The Eliot Church of Newton stands at 474 Centre Street in Newton Corner, at the meeting of Centre and Church Streets and a short distance from the Massachusetts Turnpike. Founded by abolitionists in 1845 and named for the Puritan missionary John Eliot, the congregation is known for a theologically progressive, Open and Affirming worship life, a strong choral tradition, and the conviction that what happens in the sanctuary should be matched by work for justice, climate stewardship and the community around Newton.
Ten o'clock on Centre Street: what Sunday worship is like
Eliot describes its services as "Not Worship-Lite, but Worship-Full." Sunday worship begins at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary and typically runs about an hour, stretching to roughly an hour and 10 minutes on Sundays when Holy Communion is celebrated. A greeter hands each arriving visitor a worship bulletin that guides the service, and worship moves through song, praise and prayer, sacred choral music, ancient scripture, a sermon, prayers of the people, an offering and a benediction. The themes that recur in Eliot's preaching and teaching include faith in action, humanity, diversity, hope, justice, peace and love, along with the role of the Church and the impact of scripture on life lived together.
Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month
On the first Sunday of each month, the congregation shares Holy Communion, an ancient ritual remembering the last supper Jesus had with his disciples. Eliot continues that practice by breaking bread and sharing wine (grape juice), and all are welcome at the Table. During worship the congregation also gives support to the work of the church, offered both through personal skills and gifts and through financial giving.
Children are welcome in the sanctuary
Children of every age are welcomed and cherished, and the church is direct about it: the laughter and playful spirit of children belong in worship. At the back of the sanctuary is a "pray-ground," a space where children can read, play or draw. During the Message for the Young, the pastor comes to the back and sits with the children for that part of the service.
After worship, the fellowship hall hosts an hour of coffee and conversation, and coffee with cookies is a familiar Sunday habit. Potlucks and other gatherings follow some services, and the conversation hour is where many people say they get to know the community best.
Arriving for the first time: parking, access and what to wear
Eliot recommends arriving about ten minutes early for a first visit. The accessible entrance next to the parking lot leads directly into the sanctuary, and greeters welcome people, answer questions and hand out the worship bulletin. Visitors can choose any pew that feels comfortable, and those who have never been to church before are told plainly that this is perfectly fine.
Getting there and finding a place to park
The MBTA 57 Kenmore bus runs regularly, and express buses stop at 400 Centre Street, a three-minute walk from the church, though the express service does not run on Sundays. The nearest Green Line station is Newton Center, about two miles up Centre Street, and the 52 Watertown Square bus stops at 400 Centre Street, also not on Sundays. Drivers coming off the Massachusetts Turnpike reach Eliot at the first intersection heading toward Newton Center, with the church on the left. Parking in the lot off Church Street is limited, but there is plenty of street parking around the building, and a metered lot sits across Centre Street on Richardson Street, opposite the front of the church.
What to wear
Some people dress up on Sundays and others are casual. Eliot encourages people to come dressed in whatever feels comfortable, because showing up matters more than what anyone has on.
Accessibility throughout the building
Eliot welcomes people of all physical abilities. An elevator gives easy access to most spaces, an accessible restroom is located on the sanctuary level, and two ramps flank the building: the ramp on the right, seen from the parking lot, reaches sanctuary level, and the ramp on the left reaches the lower floor. For people with limited hearing, amplification headphones are available for Sunday worship. Large-print bulletins are standard, and electronic bulletins can be provided on request.
From abolitionist roots to an Open and Affirming congregation
Eliot Church was founded in 1845, and its founders were abolitionists, which helped establish the church as a socially and politically active congregation. They named the church for the Rev. John Eliot (1604-1690), the Puritan minister known as the "Apostle to the Indians" for his missionary work among Native people. The name was chosen as a lasting reminder of what the founders and the members who came after them wanted the church to stand for. The congregation continues to examine that inheritance, and the history of John Eliot's mission, the Wampanoag communities he preached to, and the devastating consequences of English colonization remains an active subject of study and debate at Eliot.
The building itself has been tested twice. A fire destroyed it in 1887. It was rebuilt, and burned again in 1956. Each time, the congregation had to decide whether to rebuild, and the members united behind the wish to keep their community and its worship in the same place. Eliot has remained on that corner ever since.
Its activism has shaped the church as much as its theology. After the invasion of Cambodia in 1970, the minister Harold Frey came down from the pulpit and sat in front of the altar, and the congregation organized a series of actions against the war. The response cost the church members who disagreed with the actions taken. Soon afterward, Eliot obtained approval to sponsor a family from Vietnam who were living in a refugee camp, purchasing and renovating a house in Newton for Bo and Moiu Ly and their family, with whom the church remains in contact.
After years of study, prayer, forums and discussion about whether to become an Open and Affirming congregation, the members voted nearly unanimously to do so, making Eliot one of the first such congregations in the Massachusetts Conference. The church states its welcome without qualification: all people are made in the image of God, and LGBTQ people are holy too. Eliot embraces people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, marital statuses, physical and mental abilities, and classes, and it welcomes LGBTQIA+ people as members and supporters.
Four commitments that shape the life of the church
- To make disciples of Jesus
- To make God's love and justice real
- To bring new life as agents of change
- To form covenant partnerships
That fourfold mission animates worship, programming and the church's sense of purpose. Eliot describes itself as a theologically progressive community that puts faith into action through support for progressive climate action, local organizations and its own volunteer work. The congregation gathers to learn about God and about what discipleship means, and it takes seriously the United Church of Christ principle that the local church is autonomous. Worship at Eliot is also deliberately collective: the congregation holds to the priesthood of all believers and encourages participation, conversation and leadership from everyone in the room.
Choir, organ and a sanctuary built for song
Music is one of the primary modes of spiritual inspiration at Eliot, and the music ministry sits at the heart of worship and of the wider life of the church. The Eliot Chancel Choir accompanies the weekly 10:00 a.m. service, singing sacred choral music drawn from a varied repertoire, with rehearsals beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday mornings. The solo section is led by soprano Nicola Santoro, alto Caitlin Winston, bass Connor Burke and tenor Tim Levesque.
The sanctuary organ is a tracker action Bozeman instrument installed by George Bozeman, Jr. and Company in 1987. It leads the hymn singing on Sunday mornings and serves as a center for concerts and learning opportunities through the year, alongside a Mason and Hamlin grand piano. The building also hosts music groups with regular rehearsals and seasonal performances: Commonwealth Chorale, Cantilena: A Women's Chorale, Newton Community Chorus, Seraphim Singers, Voices Rising and Youth Pro Musica.
Anti-racism work: education that leads to action
Eliot names systemic racism, police brutality, anti-Black racism and white supremacy as forces that have run through American institutions for generations, and it argues that education on its own is not enough. The church commits to ongoing education and action so that it can be part of the solution, and it maintains curated video and reading lists that members use for that work. The church has also pointed directly at the need to reckon with these forces in Newton, the community where it resides and worships.
The video offerings include a plain-language explanation of systemic racism, a resource on the Equal Justice Initiative and the work of Bryan Stevenson tied to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum, and a free prerecorded Yale course tracing African American history from emancipation to the present. A nine-episode discussion series pairs the Rev. Rick Chrisman with Dr. Elizabeth Windsor in conversation around Heather McGhee's book The Sum of Us. The reading lists run from an anti-racist literature starter kit through intermediate and topical collections covering poverty and housing, police violence and mass incarceration, bias and discrimination in education, segregation and redlining, and Black voter suppression, alongside biographies, nonfiction and personal narratives. There is also a reading list for children and families created by author and Christian educator Sharon Ely Pearson.
The church's commitment to justice reaches beyond its own membership through support for local organizations. FamilyAid, a Greater Boston organization that provides solutions to family homelessness and operates the Newton Navigation Center, is among those the congregation has backed, and members have joined public climate actions and marches, including the People's Climate March. The stated conviction behind this work is simple: a community cannot claim to love God while hating its neighbors.
Care for creation, from the boiler room to the roof
At Eliot, care for creation is a divinely commissioned activity. The Earth and its resources are gifts entrusted to the congregation, and that understanding leads to work inside the building and well beyond it: sustainable operating practices, community clean-up events, and collaboration with secular and faith-based organizations on environmental challenges through interfaith dialogue and shared responsibility.
The building has been a leader among Greater Boston houses of worship for two decades of environmental work. Eliot joined Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light, received the Leadership by Example Award in 2010, and earned the EPA's Energy Star certification in 2014 with an energy efficiency rating of 91 percent. Those improvements cut the church's carbon dioxide emissions by 46 percent, and in 2013 Eliot used 28.9 kBTU of energy per square foot against a Northeast average of 50 kBTU for a house of worship. A high efficiency gas-fired heating system accounted for much of the savings, alongside roof insulation, high efficiency lighting and the 2019 retrofit of every interior and exterior fixture with LED bulbs.
In 2023 a 25 kW rooftop solar array began generating more electricity than the church itself uses, and Eliot donates 20 percent of its electricity production to Brighton-Allston Congregational Church UCC. Members have also planted 70 street trees in Newton with the UCC's Re-leaf Ministry, Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light and Andover Newton Theological School, and the congregation takes part in Charles River cleanup work days on Earth Day. A Creation Care Team was formed in 2022, the year members also took a Creation Care Voter Pledge and hosted an Environmental Vehicle Day. The Climate Clad series offers practical tips for sustainable living and interviews with activists. A pollinator garden beside the sanctuary, installed with local landscapers and volunteers, contains New England natives including New England Aster, Columbine, Bee Balm, Common Milkweed and Joe Pye Weed, and it is open to the public for recreation. Even coffee hour has become greener, with compostable plates, cups and utensils collected through Black Earth Compost to cut down on the waste that follows every gathering.
Women's Spirituality Gathering
The Women's Spirituality Gathering began decades ago as a coffee meeting at Panera Bread and now meets regularly in the church parlor. Each gathering opens with meditation from 7:15 to 7:30 p.m., followed by conversation and discussion until 8:30 p.m. It meets on the first Thursday of every month, is open to all, and the group asks that interested people make contact in advance so the space can remain safe, confidential and intimate. The conversation moves through deep listening, vulnerable and authentic sharing, storytelling, stillness and grounding, as members grow in their spirituality and in their identities as God's beloved. Topic suggestions are always welcome.
Preschool, weddings, rentals and baptism
Parkside Preschool, a licensed preschool connected to Eliot, offers children a creative and social environment in a safe and attentive atmosphere. Its curriculum concentrates on cognitive, emotional, social and physical development while encouraging self-expression, with each child's particular qualities recognized so they can flourish. Children are encouraged to explore and to progress at their own pace.
The sanctuary is a bright, spacious room in the classic New England style, seating up to 400 guests for a wedding, and the Fellowship Hall with its commercial size kitchen can accommodate 227 people or 106 seated at tables for a reception. The pastor works with each couple on the ceremony, accommodating religious, nonreligious, interreligious, ecumenical and other kinds of weddings, and offers premarital counseling. Couples who bring their own officiant are welcome to have that person co-officiate. Music is coordinated with the Director of Music Ministry, and vocal and instrumental soloists can be included. Because Eliot is an Open and Affirming congregation, weddings are celebrated across gender identity, sexual orientation, age, race, nationality and faith background. Saturday weddings typically begin between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Sunday afternoon weddings between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., with a rehearsal usually held a day or two beforehand and other days of the week possible when schedules allow.
The building is also rented for concerts, receptions, meetings and other events. The Fellowship Hall seats 106 at tables or 227 in chairs and holds 319 standing, and the building also has 12 large round tables and 120 folding chairs. The Parlor seats 49 in chairs or 30 at tables and includes a small kitchenette; the Chapel seats 75 in chairs or 40 at round tables and has its own piano and sound system. Every rental requires a certificate of liability insurance naming Eliot Church as an additional insured.
Baptisms at Eliot are free services. The most common celebration takes place during the Sunday worship service at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary, and special ceremonies can also be arranged on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. The rite is offered for babies and children as well as adults marking a new chapter in life. There are no requirements, many families choose a godparent or godmother to stand with them, and baptism is understood as a once in a lifetime choice. Eliot recognizes baptisms performed in most other Christian traditions.
Pastoral leadership and the people who keep Sunday running
The Rev. Dr. Eric Jackson is Eliot's sixteenth senior minister. He came to Newton after 17 years in ministry across New England and New York, most recently as pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Syracuse, New York. His approach centers on meeting people where they are on the spiritual journey, creating room for lifelong believers and spiritual seekers alike to explore faith authentically, examine doubts and grow in assurance. He works to help people move past harmful religious ideologies and build spiritual practices that give life, and he holds that true spirituality is a journey rather than a destination, with every path toward understanding worthy of respect.
Jackson holds a B.A. in Political Science from the City College of New York, a Master of Divinity from Drew University and a Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Seminary, and he is pursuing a Ph.D. in African American preaching and sacred rhetoric at Christian Theological Seminary. He serves on the National Board of Directors of the United Church of Christ, sitting on the Finance and Budget Committee and the General Synod Planning Committee, and he has held leadership roles in United Church of Christ associations, including committee work on authorized ministry and on congregational development. He has also taught Preaching, Introduction to the New Testament, and United Church of Christ History and Polity.
Christopher Hodges serves as interim minister of music, and Rada Ruggles serves as pastoral intern. Volunteers keep the weekly rhythm moving: singers for the choir, members of the technical team, and people who prepare the treats for coffee hour are all invited to share their gifts, and those with a passion for music, technology or baking can find a place in the work. The church office is staffed Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and Pastor Eric holds drop-in office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A congregation putting faith into action
Eliot's identity lives in the connection between what is sung and said on Sunday morning and what is done in the days around it: the abolitionist inheritance, the welcome extended to LGBTQ people and to children and families of every age, the harmonies of the chancel choir, the care taken for the building and the neighborhood, and the determination to make God's love and justice real in Newton and beyond. The congregation's own motto names the aim plainly: Building Community. Growing Faith. Living Love.