Get to Know Us!
What We Believe
Our calling
Our calling is to live into the kindom of God more fully by cultivating community, practicing hospitality, and publicly demonstrating and advancing God's peace.
Our covenant
We covenant together to:
create a sacred space that is accessible and welcoming to everyone;
work for justice in our community and in our world;
express, in our living, a care for creation and a stewardship of all God’s resources;
nurture our relationships with one another through our listening and our caring;
grow in faith, learning and service.
Open & Affirming (ONA)
Our church has covenanted (made a sacred promise) to be "Open and Affirming," a designation which signifies our commitment to welcome and honor the participation, wisdom and leadership of people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions in our spiritual community.
Immigrant Welcoming
Adopted by the Church Annual Meeting, January 27, 2019
Immigrant Welcoming Congregation Declaration of First Congregational UCC in Portland, Oregon
Our History
Our church was founded by Congregationalists and established on June 15, 1851, eight years before Oregon was designated as a state. The church's dedication sermon was preached by George Atkinson, who later became our third pastor. We moved to our current building in 1895.
In 1960 our church voted to affirm a merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, thereby becoming a member congregation in the United Church of Christ.
As Congregationalists we believe that the spirit arises from the bottom up — from the people— rather than from a charismatic or authoritative leader or from certain mandated belief systems.
The Oregon Historical Society has processed and cataloged the First Congregational Church of Portland archives, which totaled 70 cubic ft. An inventory of the collections is available at the link below:
Our Building
Construction of our current church building, and 175-foot bell tower began in 1891 and was completed in 1895. It was designed by Swiss architect Henry J. Hefty to resemble to resemble the Old South Church in Boston. The building is considered to be one of the few examples of Venetian Gothic architecture in the United States.
The stained glass windows were commissioned in 1906 and designed by the Povey Brothers of Portland. The building originally included not just the 175-foot bell tower, but also two smaller 100-foot towers, and a cupola. Due to extensive damage from weather and pigeons, the smaller towers and cupola were removed in 1951. The historic building remains on many walking tours of Portland.
The church’s first pipe organ (2 manuals, 21 ranks) was built by Hook & Hastings in 1883. It was moved from First Congregational’s previous building when the current edifice was completed in 1895. This mechanical-action organ was replaced by an electro-pneumatic Casavant (3 manuals, 30 ranks) in 1950.
Our current pipe organ was designed and built by our current organist, Grant Edwards, in collaboration with Bond Organ Builders. It incorporates the wind chests and bellows system from the previous Casavant, as well as casework and front pipes built by Odell in 1877. Although it appears deceptively original to the church, this casework was installed in 2005, having been salvaged from Old St. Mary’s church in Oakland, California. The front pipes, all of which are speaking, were painted and stenciled by Grant Edwards.
The instrument contains a mixture of vintage and new pipes, including a Great Opera Diapason built by Hook & Hastings in the Victorian era.