First United Methodist Church Pasadena

First United Methodist Church of Pasadena is located east of Old Pasadena in the Playhouse District and serves people from throughout the city, neighboring communities and the surrounding San Gabriel Valley. Founded in 1875, the congregation today includes families of all ages with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

​On October 23, 2011 members of First UMC voted overwhelmingly to become a Reconciling Congregation – a congregation committed to the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the life of the church. In the fall of 2015, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, the congregation voted to allow same-gender weddings to be held in the church’s facilities and to support its appointed clergy in officiating at these services.

As United Methodists, we see the Bible as the primary resource for our faith. The story of salvation is made available to us through the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. For us as Christians it comes into clearest focus in the life and ministry, loving service, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We take scripture seriously, but not (usually) literally. As Jesus used parables to describe God’s kin-dom, we know that the deeper truth of a story is often found beyond its literal meaning.

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We value the examples of those who have gone before us (tradition), the use of our minds (reason) and hearts (experience) as we seek to understand God’s intention for our lives. We represent a wide variety of theological positions. When faith is shared from that breadth of diverse experiences and identities, the community of believers is enriched and deepened. We give thanks for the gifts of laughter and love that God uses to help us see ourselves and others more clearly.

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Our ministry and witness as a congregation is organized around the broad categories of Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Extravagant Generosity. We seek to become the congregation that God created us to be: a talented community reaching out and transforming lives through learning and the arts; a generous people who share their abundant resources with others; and servant leaders working with community partners for change.