Greeting from Reverend Stinson
Welcome to our congregation's web site. I hope you will choose soon to attend one of our Sunday morning services.
When you walk into our sanctuary you will be entering the oldest church building in Long Beach, a place of incredible beauty and long tradition. You will find yourself seated amidst a diverse congregation - people of various ages, abilities and disabilities, races and sexual orientations. A lot of children are present when our service begins and then after our "Words With Children" time, they leave for their classes. You will feel the warmth of the congregation as people greet one another. There may be moments of spontaneity and laughter in the service, but from the moment our Buddhist singing bowl calls us into a time of quiet to the final notes of the postlude played on one of the most magnificent pipe organs in Southern California, you will also experience a sense of sacredness. Our fifty-member sanctuary choir and our four professional soloists provide powerful music. You may hear our chant choir, our teenage bell choir or one of our children's choirs. You will see that the words for our hymns and liturgy are all in inclusive language. You may not agree with all that you hear from the pulpit in the sermon but you won't be bored and you will be challenged to think.
After the service, if you stay for the coffee hour, you will be warmly greeted and will see several tables set up with opportunities to sign up for outreach efforts or fun social events. You may be invited to a forum after the service where there will be a discussion of an important contemporary issue.
The First Congregational Church is a vibrant and exciting faith community located in the heart of downtown Long Beach. There's a place for you here. Come and join us.
Shalom/Salaam/Peace,
Jerry Stinson, Senior Minister
