Our Staff

Rev. Heidi brings wisdom, warmth, and a deep love for people to every sermon and conversation. With a heart for spiritual exploration and community connection, our pastor is always ready to listen, support, and walk beside you in faith. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need a place to start again—or continue—with others on the journey. Rev. Heidi and the entire church family are here to walk with you. Rev. Heidi Champagne was born and raised in CT and moved to Cape Cod in 1995. She worked for a number of years in the human services field before realizing her call to ministry. She graduated from Andover Newton Seminary with a Master of Divinity and a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling. Rev. Heidi’s experiences in ordained ministry include working as a bridge pastor, a settled pastor throughout Covid, and, most recently, a hospice chaplain. She has a love for people, animals and all of God’s creation and believes that we are all connected and called to care for one another. In her spare time, Heidi enjoys reading, writing, hiking, nature photography, and gatherings with friends and family. She is also a yoga instructor and Reiki master teacher. Rev. Heidi and her spouse, John, are parents of a blended family of 8 adult children, the youngest of whom is in college. They reside in Sandwich with their 3 cats and a 90lb lap dog.

Marcia Hempel is Music Director and Organist at First Congregational and has been here since 2012. She composes, and has a community chorus called Harwich Women's Chorus. She does outreach programs like teaching at the Children's Center in Harwich and teaching free lessons for local children during the summer. Her annual Christmas Concert with the First Church Choir and special guests, is full of interesting readings and music each year, always the first Saturday in December. With the help of others in the church and community, she organizes coffeehouse performances at the church Parish House a few times a year. The church has a regular choir that meets on Wednesday afternoons, and once a month anyone in the congregation can rehearse right before the service and then sing (The Sunday Choir). Many musicians from the community play at our church for special Sundays and special events. The church has exceptional acoustics. The organ is an 1893 Hutchings instrument that was remodeled by Philip Beaudry in the 70's, and is a tracker action instrument maintained by Andover Organ.