About Us

Our progressive congregation has been established here on Church Green for 375 years. In 1637, we were a Puritan congregation. Today, here at First Parish Church we encourage and support our members to grow spiritually, treat all people with love and respect, engage with others in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and look for ways to give back to the world. Our mission is to - in living our faith as Unitarian Universalists - INSPIRE spiritual growth, CONNECT with one another, and SERVE the larger community in love.

We are part of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, and have a vibrant spiritual community. Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion that embraces theological diversity. Our faith, which has its roots in European Christian traditions, has evolved through its centuries-long history. Today’s Unitarian Universalism is the result of the 1961 consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America.

The First Parish Church in Taunton is proud to be a major historical church of Taunton, founded in 1637 by our Puritan ancestors.  We also recognize that our church’s history is complicated by the combined legacies of colonialism and slavery in the United States context. We acknowledge the history of Indigenous peoples and the dispossession of their lands, including that these original lands were named Cohannet by indigenous peoples. We pay our respects to the Wampanoag people who have stewarded this land throughout generations and honor their continued presence here and throughout their diaspora. We also acknowledge that we here in Taunton do not exist independently from centuries of forced labor and economic extraction from enslaved and indentured Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) as well as poor white immigrants. And we want to affirm that while we cannot change history, we can work for justice, and that justice begins with recognition and acknowledgment first.

As our religion has no creed, we are free to take many paths in our search for truth. All member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, however, uphold seven shared principles, including respect for "the inherent worth and dignity of every person," and "justice, equity and compassion in human relations." For more information, check out our Theology page.