The ministers of First Parish in Cambridge have long held an important place in the Cambridge community and as voices within Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism.  With our direct connection to Harvard College we have called ministers of great scholarly as well as oratory skill. Our ministers have also been activists and creative thinkers who have, in their ways challenged the status quo always seeking a more equitable world.  Over time, First Parish in Cambridge has also enjoyed a close relationship with Harvard Divinity School that has allowed us to often bring in one or two interns from this institution as part of their formation. The result is that the influence of First Parish in Cambridge is felt in many different ministries across the country.  We continue to cultivate ministers and ministries of integrity based in Unitarian Universalist values today.

Thomas Hooker 1633 – 1636
Samuel Stone 1633 – 1636
Thomas Shepard 1636 – 1649
Jonathan Mitchel 1650 – 1668
Urian Oakes 1671 – 1681
Nathaniel Gookin 1682 – 1692
William Brattle 1696 – 1717
Nathaniel Appleton 1717 – 1784
Timothy Hilliard 1783 – 1790
Abiel Holmes 1792 – 1829
William Newell 1830 – 1868
Francis G. Peabody 1874 – 1879
Edward H. Hall 1882 – 1893
Samuel M. Crothers 1894 – 1927
Ralph E. Bailey 1928 – 1934
Leslie T. Pennington 1935 – 1944
Wilburn B. Miller 1945 – 1958
Ralph N. Helverson 1959 – 1977
Edwin A. Lane 1978 – 1987
Thomas J. S. Mikelson 1989 – 2006, then Minister Emeritus
Jory Agate 1997 – 2007
Frederick Emerson Small 2008 – 2015
Lilia Cuervo 2010 – 2014
Adam Lawrence Dyer 2017 – 2022                                     
Robert M. Hardies 2022 –