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Welcome to The First Church in Sterling
Don’t let our impressive 160 year old building with its proud history fool you! We are a church that believes tradition must be blended with meeting the needs of people today. We’re as proud of hosting homeless families in our building through the Interfaith Hospitality Network, as we are of our beautiful pipe organ.
Caregivers keep in touch with our elderly members, while our Sunday School and Youth Fellowships channel youthful energy into learning, prayer and service.
We are an Ecumenical Shared Ministry—an inclusive congregation that actually blends three Protestant denominations into one. We welcome people from all faith backgrounds.
Please use our web site to get to know about us, and visit us on Sundays to get to know us!
Worship- Each Sunday at 10 AM, throughout the year, for all ages.
Sunday School- For preschoolers through grade 8 during the school year.
Youth- Junior fellowship (7-8th grades) and Senior fellowship (9-12th grades)
You may contact us with any questions, or to be put on our mailing list, at 978-422-6657, or email us at FirstChurch.
A multi-denominational congregation with a diverse, inclusive membership, open to all.
Our roots are in the Protestant free church tradition, going back to the Pilgrims and Puritans who settled New England. In Sterling three such churches served the community—one Unitarian, one Baptist, one Congregational. By 1949, thanks to understanding attitudes and forward thinking leadership, these three had formed a single congregation, which keeps ties today with three denominations ( American Baptist Churches, Unitarian Universalist Association, and United Church of Christ).
In our free church tradition, the local congregation is responsible for its own affairs, and each individual is responsible for their own faith. No fixed creed is imposed on members. First Church gathers in worship each week around the words of the covenant we say together:
"In the love of truth and the Spirit of Jesus, we unite for the worship of God and the service of humankind."
Our diverse membership of four hundred adults comes from over a dozen denominations. All benefit from being part of an ecumenical fellowship that focuses on caring warmly for one another, accepting our diversity and reaching out to the world around us with Christ’s love.
To learn moreread the brief history of the First Church, "From One to Three to One", written by Jonathan Wright-Gray. It describes how the present church came to be, and the three denominations to which we belong.
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