many musical opportunities, there is something for every age! At any point, you might hear performances by Harmony Lites, a singing/ukulele/chimes/handbell group that serves as fellowship as much as music sharing for our youth, or watch them in a Youth Band. You might hear a vocal or instrumental duet between a parent and their child. We also have a regular choir called the Morning Star Voices, a full handbell choir, bluegrass group the New Day String Band. We are so fortunate to have so many professional and avocational musicians further bless our congregation during Sunday worship with performances of meaningful works, whether in the form of guitar, double bass, violin, viola, flute, trumpet, sax, harp, piano, organ, or bowed psaltery. The immense talent that is so generously shared brings us tremendous joy – we are deeply grateful for these gifts!

Throughout the year, members with similar interests enjoy being part of lively discussion/philanthropic groups such as Circle 4 or Circle 10, Men’s Group, Backyard Gardeners, or Common Threads knitting group. You might find us in the library after worship with a Bible Study or special education series (such as a program on Lent, prayer journaling, or a session just for kids all about Communion) a Youth outing to Drumlin Farms, going to Boda Borg for some shared fun and teamwork building, petting goats at Heifer International, helping build a home with Habitat for Humanity, walking to support Bread of Life or the Melrose Alliance Against Violence, preparing food in our church kitchen with our Feeding Ministry, or serving food at Bread of Life in Malden. Maybe our youth is in the kitchen preparing goodies to create Care Packages to mail to our new college students, on their own for the first time! Our church is powered by solar, and we engage actively in environmental stewardship and offer learning opportunities such as when we recently discussed the benefits and grants available to upgrading your air conditioning to a heat pump system. We are proud to participate in the newly formed Immigration Support Alliance, after being strong supporters in Refugee Immigration Ministry for many years. We might be collecting school supplies and backpacks, new Christmas toys and clothes for City Mission, or sewing “ditty bags” for the Seafarer’s Friend. When someone has a specific interest, we encourage them to form a group…let’s join together in God’s love and make this world a better place!

What do you like most to do? We welcome your time, energy, interests, and talents and look forward to helping you plug into our community.