First Pres Berkeley is a community thoughtfully engaged in our faith, embracing people of all ages, ethnicities, backgrounds, and circumstances. This is a place where questions can be asked, honest reflection is encouraged, creativity is cultivated, and where faith is not a formula, but a life lived. MISSION: We are called by God, transformed by grace, strengthened in community, confident that Christ is making all things new. Now go: Love concretely, even when it’s risky, serve generously, whoever has need, and pursue God’s restoring justice. CORE VALUES: Christ our Center Responsive Worship Thoughtful Inquiry Unity in Diversity Engaging in Our World Learn more about us at fpcberkeley.org.

History
Established in 1878.

First Pres was founded the day before the incorporation of the city of Berkeley, on March 31, 1878, by 27 individuals wishing to minister to the budding university community. In 1902, the congregation purchased the current lot, at the corner of Dana and Channing, and built a sanctuary to seat 1,200 when church membership at the time was about 500. In the 1960s, attendance dwindled when the church found itself in the midst of a cultural and literal battleground. When the sanctuary was declared unsafe by the fire department in 1971, First Pres made a conscious decision not to leave the contentious streets where rioters were breaking windows, but to live out its mission on this very corner. A new sanctuary was built, lined with glass windows in order to be open and visible to the community. The church was able to maintain a vital witness to the gospel at a time of great social and political change. Now our mission has extended outward to the wider community and the world.