First Church UCC Phoenix Started as a Congregational Bible School by the Rev. Samuel E. Lynd of the Home Missionary Society. About 35 members met at a bungalow at Portland and 3rd Streets. They soon chose to become The First Congregational Church of Phoenix, Arizona, June 25, 1917, and bought land nearby. By 1919, the Parish House was built; the basic present sanctuary was built in 1942; and the entire campus completed in 1968. The name was changed to the First Congregational United Church of Christ of Phoenix, Arizona, in 1960, when we joined the UCC.