bILLINGS fIRST cONGREGATIONAL cHURCH rESiLIENCY pROJECT

nATIONAL fUND fOR sACRED PLACES & nATIONAL tRUST FOR hISTORICAL pRESERVATION

The First Church Resiliency Project will renovate our historic church and help us live out the values in the Sermon on the Mount. It will add capacity for the transformative and life-saving work that happens here on our campus.

We provide shelter for the homeless and office space for diverse justice-seeking, groups and activities.


It will add resilience and sustainability to our collaborative work with Indigenous and LGBTQ constituents and other partners.

We urgently need sprinklers to meet fire codes and protect those sheltering and working in our church; a new HVAC system for our sanctuary, gathering spaces, and offices to replace our unreliable and expensive one; and a lift for ADA access to the top level. We have a deep history of working for social justice, epitomized by our role in the ‘Not in Our Town’ fight against hate in 1992, which became a national movement.


We are ready to raise funds and make these changes as a result of years of discerning, planning, growing, and honoring our church’s bold past and bright future. Our passion to serve our campus and community requires repair and renovation made possible by this project, our capital campaign, technical assistance from the Fund and other sources.

wHY YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS.

Our church has been at the corner of 4th Avenue North and 27th Street since 1882. With features like midcentury stained glass by Judson Studios, the 1889 church bell, and historic fireplaces designed by McIver & Cohagen, our campus reflects the hard work of our forebears to accommodate the work of community, education, and justice. The Billings First Church Resiliency Project will prepare our historic building to continue living out the church's values in the Billings community.


Our church has been an integral part of this community for 140 years, in acts and works of radical service, hospitality and justice.


We are that sacred space and community, whose care and love, for neighbor and stranger, for the downcast and the oppressed, and for the wholeness of community, is without boundary. 


We've wanted to be a place of such healing and transformation that people would be drawn to our city because a church and place like ours exists within it.


We've also worked really hard on being healthy. We've flattened out our leadership models, such that they are not vertical, but horizontal. 


We've inserted ourselves in critical community conversations, not as a one off, but as committed partners in the hard, sometimes long, journey toward solutions. 


We've made a name for ourselves, not in the masses of money we've stored up or how shiny we are, but in the way we speak and act and serve.


We've built, in marketing terms, a solid brand in our community and region. And, there are folks who, while are not members of the church, want to see the church flourish and sustain.


In a harsh world, it can seem like there is little justice or joy,; our church is a place of justice and joy. And we need that. Our community and world need it. Here, in Billings, our Indigenous siblings need that. And together, with the National Fund for Sacred Spaces, we can make that a reality for a long time to come.

This form may capture sensitive data (credit cards, bank accounts…), yet this site isn’t sufficiently secured.

Please contact the site administrator to resolve this issue. He must enable SSL.

This form failed to load. Try reloading this page.

The server may be having issues, or this website’s administrator may have deleted the form.

Project areas

As the first and oldest church in Billings, we are eager to preserve this building that has impacted so many individuals and families across decades. If you attended Sunday School or the Community Day Care, or learned to sing in the church's choirs, or remember the fearless leadership of clergy like John McClelland and Keith Tourney, we urge you to consider contributing to the Billings First Church Resiliency Project.


Billings First Church Resiliency Project will make urgent improvements to the building’s sprinkler and other fire suppression systems, HVAC equipment and related electrical systems and asbestos removal, & ADA accessibility. These improvements will add life safety protections to enhance our community outreach to the houseless, underserved, and low-income populations, community partners, others who use and share space that can be unusable in times of extreme summer and winter temperatures.