• Celebrating the Good News with joy and enthusiasm through worship, service and outreach
  
• Guiding the faith exploration of our children, youth and adults through Christian Education, intellectual dialogue and opportunities for spiritual growth
  
• Valuing and honoring all individuals as children of God
  
• Walking with our brothers and sisters during times of joy and sorrow
  
• Drawing on lay leadership to provide wisdom and faith within our congregation and the greater community
  
• Reaching out to the world for the advancement of peace and justice
  
• Sharing our gifts and resources wisely in the service of our Lord

• Honors diversity in our faith family and wider community
  
• Supports each individual at all stages of the faith journey
  
• Encourages and challenges us to be active disciples of Jesus Christ
  
• Comforts us in our suffering and sadness

• Hear, know, speak, and live the Good News
  
• Joyfully make our world a better place for all creation
  
• Seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God

An Abbreviated History
of The First Congregational Church of San Jose

In search of a healthier climate, the Rev. Theodore Munger left his New England church for the Pacific coast in 1875. While recuperating in San Francisco, he was visited by the Superintendent of the General Association of Congregational Churches. Since the mid-1800s, the Congregationalists of San Jose had been worshipping with the Presbyterians. However, the Superintendent told Munger, the Congregationalists were now eager to call their own minister.

After visiting the infant congregation, Munger committed to a year of helping to organize the church. The First Congregational Church of San Jose held its first church service on April 11, 1875, in a rented hall.

Thanks to the generosity of members and friends, the congregation was in a position to build its first sanctuary by summer. First Congregational Church's first church home was dedicated on August 29, 1875, on the south side of San Antonio St. between Second and Third Streets.

From its earliest days, the congregation had a heart for the community. In the 1870's, First Congregational welcomed children from the San Jose orphanage, who formed the bulk of the church's Sunday school.

The church's ties to the nearby state Normal School (teachers' college), now San Jose State University, were equally as long-standing and close. As early as the 1880s, the congregation provided students with a church-home away from home. Students in turn taught Sunday school, provided music for services, and formed a social service group.

In 1886, the sanctuary was moved to the rear of the San Antonio and Third lot, and was remodeled into a kitchen and Sunday school rooms. The congregation's second church was dedicated on December 27, 1887. This would be the home of First Congregational Church for almost 70 years.

Pastors of First Congregational were noted early on for preaching a Christianity which engaged the mind as well the heart. The Rev. Herbert Tenney (pastor 1891-1903) was noted for his views on biblical scholarship, as well as for his active role in community affairs. The popular Sunday evening forums of Rev. W.W. Willard (pastor 1912-1915) drew listeners from far and wide. Remarkably, anticipating by 70 years the high-tech mecca that San Jose would become, motion pictures on contemporary issues were shown under the Rev. Fred W. Morrison (pastor 1921-1928).

The church was hard hit by the Great Depression, almost forced to close its doors in 1938. However, the church's own difficulties did not keep it from reaching out to others who were hard hit as well. When there were few warm places to sleep and little to eat, the church opened its facilities, providing the downtrodden with food, clothing, and a listening ear.

First Congregational vigorously opposed ethnic, religious, and racial discrimination at a time when many churches were eager to maintain the status quo. During World War II, when Japanese-Americans were "evacuated" to internment camps - departing from San Jose's own Southern Pacific depot! - church members befriended Japanese-Americans instead. When a neighboring Jewish synagogue was destroyed by fire in the 1940s, the church shared its facilities until Temple Emmanu-El could be rebuilt. As early as the 1940s, church members supported the Inter-Racial Council of San Jose, promoted open housing for minority families, and pressed their congressmen to support the Civil Rights Act. As early as the 1970s, women were serving as associate ministers and vital lay leaders in the congregation. By the end of the century, the church would become a congregation Open and Affirming of people of all orientations, "welcoming all into our community of faith in the assurance that we are all created by God, reconciled by Christ, and empowered by the grace of the Holy Spirit."

In 1962, the congregation joined with other Congregationalist churches, the Christian Church, and Evangelical and Reformed Churches, to form the United Church of Christ.

In the mid-twentieth century, sensing that the surrounding area had become predominantly a business district, First Congregational elected to relocate to a more residential district. T he church bought the Hamilton and Leigh site in 1953. Because of soaring construction costs, the congregation chose to build classroom wings and a fellowship hall; the fellowship hall would double as a worship space until there were funds to build a sanctuary. Ground was broken on June 6, 1954, and the classroom wings and fellowship hall were dedicated on May 22, 1955.

Because of continuing growth during the following years, it was not long until the church was able to realize its dream of a sanctuary. The congregation broke ground on October 17, 1965. T he first services were held in the new sanctuary on December 4, 1966; and the building, with its ten-story-high spire, was finally dedicated on January 15, 1967.

Although First Congregational Church had a new site, it remained as committed as ever to community outreach and service. The church began a prison ministry at Elmwood Correctional Center in 1985. In 1991, First Congregational Church joined a federation of community churches called People Acting in Community Together (PACT), which sought community betterment in San Jose. The youth began going on annual house-building trips to Mexico in 1992. In 1996, the church became an "Eldernet Church," forming a special relationship with Willow Glen Convalescent Hospital. In 1997, the church became part of InnVision's rotating church shelters for the homeless.

In 1989, 16 adults and six children from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) began worshipping at First Congregational. In March 1991, First Congregational entered into a covenant with this group, called the United Disciples Fellowship, and they became associate members of the congregation.

First Congregational Church celebrated its 125th anniversary during the week of May 13, 2000, with the theme "Reflection and Recreation." At the dawn of a new millennium, the congregation not only looked back with thanks to God for its own century and a quarter of innumerable blessings; it also looked forward to continuing its tradition of service to both local and world-wide communities.

[This congregational history is adapted from the following sources: The First Congregational Church of San Jose, United Church of Christ: An Anecdotal History, by the Rev. L. Arthur Domingue. "Historical Highlights," from the Women's Fellowship Directory. Christian Century, by James Noah et al.]

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Partner Congregations: First Congregational Church and United Disciples Fellowship

The United Disciples Fellowship (UDF) is a house church that meets the first Saturday of each month in a member's home. They are officially recognized as a congregation of the Christian Church of Northern California/Nevada. They are also an Open and Affirming congregation.

As a local extension of the regional and national partnership between the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, the United Disciples Fellowship and First Congregational Church entered into a formal covenantal relationship in the Fall of 1991. That partnership continues to this day.

UDF members are active in the life of First Congregational Church as Associate Members. They serve on boards and committees, sing in the choir, volunteer as readers, teach classes for children and adults, and give financial support.

It is the hope of UDF and First Congregational Church that our experiences together will encourage other churches to experiment with models of partnership. We believe our diversity as well as our commonality will contribute to our mutual growth and strength, bringing to realization the unity and oneness we all desire.
The First Congregational Church is a member of the United Church of Christ Northern California Nevada Conference, and the UDF is a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Northern California-Nevada.

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United Church of Christ Statement of Faith
—adapted by Robert V. Moss

We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, who is made known to us in Jesus our brother, and to whose deeds we testify:

God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.

God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.

God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.

God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ's baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.

God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace,the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.

Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God.

Amen.

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An Open and Affirming Church

Following the example of Jesus Christ, we affirm that we are all children of God and choose to be known as a welcoming, diverse, and accepting place of worship. We declare ourselves to be an Open and Affirming church, welcoming all into our community of faith in the assurance that we are all created by God, reconciled by Christ, and empowered by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

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