About Us

The First Universalist Society was established April 10, 1821. Its Church gathered on August 18, 1823 in downtown Providence.
     It is:

• a founding member (1838) of the Universalist Church of Rhode Island.
  
• a founding member (1937) of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches.
• an organizing member (1974) of the Providence Intown Churches Association, housed in our church building.
• listed on the National Register of Historic Places since August 16, 1977. (The third and current sanctuary was dedicated November 20, 1872).
• a charter member (1993) of The Council of Christian Churches Within The Unitarian Universalist Association.

The Rev. W. Scott Axford, appointed in 1992 and installed in 1995, is our nineteenth pastor. Our seventh and eighth pastors, the Rev. Drs. Elmer H. Capen and Henry I. Cushman, served on the national committee which produced the Universalist Publishing House Gloria Patri prayers books which are still used here.
     We offer an ecumenically-minded church securely rooted in the Gospel. We are open to the Lord’s people, and dedicated to the upbuilding of the Body of Christ in this city named for God’s Providence. Our ecumenical Church School curriculum, "The Whole People of God," unites children and adults around the same Sunday lessons (Revised Common Lectionary).
     The First Universalist Church hosts a number of ecumenical meetings and activities. It held worship for the UUA 1998 North Atlantic Regional Gathering, and for the U.U. Christian fellowship's 1997 Annual Meeting, as well as for the Society of Saint John of Damascus (visiting from Moscow), the Rhode Island State Council of Churches 1997 Annual Meeting, the Africans for Peace: One in Christ assemblies and the Intown Churches Executive Committee meetings. We also host the regular productions of the Rhode Island Theatre Ensemble

Our faith upholds that:

Article I. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind.

Article II.
We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and
happiness.

Article III.
We believe that holiness and true
happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practice good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men.

(The 1803 Winchester, N. H, Profession of Faith, made each Sunday.)