WHO WE ARE
First Plymouth has been a leading progressive voice in the public square for over 150 years, serving the Denver community – in downtown, Uptown, Capitol Hill and finally at our current home on the edge of Cherry Hills. We welcome you to in-person worship on Sundays at 10:00 AM and virtually via Webcast on our YouTube Channel. Please join us!
"Our Faith is over 2,000 years old; our thinking is not!"
Everybody is welcome here. Seriously. Everybody.
WHAT WE DO
First Plymouth Congregational Church is a Christian church – yet we are open to a variety of beliefs within our spiritual tradition. Ours is a risk-taking church, because ours is a risk-taking God. We support liberty in our pulpit, just as we affirm the individual conscience of our members to agree, disagree, and wrestle with life’s biggest questions in a spirit of love.
Committed to providing loving service to the wider community, First Plymouth puts a premium on meeting human needs, standing up for social justice and being faithful stewards of our earth.
At First Plymouth Congregational Church, we take care of one another. We share our joys and sorrows – and support our members through thick and thin. We weave a community of friends and family that live, love and laugh together.
THIS MONTH’S SHARE-THE-PLATE RECIPIENT
First Plymouth Congregational Church has an active Outreach Ministry reaching out to the greater community and educating the congregation in ways to help others. The Outreach Ministry receives nominations for the “Share-the-Plate” program from parishioners and the wider community. Each Sunday the worship service hosts a “Moment for Mission” segment where a representative of the recipient organization speaks to the needs and successes of their organization. 80% of the funds collected during the service for “Share-the-Plate” flow through the church to the organization. The remaining 20% is retained in the Outreach Ministry fund for future educational programs and other outreach purposes.
SHARE-THE-PLATE (March 2023)
The Empowerment Program
The Empowerment Program is the Share-the-Plate recipient for the month of March. The program’s mission is to holistically help individuals build healthier lives from the inside out. Their vision is to “empower participants to make healthy and safe decisions through trauma, gender, and culturally responsive holistic behavioral health services.” The organization has been doing this work since 1986 by taking all who show up at their door and working with them where they are at. This means, first, getting a roof over their head so they feel safe and secure and then, providing them with any services they need and want when they are ready. They have historically focused primarily on women, but over the past several years have widened their work to include men and many transgender individuals. Many clients find success after coming back for a 2nd, 3rd or later time and their recidivism rate for the many clients who come out of prison is less than 10%. Over the past two years, the organization has expanded the services it provides to a community corrections program for women in Denver called "Project: Elevate" which they will talk about during the month during the worship services at First Plymouth.
Give to The Empowerment Program Here
Contribute to Share-the-Plate via text to give, ACH or Credit Card or
by check, made out to First Plymouth Church with “STP” noted on the memo line and mailed to the church.
WHAT IS THE UCC?
The UCC story is broad and diverse and a story that we celebrate. With all Christians, we rest in God’s amazing grace and hear God’s voice in the words of Scripture. Yet, the UCC is unique to some because we do not require uniformity of belief. We are a church of open ideas, extravagant welcome, and evangelical courage. Our passion for democracy extends to both government and church, where decision-making rests within each congregation. We support liberty in our pulpits, just as we affirm the individual conscience of our 1.2 million members to agree, disagree, and wrestle with life’s biggest questions in a spirit of love.
Our story is the story of the United States. We are the people of the Mayflower. More than 600 of our 5,700 congregations were formed before 1776. Eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of UCC predecessor bodies.
As early abolitionists, we came to the aid of the Amistad captives and founded hundreds of schools across the South after the Civil War. We were the first mainline church to ordain an African-American (1785), a woman (1853), and an openly gay pastor (1972). We were also the first to form a foreign mission society (1810). Our multi-ethnic membership includes persons from every immigrant group, as well as native peoples and descendants of freed slaves.
Our unity is not dependent upon uniform agreement, but in our shared allegiance to Jesus Christ. Ours is a risk-taking church, because ours is a risk-taking God.
“God is still speaking,” The United Church of Christ (Visit the UCC website) | Sign up for the UCC Daily Devotional here.
FAQs
Mission Statement
The mission of
First Plymouth Congregational Church
United Church of Christ is
to worship God,
to nurture people on their Christian journey,
and to witness to God’s love in word and deed.
Relying on the grace and power of God,
known to us most fully in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ,
we aspire to be a community which is biblically based,
intellectually open,
theologically progressive,
and inclusive of all people.
Fostering an atmosphere of joy and
celebration that welcomes all people,
we commit to provide:
- Varied and meaningful opportunities
for worship and spiritual growth.
- Engaging and interactive Christian education
for all age groups.
- A caring and compassionate ministry
to members and friends of the church family.
- Loving service to the wider community
with a focus on human need, social justice,
and stewardship of the earth.
- Generous material and spiritual support for
our mission and community.
Committed to providing loving service to the wider community, First Plymouth puts a premium on meeting human needs, standing up for social justice and being faithful stewards of our earth.
We are an Open and Affirming Church, committed to supporting Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Nonbinary, and Queer people and their families in Denver and beyond. First Plymouth Congregational Church designated itself an Open and Affirming (ONA) church in 1999. Simply put, our policy is:
In keeping with the life and teaching of Christ Jesus, we joyfully and unconditionally welcome all people of any age, gender, race, culture, ability, or sexual orientation into our community of faith and affirm the worth of all people as unique individuals made in God’s image. We are open to the special gifts that each person brings and invite each one to participate in the life of our church.
First Plymouth has a committee that focuses on the implementation and manifestation of the church’s commitment to being an inclusive, welcoming place for everyone, no exceptions. Its activities include the annual PrideFest parade and response to critical events unfolding in our community, such as firearm violence and social justice. Learn more today >>>>
First Plymouth Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, of Englewood, Colorado, supports legislation at the state and national level designed to reduce the present level of violence arising out of the improper use of firearms.
We are called to this position, in part, by Micah 4:3b-4: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.”
To that end, we support the following legislative actions:
- Strengthen the regulations and requirements for an adult citizen or legal resident to obtain a permit to purchase a firearm.
- Create requirements for education and training for citizens and legal residents prior to issuance of a permit to purchase a firearm.
- Review present concealed gun permit laws and regulations to ascertain whether they effectively balance the legitimate rights of gun owners and the need to protect the public from gun violence.
- Require any purchaser of a firearm at a gun show to fulfill the same requirements as those required of an individual purchasing such a firearm at a retail outlet.
- Tighten the present law relating to types of firearms which may be sold to the general public, including a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons.
- Set new regulations to limit the capacity of magazines and clips for firearms.
- Authorize and fund federal agencies (ATF and CDC) to release and publish data and conduct research on the role of guns in violent deaths.
- At federal, state and local levels, increase the effectiveness of coordination and communication among law enforcement and regulatory agencies in enforcing present regulations for firearm usage.
- Increase the present level of awareness, support, funding and access to appropriate services for those who have serious or severe mental health challenges.
First Plymouth Church, on behalf of its more than 700 members, urges swift and affirmative action by our elected and appointed national and state level representatives. Learn more today >>
First Plymouth is a Creation Justice Church, a congregation in the United Church of Christ (UCC) that is committed through its worship to love God’s creation, to educate its members regarding the interconnectedness of all of God’s creation, to practice wise stewardship of the Earth, and to provide outreach in the community for Creation Justice concerns.
Past and Current Creation Justice Projects:
- Candle Recycling
- Community Gardens
- Conventional Recycling
- Electronics Recycling
- Environmental Education
- Family Hikes
- High Efficiency Light Bulb Project
- Reach Out and Read Colorado
- Restoration Projects
- Seedlings for Peace
- Summer Farmers’ Market
- Youth Group Partnerships
First Plymouth is governed by a Church Council, elected from the membership of the Congregation. Council consists of the Moderator, Vice-Moderator, Treasurer, Church Clerk, Immediate Past Moderator, and six at-large members. The Senior Minister is an ex-officio, non-voting officer of Council, as are the Church Clerk and Immediate Past Moderator. The six at-large Council members serve for a 3 year term, with two at-large members rotating off every year. The Vice-Moderator moves into the Moderator position after serving one year as VM, while the Moderator moves into the IPM position after serving a one year term as Moderator. The Treasurer and Church Clerk serve two-year terms.
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