RPCNA | Atlantic Presbytery | Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA )
Established: 1895
Pastor: Noah Bailey
Members: 67 communicant members and 38 baptized members (as of the end of 2022)
History
The Lord was pleased to establish the First Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1895, and we are grateful to carry on the legacy that the Lord has preserved from generation to generation. We gather to worship in the heart of Cambridge, Massachusetts, just across the Charles River from Boston and a short walk from universities like Harvard and MIT.
Shortly after our congregation was organized, the founders constructed the building where we still meet for worship, although the neighborhood around us has transformed over the years from one of cramped housing for immigrants to expensive homes for the educated and wealthy. Across the generations, God has used this church as witness to both the high and low of this world. We praise Him for faithfully sustaining us for nearly 130 years, and pray that He will be pleased to do so for many years to come.
We are a congregation of just over 100 members (67 communicant and 38 baptized at the end of last year, although we have since added more). Because of the concentration of colleges and universities, high-tech industries, research hospitals, and other attractions to Boston, believers from all over the world join us in worship, whether for several years while they are students, or for only one Lord’s Day. Our elder Tom Fisher wrote of our congregation,
“In recent years, our members and adherents have included persons born on all of the six inhabited continents of the earth, making us a visible witness that the grace of God in Jesus Christ has been extended to people of ‘every nation and kindred and tongue.’’
Thanks to the Lord’s blessings, we were able to plant our sister congregation, Christ RPC, in nearby Rhode Island in 2007, and our elders and deacons, in seeking to steward wisely what God has given us, are hopeful that in the coming years we might support another church-planting effort in New England.
Worship
We gather every Lord’s Day for worship, meet in the evenings for prayer or psalm-singing, and we celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the third Lord’s Day of every month. We also have Sabbath school classes, except during the summer months, and enjoy monthly fellowship meals after worship. Many of our members also gather, whether in-person or online, in midweek prayer meetings or Bible studies. We also have a men’s prayer breakfast and a women’s bible study, both of which meet monthly.
Church Family
Our congregation has many young families, and has seen a steady stream of new babies and baptisms in recent years so our worship is often full of the sounds of young covenant children who are hearing the gospel from their earliest days, visible reminders of God’s covenant faithfulness. Nearly two years ago, our deacon board grew from only one deacon to five, and this year the elders plan to hold an election for new ruling elders. We seek God’s blessing on both our expanded deacon board and on the efforts to add new elders to help shepherd our church under our great Shepherd, Jesus.
Through the decades of our congregation’s life in Cambridge, we have seen times of plenty and times of leanness. Years ago our congregation shrank until it almost vanished so we are especially grateful to be comparatively secure and stable in recent years. We are not large, and at times a city like Boston can feel like a dark and difficult place for a church to survive, let alone thrive. But we know that Jesus is king, and He rules of this world just as he reigns over His church. So long as He is our rock, we rest securely in the rugged New England soil.
