A 145-Year Congregation on Lomas Boulevard
Tucked into a 1950s-era campus at 2801 Lomas Boulevard NE in Albuquerque, First Congregational United Church of Christ has been gathering people at this address since 1947, when the congregation followed Albuquerque's growth toward the Sandia foothills. The congregation itself was founded in 1880, when its first meetings were held in a small adobe room in Old Town. After moving through a series of buildings downtown, the church settled at its present Lomas Boulevard campus and has called it home ever since. Members celebrated the congregation's 145th anniversary on October 25, 2025, and have been marking 25 years as an Open and Affirming church with a special anniversary gathering on October 24, 2026.
The mission the congregation states plainly for itself is to live God's love, justice, and inclusion. First Congregational describes itself as a welcoming people and a people of hope, "reaching out with a radical openness to the diversity of God's gifts." In that spirit the church seeks to stand with those who have been condemned or injured "not only by the Church but also by society" in their struggle for equality and justice. A land and waters acknowledgment is read aloud in worship as part of that commitment.
Sunday Mornings: Music from Many Traditions
Worship happens every Sunday at 10:30 AM Mountain Time in a hybrid format that welcomes people in the sanctuary and online. Each service is livestreamed on YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom, so anyone can join from home.
Music carries a great deal of the service. The congregation sings traditional hymns in English and, on occasion, in Spanish or South African languages, along with meditative Taizé songs and instrumental pieces. Choir rehearsal begins at 8:45 AM each Sunday morning, and the choir sings for most services from Labor Day through Memorial Day. Children's choir rehearsals follow children's time during worship, and the church also schedules pop-up choirs for special Sundays. Director of Music Ruth Striegel has led the church choir since 1996, bringing in guest musicians from the congregation throughout the year and pairing them with accompanist Kelia Ingraham, a collaborative pianist with a master's degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
Scripture is read in English and Spanish each week, and communion is served once a month. The atmosphere is described by the church itself as casual, with members arriving in anything from jeans and flip-flops to their Sunday best. Children are warmly welcomed into worship; activity bags filled with puzzles, crayons, and coloring pages are available, and the joyful noise of infants and young children is part of the texture of the morning.
Children, Youth, and Family Ministries
Children, Youth and Family Ministries is led by Rev. Dr. Ryan Tate, a lifelong New Mexican who completed his Doctorate of Ministry in 2025 with a documentary entitled "Holy Ground: Sacred Ecologies of Place." The nursery, staffed by Venessa Vogel (who has been with the church since her own childhood), welcomes children from six weeks to five years old during Sunday worship. Sunday school runs from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, with the church intentionally leaning into intergenerational learning experiences as its older youth grow into late elementary and middle school years.
The youth group pursues service, learning, and fellowship together, and a confirmation program is offered when older youth are ready to learn about the United Church of Christ and consider joining the church as members. Young adults (18 and up) gather for a text study on two Wednesday evenings per month at 7:00 PM in the library, sharing snacks, and for a tabletop gaming session in the upstairs youth room on Sunday afternoons. Each year on Allhallows tide, Rev. Dr. Tate leads a Bless Service and Misa Espiritual, a ceremony to honor ancestors that includes song, healing, and spiritual medicine; participants wear white and bring a dish to share.
Six Public Commitments That Shape the Church
First Congregational publicly organizes its identity around six overlapping mission areas:
- Open and Affirming. At the start of every worship service the congregation states, "No matter who you are or where you are on your faith and life journey, you are welcome here." The Open and Affirming designation was adopted in 2001 and is being celebrated through a yearlong series of events in 2026, with a new Open and Affirming committee chaired by retired minister Patty Ebner organizing programming year-round.
- WISE Congregation for Mental Health. The church is one of a number of United Church of Christ congregations designated Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, and Engaged around mental health. The WISE team works to expand the congregation's inclusion and support of those affected by mental health challenges, both within and beyond the church.
- Racial Justice. A Racial Justice covenant was adopted by the congregation in 2022, and a reconstituted Racial Justice Team was launched in fall 2024 alongside task groups on crisis response and decentering white supremacy culture in worship.
- Green Justice. The Green Justice vision is of "an abundant world in which we are all faithful and grateful stewards," and the church pairs worship and education with practical action: LED lighting across the building, a rooftop solar array installed in 2024, energy-efficient heating and cooling upgrades, compostable serveware at potlucks routed to Full Sun Compost, and a newly dedicated Monarch Waystation butterfly garden in the church grounds.
- Immigrant Welcoming. On January 26, 2025, members voted to become an Immigrant Welcoming Congregation. The Immigration Justice Team supports asylum seekers passing through Albuquerque, partners with Albuquerque VIDA on monthly visits to immigrant detainees at Cibola County Correctional Center, and works with the We Are All America advocacy network.
- Peace with Justice. The Social Justice and Outreach umbrella, chaired by John Maddaus, frames the church's commitment to non-violence and the peaceful resolution of conflict, and includes a published statement responding to the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
A long-standing Cash for Change collection near the sanctuary entrance directs small donations to community partners selected by the Social Justice and Outreach team and the Ministry Leadership Team; the 2026 recipient through October 4 is Tree New Mexico.
Meals, Sack Lunches, and a Front Door for the Hungry
The congregation's hunger ministries have been part of its identity for decades. The Peanut Butter and Jelly sack lunch program started roughly twenty years ago, when a member worried about unhoused neighbors who had a Sunday meal but nothing for the hours that followed. Every Sunday morning a small crew gathers in the church kitchen to assemble sandwiches, fruit chews, granola bars, and bottled water that are delivered to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church downtown for distribution.
The Front Door Visitors Program, begun in 2022 by members Bob and Barbara Muller, keeps warm hoodies and sweatpants available in winter and sack lunches available year-round for people who stop at the church needing food or clothing.
The UNM Food Pantry team gathers donations from church members and delivers them several times a month to the campus pantry. The church is also part of ¡COMIDA!, a coalition of congregations, students, and campus partners that addresses food insecurity at the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College. Through ¡COMIDA!, the congregation has helped pack mega distributions for CNM students, supported the pantry's transition to refillable shampoo and conditioner bottles, hosted a SNAP-A-PALOOZA enrollment event, partnered with Free Flow New Mexico to assemble period kits for students, packed meal kits for CNM Faculty Focus Days, and begun rescuing three hundred bagels a week for distribution at the CNM Westside campus.
Family Promise: Hosting Families Experiencing Homelessness
First Congregational partners with Family Promise of Albuquerque, a nonprofit that addresses the root causes of family homelessness through prevention, shelter, case management, and stabilization. The congregation has expanded its participation over 2024 and 2025 and renewed its partnership at St. Tim's. In a recent year members provided four weeks of meals, hosting, and donations of requested meals and dry goods, helped break attendance records at the annual Sweet Jazz fundraiser, stepped in to cover two extra weeks when Family Promise did not have a scheduled congregation, and sponsored two families at Christmas with requested gifts for parents and children.
Open Table Connection: Campus Ministry at UNM and CNM
Open Table Connection, formerly the Luther House campus ministry, is an ecumenical collaboration of open and affirming congregations supporting the spiritual lives of young adults at the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College. Under the leadership of UCC pastor Rev. Rhonda Newby-Torres, the ministry hosts weekly gatherings during the fall and spring semesters with a shared meal followed by study, prayer, worship, or spiritual practice. As a Reconciling in Christ ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Open Table Connection welcomes people of all sexual orientations and gender identities into its sacramental and communal life. The Southwest Conference of the UCC approved $15,000 in spring 2026 to help Newby-Torres resource the development of similar campus ministries at other universities in the conference.
Music, Learning, and Care Across the Congregation
Beyond the Sunday choir and children's choir, music ministry draws on instrumentalists and vocalists from within the congregation. In recent seasons featured musicians have included Andrea, Rae, Jaime, Carol, Aaron, Leslie, Sachi, Dan, Ada, Jesse, Ray, Sarah, Alex, Michael, J. T., and others. Hymns and service music are chosen by the clergy and music staff from a broad collection of Christian hymnody.
Adult faith formation is shaped by the Community Faith Development committee, which has been building a series of "community circles" around topics such as parenting, mental health, LGBTQ life, spiritual growth, ongoing book groups, yarn crafts, and civil disobedience. A Needlecraft Circle welcomes knitters, crocheters, needlepointers, and quilters, and a Gray Matters Circle is taking shape for members navigating the challenges of aging. Wednesday morning text study in the library is a long-running tradition where participants discuss the upcoming Sunday scripture over treats.
The Care Team supplements pastoral ministry by sending birthday cards and handmade quilts, providing cooked meals during emergencies and losses, visiting and singing to members in care facilities, arranging pastoral care and counseling through the pastors and other ordained members, and offering scheduled group visits to persons in care institutions.
The Campus and Building
The mid-century campus is set up to host more than weekly worship. The Fellowship Hall is equipped with HD video and speakers plus a 16-foot by 9-foot projector screen and can seat up to 125 guests for movies and presentations or 100 guests for dining at ten round tables. A smaller, intimate chapel is reserved for weddings and funeral services, and the sanctuary itself can overflow into the Fellowship Hall for larger memorial services. A 27-inch TV and streaming setup in the library and another in the music room support hybrid meetings, and a colorful outdoor courtyard adjacent to the Fellowship Hall is used for gatherings and seasonal projects.
The buildings carry the Green Justice team's work into brick, mortar, and roof. Working with New Mexico/El Paso Interfaith Power and Light as a covenant congregation, the church completed a free energy audit through the Cool Congregation program, installed LED lighting throughout, added a rooftop solar array in 2024, and is in the process of installing new energy-efficient heating and cooling. A Seed Grant in 2024 supported the work. Outside, members tend a Monarch Waystation butterfly garden originally started by Inis and Leroy Straford and recently renovated by a team of volunteers.
The building is regularly used by outside groups, and the church makes its event space available for weddings, memorial services, meetings, film screenings, conferences, and community gatherings; floor plans, room dimensions, and an event space fee schedule are available on request.
Leadership and Staff
Senior Minister Rev. Sue Joiner has served the congregation since 2014. A self-described lover of camping, hiking, kayaking, pickleball, novels, and good chocolate, she shares her ministry with her wife, Anne Marie Strangio, and the congregation's two resident animals, cat Otis and dog Rosie. Associate Minister Rev. Clara Sims, a lifelong New Mexican from Los Lunas, was recently ordained in the UCC and answered her first call to First Congregational. Her background in climate studies shapes her passion for environmental justice, and she also serves part-time as Assistant Executive Director of New Mexico and El Paso Interfaith Power and Light. Rev. Dr. Ryan Tate serves as Minister of Children, Youth and Family Ministries.
The staff team also includes Director of Music Ruth Striegel, Accompanist Kelia Ingraham, Worship Technology Director April Zackary, Administrative Assistant and Bookkeeper Paul Morbitzer, Nursery Attendant Venessa Vogel, and Facilities Manager Joseph Salas. Congregation leaders include Moderator Paul Oostenbrug, Vice Moderator Jesse Guadajara, Treasurer Andy Zawadski, Secretary Sarah Galen, Community Faith Development Chair Martha Phillips, Congregational Life Co-Chairs Sherian Spencer and Paul Hook, Social Justice Chair John Maddaus, and Building and Grounds Chair Steph Smith.
Joining In
Anyone curious about the congregation can begin by attending a Sunday service in person at 2801 Lomas Boulevard NE or by joining the livestream on YouTube, Facebook, or Zoom. A regular Newcomer Orientation is offered after worship for those who want to learn more about the church and explore membership, and the Front Door Visitors Program, PB&J lunches, and Open Table Connection meals offer ways to step into service quickly. The church's welcome statement, spoken aloud at the start of each service, remains a clear invitation: "No matter who you are or where you are on your faith and life journey, you are welcome here."