Our History
OCBC is a historic American Baptist Church, established in 1844 as an offshoot of First Baptist Church in Cambridge. The congregation has long had a commitment to social justice issues, which have changed over time to meet pressing needs.
In addition to its strong and active congregation, the building houses other organizations for offices, classes, and special events.
Throughout its 175-year history, the church has engaged in ministries to meet a range of social needs. Church membership has included runaway and emancipated slaves; soldiers who fought and died in the Civil War as well as World Wars I and II; peace activists; civil rights leaders, and others who worked on behalf of the homeless, minorities, refugees, political asylum seekers and the earth. The congregation has actively ministered to the many nearby college students and has maintained an arts ministry for over 75 years.
Since the 1960s, OCBC has been on the forefront of progressive Christianity.
OCBC has hosted speakers such as Paul Tillich and engaged members such as Harvey Cox. In the 1970s, OCBC contributed $50,000 to establish the Black Community Fund and served as a sanctuary for protestors against the war in Vietnam. Also in the 1970s, the Sojourners women's group rode the wave of feminist theology to challenge patriarchy in church and society, with OCBC among the first group of ABC churches to call women as pastors in that decade. In the mid-1980s, OCBC became a Sanctuary Church, part of the national Sanctuary movement, and welcomed a political refugee from El Salvador. OCBC was a founding member of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, the first church to join the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry and housed the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the U.S. Many of its pastors since 1975 have been gay or lesbian.
In recent years, OCBC has renewed its commitment to racial justice with comprehensive and ongoing efforts to deepen our understanding of white privilege and white supremacy, and find ways to eliminate systemic racism in housing, health, and other institutions. OCBC has joined with other local faith communities in a coalition to provide sanctuary to a family from Ecuador. In 2015, the congregation made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions by signing the Paris Pledge, and has made other small and large efforts to create environmental justice.
At the heart of our community is a desire to follow the leadership of Jesus “to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”
