About First Parish

Welcome

We’re happy you found your way here! We welcome you to join us regardless of your faith tradition, race, gender or family structure.

We are an active community with around 120 members and 60 children and youth. We have a reputation of being a friendly, open church, which is a reflection of our beliefs about what religion should be.

Our members are theists, atheists, and agnostics.  Some of us were born UU, some of us have been on a long faith journey, and all of us are still seeking truth.  We come together to share our joys and sorrows and both at the same time.

We value music, art, and creativity, with an active choir, band, and annual talent show – we welcome new performers and appreciative audiences alike.

We are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight/cis allies; we are a Welcoming Congregation.

We live our values by speaking up and showing up for social justice, both out in front and behind the scenes.

At the First Parish of Watertown, we try to encourage personal and spiritual growth through worship, social action and outreach, fellowship and education. We take pride in our long history as a Unitarian Universalist congregation, and believe it is our responsibility to inspire and assist one another towards greater compassion, justice, and beauty.

We come to church with different needs and aspirations; but the desire to receive comfort, insight, and hope, as well as an opportunity to contribute to something larger than ourselves is universal. Together, we do provide both reassurance and new possibilities, and we welcome your participation.

Mission

We, the members of the First Parish of Watertown seek to honor our religious heritage by providing a spiritual home for reflection and growth in a diverse, intergenerational, caring community for all.

We commit to being a force for social change by working with others in the larger community to promote justice, equity and compassion.

Our Congregation

First Parish of Watertown is one of the oldest parishes in America. It was gathered in 1630 as a Puritan congregation, and continues to follow the independent and democratic Congregational system, where there is no hierarchy and each congregation calls its own minister, controls it own finances and property, and establishes its own criteria for membership.  Today we are governed by a Parish Committee and the work of the church is carried out by a number of program committees.

Our congregation belongs to the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).

The First Parish of Watertown became Unitarian (believing in the oneness of God and the humanity of Jesus) in 1819, and then added the Universalist tradition of a loving God who condemns no one and saves all, when the two separate continental organizations merged in 1961. Unitarianism dates back many centuries in Europe.

We espouse a liberal religion with Jewish and Christian roots. Unitarian Universalism has no creed. It affirms the worth of human beings, advocates freedom of belief and the search for advancing truth, and tries to provide a warm, supportive community for people who believe that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion.