Our founding church members in Montclair were abolitionists who fought to eradicate slavery, and through the generations our membership has continued to include those who struggled for women’s suffrage, civil rights and LGBT rights. Ours is the first historically-white denomination to ordain an African American (1805), the first to ordain a woman (1853), and the first to ordain an openly gay person (1972).
The first same-gender marriage legally performed in Montclair was at the Montclair Wedding Sanctuary at First Congregational Church.
Much more recently, in October 2013, we were proud to perform the first same gender marriage in Montclair, at the stroke of midnight on the day Marriage Equality was legalized in New Jersey.
Our church is a spiritual home to people at all places along life’s journey, believers and questioners alike. We welcome diverse voices in our sanctuary through song and story, and through service to our community, we strive to be a part of God’s work of healing the world.