Where It All Began

2025 marks the 325th anniversary of our congregation! Since October 16, 1700, members of First Parish Brewster have gathered on this site to worship. Originally a strict Calvinist Puritan/Congregational church, it served as the official church and meetinghouse for the community, in accordance with the law requiring a church within five miles’ walking distance of any home. The current sanctuary, built in 1834, is the third building on this site.

In the 1800s, our congregation was among many across Massachusetts whose theology began to align with the new Unitarian ways of thinking. Unitarianism, a liberal branch of Congregationalism, had separated in 1825 to establish the American Unitarian Association. By the 1860s, the members of First Parish Brewster had officially become a Unitarian congregation.

Today, First Parish Brewster is part of the Unitarian Universalist Association, which includes over 1,000 congregations across the United States. Unitarian Universalists do not adhere to a specific creed or theological agreement; instead, we covenant around values that define how we will treat one another. (link to UU values statement)

Our Historic Building

Historically, we are also a religious movement characterized by a shared commitment to social justice.  Among our social justice efforts, First Parish Brewster recently studied the history of the congregation’s relationship to the indigenous people on Cape Cod from whom the land on which the church stands was taken and connection to chattel slavery by long-ago members.  More about the research findings and resulting efforts around indigenous and racial justice by our Reparations Committee can be found at [provide link to Reparations Committee on site.
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