OUR HISTORY

The First Parish Church of Newbury was founded in May 1635 when a small group of Massachusetts Bay Colony settlers rowed north to the mouth of the Parker River from Ipswich to establish a new agricultural and trading settlement.

These first settlers established a church, a town government seat, a school and a tavern. The town was organized as the First Parish of Newbury. By decree, all houses in the parish were to be located in an area near the meeting house due in part to the dangers parishioners faced from attacks by “Indians and wild beasts'' on their way to and from worship. The law, though, was repealed a short time later in 1640.

In its early years, the church was distinguished by the liberal views of its members regarding church fellowship and discipline. Throughout the seventeenth century, the church remained a strong defender of congregational principles and has a democratic form of church government that is still in evidence today through the church’s annual meeting when members discuss and vote upon pertinent issues facing the church.

The first meeting house was replaced in 1647 by a second meeting house located on the present-day Upper Green. There followed in 1661 a third meeting house; and yet a fourth meeting house, which stood until 1806 when a large and refined permanent church structure was built on the present High Road location. That building was destroyed by fire on January 26, 1868, making our current church more than 150 years old and a classic example of church architecture of the period.

As one of the oldest established churches in America, celebrating its 385th year in 2020, members of First Parish Church of Newbury and their families, friends and neighbors, lived during the rich history of America from the time of the early European settlers in New England, through the founding of the United States of America to modern day events. Our current congregation includes members of families that trace their ancestry to those early settlers.

As a Congregational church within the United Church of Christ, our members carry on the tradition and faith of its forbearers, worshiping God in spirit and truth through Jesus Christ, and supporting its community with missions that include a food pantry providing food each week to hundreds of families in need, a preschool with a focus on environmental stewardship, a community garden and the care and upkeep of the historical First Parish Burial Ground dating from the 17th century.

In 1966, the church’s religious body of church members (the Church) and corporate body (the Parish), which heretofore had been entirely separate entities, were merged by church vote, and the Church acquired title to the church property and church structure from the Parish. On August 2, 1967, the organization known as “the First Parish Church of Newbury” was formed. Prior to that, the church voted to join in membership with the United Church of Christ.