First Churches of Northampton

First Churches is The Meeting House for Northampton. Your donation can support public space for arts and cultural events, recovery and twelve-step programs, homeless support services, speakers and forums on current issues, as well as five diverse worshiping communities. You can support nearly 25 grass roots organizations, many of them too small to do major fundraisers, all in one gift!

First Churches is a progressive-minded, diverse congregation that has been GLBTQ inclusive for a decade. We are a place where believers, questioners and questioning believers can explore and practice the Christian faith. Our church will not tell you what you have to think or believe, but we provide the spiritual resources, opportunities and safe, open community to deal with real life. For children, our innovative Sunday School curriculum, Whirl, can help provide a foundation for the future.  Adults can deepen their spiritual journey through small groups that include book groups, faith discussions, learning spiritual practices, work to feed hungry people, and engage peace and justice issues. If you work on Sundays or pews just aren’t your thing, Common Ground is a farm-to-table dinner church that meets on the first and third Thursday nights.

First Churches is a growing arts and culture center. We are a primary First Night venue, hosting three different concurrent opportunities this year. “Music at the Meeting House” features local artists monthly. Our front steps are a regular stop for choral groups in December, the Expandable Brass Band and the WOFA African drum and dance group, and for Art’s Night Out. Paintbox Theatre, Women's Voices International and the Western MA Chapter of 350 Climate Change are some of the many groups that find affordable space at First Churches.

First Churches also partners with three other vital congregations. Cathedral in the Night is an ecumenical street outreach church that holds services on the front steps every Sunday night. After worship they host a dinner for 80-100 people who may not get another meal on Sunday. Iglesia Bautista Qechua Nueva Vida is a Spanish speaking church and New Covenant Church worships in the African American Pentecostal tradition.

Your gift is a vital support to all of this. Thanks in advance! To find out more, find us at www.firstchurches.org or at First Churches of Northampton on Facebook.