It all began in 1842…
That’s when the seed of what would grow into Rockland Community Church was sown. In the wake of a visiting lecturer who argued from the Bible that Christ was going to return in 1843, our forebearers formed a “Second Advent Society” for the purposes of studying and propagating this belief. They were one society of many within what was known as the “Second Advent Movement.” Their effort to calculate a date was foolish, a fact made painfully clear when the predicted dates came and went with no occurrence. Despite this failure and the abandonment of the movement by many, there were members of the Second Advent Society in Scituate and elsewhere who stayed together. They soon left behind making predictions and focused their energies on emphasizing that Christ’s imminent return will be the culmination of God’s mission to save and restore humanity.
In 1867, we became formally organized as a church within the newly formed Advent Christian denomination, taking the name, “North Scituate Advent Christian Church.” Our first church building was located in the center of North Scituate village, a small structure formerly known as “White’s Tin Shop.” In the late 50s, we experienced significant growth and a move was made to construct a new church building on land purchased along Rockland Road, a move that was completed in 1965.
In 2018, our congregation voted to change the name of our church from “North Scituate Advent Christian Church'‘ to “Rockland Community Church.” Over the years, many have mistakenly thought our church was Seventh-Day Adventist; this change was largely made to put an end to that confusion. Our church is evangelical in outlook and continues to be a proud member of the Advent Christian denomination. Typical to Advent Christian churches, the Bible is our sole authority for teaching and we strive to make our church members better students of the Word. While some differences of belief do emerge, Advent Christians have a longstanding tradition of tolerating differences on non-essential beliefs. We gladly welcome into membership all who confess belief in the central matters of the faith. When we share the Gospel, we do so in a way typical to Advent Christians, making clear that life can only be in found in Christ and that our hope is found in His promised return in which He will make all things new.
With Christ as the center of our life and hope as a church, we are striving to love both God and our neighbors in everything that we do. We want to shine the light of the coming King and Kingdom into every dark corner, offering to others the same mercy and redemption we have received in Jesus Christ.