Founded Eight Years Before Oregon Was a State
First Congregational United Church of Christ traces its roots to June 15, 1851, when a small group of Congregationalists in the young town of Portland established a congregation. The dedication sermon was preached by George Atkinson, who later became the church's third pastor. From the start, the founders followed a tradition that locates spiritual authority in the gathered people rather than in a single leader or a fixed creed. As the congregation explains it, the spirit arises from the bottom up, from the people.
In 1960, members voted to affirm the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches with the Evangelical and Reformed Church, formally joining the United Church of Christ. That affiliation continues to shape the congregation's life today, including its membership in the Central Pacific Conference of the UCC and its ties to Camp Adams in Oregon.
A Venetian Gothic Landmark on Park Avenue
The church stands at 1126 SW Park Avenue, one of downtown Portland's most recognizable houses of worship. Construction of the current building, including its 175-foot bell tower, began in 1891 and was completed in 1895. Swiss-born architect Henry J. Hefty designed the structure to echo the Old South Church in Boston, and it remains one of the few examples of Venetian Gothic architecture in the United States.
When the building opened, it carried not only the soaring main tower but also two smaller 100-foot towers and a cupola. After decades of weather damage and pigeon trouble, the smaller towers and cupola were removed in 1951. The historic edifice still appears on many walking tours of Portland.
Inside, the Povey Brothers of Portland designed the stained glass windows in 1906. The casework in front of the organ, finished in 2005, was salvaged from Old St. Mary's church in Oakland, California, and installed to harmonize with the sanctuary's older furnishings.
The Music Program and the Pipe Organ
Music has been central to the congregation since long before the present building opened. The first pipe organ, a two-manual, 21-rank instrument by Hook and Hastings, arrived in 1883 and was moved into the new sanctuary in 1895. A Casavant electro-pneumatic organ replaced it in 1950, and today the current pipe organ was designed and built by Music Director Grant Edwards in collaboration with Bond Organ Builders, incorporating the wind chests and bellows of the previous instrument along with 1877 casework and Victorian-era pipes.
Edwards, a fourth-generation Oregonian, has served First Congregational since June 1995, joining in a service that marked the centennial of the building. He holds a master's degree in choral conducting from Portland State University and a bachelor's in organ performance from Lewis and Clark College, and has also studied at Willamette University and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. Outside the church, he serves as tonal director for Bond Organ Builders and tours occasionally as a soloist. In 2018 he sang in the major churches of J. S. Bach's career in eastern Germany.
Grant has written original vocal compositions for worship, and in 2019 conducted the premiere of his 90-minute oratorio Letters from Emily, which sets 27 Emily Dickinson poems in a sacred operatic narrative.
The choir program is anchored by four section leaders: soprano Sheryl Wood, who also sings with the Bach Cantata Choir and performs the national anthem for Portland-area teams; mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Winship, a Portland State and Schwob School of Music graduate who also teaches private voice; tenor Avesta Mirashrafi, a Portland State computer scientist who performs across the Pacific Northwest; and bass Greg McMahon, a dramatic tenor who describes himself as yelling "beautifully in Italian, French, English, German and Czech." The Park Avenue Jazz Ensemble, led by Laurent Nickel, adds a different texture to the music program.
Sunday Morning Worship
The congregation gathers for worship at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday in the Park Avenue sanctuary. Services are led by Rev. Dr. Derek Austin, who became senior pastor in 2024 after two decades of intentional interim ministry and consulting with congregations in New England and California. Austin, a certified transitional specialist in the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), holds a Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary along with a graduate degree in education and post-doctoral work in organizational psychology and family systems theory.
Sermons are livestreamed and the full archive is available on YouTube. Recordings of recent Sundays are also available through Boxcast.
Open and Affirming, Immigrant Welcoming
Two formal covenants shape the life of the congregation. The first is its Open and Affirming designation, a sacred promise to welcome and honor the participation, wisdom, and leadership of people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions in the spiritual community.
The second is the Immigrant Welcoming Congregation declaration, unanimously adopted at the annual meeting on January 27, 2019. Four themes support the declaration: connecting across barriers, educating the congregation, advocating for human rights, and accompanying immigrant neighbors in times of need.
The Immigrant Welcoming Committee has been one of the most active arms of the church for years. Members have distributed immigrant-rights Red Cards, hosted traveling caravans, attended vigils at ICE facilities and federal prisons across the region, and supported a LifeStraw campaign for migrants crossing the desert. The Bienvenidos Quilt Project, a partnership with the committee, has produced and delivered more than 800 quilts to children and families at the border and locally. The committee has also served as fiscal intermediary for an English-language training grant for Afghan women refugees through the UCC, and has hosted exhibits celebrating Iranian art, music, poetry, and calligraphy.
The congregation's stated calling is to live into the kindom of God more fully by cultivating community, practicing hospitality, and publicly demonstrating and advancing God's peace. Members have covenanted together to create a sacred space that is accessible and welcoming to everyone, work for justice in the community and the wider world, care for creation and steward all of God's resources, nurture relationships with one another through listening and caring, and grow in faith, learning, and service.
Feeding Portland for Twenty-Six Years
For more than a quarter century, First Congregational has been a steady presence at Potluck in the Park, a Sunday afternoon meal served to hundreds of hungry and thirsty Portlanders, many of them homeless or struggling with mental illness. Each Sunday the congregation prepares and delivers roughly 30 gallons of beverages for 300 to 500 guests, while partner churches and nonprofits provide the food.
In addition, First Congregational hosts an overflow pantry for Clay St. Table, which serves low-income and houseless neighbors six days a week. The church's kitchen is used by student volunteers who prepare food for the program. On the first Sunday of every month, the church collects hearty soups for Clay St. Table, an initiative known as Soup Sundays.
Eve's Circle, Called to Care, and the Art Reach Gallery
Eve's Circle is a fellowship of women of all ages, including those who identify as women, that meets on the fourth Saturday morning of every month except August. The group hosts speakers, field trips, an annual retreat, a White Elephant exchange, and Eve's Reads, a December visit to the Portland Art Museum. Each year from late November through December 28, Eve's Circle runs Undies the Tree, collecting new children's and teen underwear and socks for Path Home (formerly the Portland Homeless Family Shelter) and the Portland Public Schools PTA Clothing Center. Past drives have produced more than 500 items.
Called to Care is a volunteer ministry of church members who keep in touch with people in the community who are isolated, dealing with health issues, or no longer able to attend in person. The group meets monthly with the pastor to coordinate visits, phone calls, cards, and emails.
The Art Reach Gallery, an outreach of the church, exhibits work that connects the congregation with the wider artistic life of Portland. The church also partners with Portland Baroque Orchestra, which performs concerts in the sanctuary each season, and operates Sanctuary Hall, an event space adjacent to the church.
Visiting First Congregational
The sanctuary sits at 1126 SW Park Avenue in downtown Portland, with the church office and mailing address at 1137 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The main phone line is (503) 228-7219 and the general email address is communications@uccportland.org. Pastor Derek Austin can be reached at derek.austin@uccportland.org.
Streetside parking is available at no cost until 1:00 p.m. A paid parking garage is located at 1000 Broadway, just around the corner from the church.
Giving is accepted online through a secure portal. Prayer requests and pastoral contact can be submitted through an online form. The church's archives, processed and cataloged by the Oregon Historical Society and totaling 70 cubic feet, have a published inventory.