Last week, I found myself fielding a series of questions—questions I suspect many of you may be carrying as well. I want to share them with you here:
- While visiting with folks in the Market, someone asked me, “Is the church still open?”
- In yoga, another person wondered aloud about the relationship between Ridgebury Church and The Meetinghouse.
- Still another asked if they could come to church—to which the answer is an unequivocal yes, absolutely.
Given these questions, it felt important to pause and clarify the relationship between the Ridgebury Congregational Church and The Ridgebury Meetinghouse.
First, it’s important to understand that the church and the meetinghouse have always been one. In the 1700s, sacred and secular life were deeply intertwined. The meetinghouse was the place where spiritual life, civic life, education, and community gathering all met under one roof.
Today, because of the separation of church and state and modern legal requirements, we operate through two 501(c)(3) organizations:
- Ridgebury Meetinghouse, Inc., established to ensure the long-term preservation and shared use of this historic campus
- And Ridgebury Congregational Church, the faith community rooted here for generations
Second—and this matters—the property remains under the ownership, or more accurately, the stewardship, of the church. It is through the vision, generosity, and ongoing commitment of the congregation that The Meetinghouse as we know it today exists for the wider community. In very practical terms, even Market operations are tied to the continued presence of a living, working congregation. Together—Church and Meetinghouse—we often say that we are one house, many rooms.
And that brings us to this moment.
Every one hundred years, the Ridgebury Meetinghouse has been presented with a choice—between life and death, preservation and reimagining. In 1820, it was raised as a place where a young community could gather, discern, and belong. In 1920, it was renewed to meet the needs of a changing town and a new century. And now, in the 2020s, we stand once again at a threshold.
With your help, we are entering a new season of exploration—asking what community means today, and what role spirituality might play in nurturing belonging, well-being, and shared responsibility in an interdependent world.
Because spirituality means many things to many people, a working definition is important. For this, we draw from the work of Tracy Howe, who describes spirituality not primarily as belief, but as lived relationship:
If spirituality is broadly understood as the relationships and stories I live and practice, then the depth of my spirituality is revealed in the degree to which I embody life-giving relationships—
with myself,
with neighbors seen and unseen,
with the more-than-human world,
with ancestors and generations to come,
and with God, if that is part of my story and framework.
Understood this way, spirituality is not abstract. It is practiced. It is relational. And it shapes how we live together.
This understanding guides a 21st-century expression of the Meetinghouse as “one house, many rooms.” A shared home that includes:
- The room of community, through The Market and everyday gathering
- The rooms of music, visual, and written arts, where meaning is explored and expressed
- The room of wellness, attending to body, mind, and spirit
- The room of the land, honoring our relationship with the more-than-human world
- And yes, the room of traditional worship, rooted in our faith story and open to reflection
At the same time, we are intentionally linking this future-facing work with our historic roots—through America 250, as we reflect on the evolving promise of belonging and democracy, and through Poets & Prophets, which calls forth spiritual imagination and courageous engagement in the public square.
This moment is not about abandoning the past, nor about prescribing a single future.
It is about crossing a threshold together—listening deeply, experimenting faithfully, and shaping a Meetinghouse that serves this place and this time.
We invite you—neighbors, seekers, skeptics, artists, elders, families, and friends—into the exploration.
One house. Many rooms. A shared future, still becoming.
With gratitude for the journey shared,
PS. Yes, I am both pastor of the Church and director of The Meetinghouse. But more than my professional roles, I am Debbie—resident, neighbor, friend, volunteer for the love of Ridgefield!
