Opening Doors Campaign

Co-Creating a Spiritual Home for Generations

Opening Doors Campaign

Co-Creating a Spiritual Home for Generations

The Opening Doors Campaign is a bold expression of faith in our shared future. This campaign will create vibrant, inspiring, flexible spaces to welcome spiritual seekers of all ages, foster intergenerational community, and grow future generations of moral leaders who work for social justice and cherish the living earth. Check out the case statement for this campaign here.

What’s New?

Opening Doors Capital Campaign is Underway!

Join the Opening Doors campaign and transform the Parish House into a spiritual home for generations. We can Open the Doors of the Parish House to welcome spiritual seekers, build intergenerational community, foster creative expression, and inspire generations of moral leaders. The campaign wraps up on May 13! Please click here for the online giving form (which also covers the annual Stewardship Campaign). 

Fundraising Progress 

Campaign Goal: $6.2 Million | Raised to Date: $4.0 Million 

Opening Doors Campaign Overview.

The campaign goal of $6.2 million will fund: 

  • A new light-filled, multi-functional community room with views of open space and access to the auditorium & commercial kitchen 
  • A fully accessible building with elevator and welcoming entrances, including a new South entrance, enhancing campus cohesion 
  • Flexible rooms for use by all ages 
  • A redesigned playground / outdoor space for FPL and the wider community 
  • Technology, lighting, acoustics, and storage upgrades to the classrooms, office wing, and auditorium 
  • Improved energy efficiency 
  • Replenishment of the Capital Reserves, urgently needed to steward our building and grounds. 

Click here for a virtual walk-through of this space, from the north entry.   

Click here to virtually approach the building from the south. Note that digital model does not yet reflect the playground! The model suggests changes in parking, but parking will not change.  

A congregational process to explore how we can Open our Doors to Justice determined that this work is best led by FPL’s Racial Justice Advocates. Please see the report of the Opening Doors to Justice Task Force. 

Project Cost Drivers 

This table shows the big buckets of estimated costs for the Parish House renovation. Since the proposed project is an integrated whole, we can’t remove any one item and still have a workable project. Only 15% of the estimated costs are for the new community room and lobby. 35% is for necessary items – fire safety improvements, elevator, and updates to our heating and cooling, and 26% is for basic upgrades to bathrooms, storage, and playground.  

Once fundraising is complete, we will convene a planning committee to work with the architect and Parish Committee to develop a project-scope that matches our fundraising results, which will be brought before the congregation for approval. 

Campaign Timeline.

  • March 22, 2026: Launch public phase of fundraising  
  • May 10, 2026: Complete fundraising (pledges due; project budget determined; project scope finalized)  
  • June/September 2026: Congregational vote on the Opening Doors Campaign Budget (with contingencies) and Project Scope  
  • December 31, 2026: First pledge payments due  
  • April – June 2027 (TBD): Break ground on renovations; with construction estimated to take one year.  

Campaign History.

For 250 years and counting, First Parish in Lincoln has been a nurturing center for spiritual growth, community service, and inclusive fellowship. Born from a merger of Lincoln’s Congregational and Unitarian churches in 1942, our distinctive heritage has shaped us into a “big tent” spiritual home that welcomes people of all faith backgrounds. In a world full of conflict where hope and kindness are hard to find, this community is needed more than ever. 

Counter to national trends, our congregation is thriving and growing. Sunday worship is inspiring and well attended, as is our weekly coffee hour.  

In 2024, FPL called a committee to discern the scope and timing of a capital campaign that would ensure resources to maintain our physical assets, while making the investments to live into our values (nurturing spirituality, building community, and working for justice), and support growth in our reputation, membership, and impact.  

The Opening Doors Campaign is the result of a multi-month congregational discernment process that led to the core elements of the campaign. 

  • The Parish House, which accommodates Religious Exploration, staff offices, performance, and meeting space, is not welcoming, inspiring, up-to-date, energy efficient, or functional for our current and projected programs. A comprehensive discernment process regarding the Parish House challenges and needs resulted in the Parish House Master Plan, approved by the congregation. 
  • Based on an engineering analysis and the review of our Facilities and Finance Committees, we need $750,000 to replenish our capital reserve fund. Last replenished during our 2008-12 Capital Campaign, it has since been used responsibly on essential upkeep of our campus. However, without financial reserves in place, we are vulnerable to unexpected costs and infrastructure challenges.  We inherited buildings and land from our ancestors. We are called to care for this inheritance, stewarding it for the next generation. 
  • To ensure the campaign reflects our value of acting for justice, we explored whether FPL could raise the funds to replace the rental income from the parsonage, reimagining that space as a home for an immigrant or refugee family—offering temporary housing, forging partnerships with local organizations, and engaging our community in meaningful, hands-on service. A task force concluded that this moment calls us to deepen our engagement with immigrant support, working in partnership with other like minded organizations. Please check out the Opening Doors for Justice Task Force Report.

Opening Doors Campaign Team Membership.

The Opening Doors Campaign is under oversight of the Parish Committee.

Sarah Andrysiak and Rosemary Lloyd Co-Chair the Opening Doors Campaign, overseeing and coordinating the work of five sub-teams: Visioning, Design Advisory, Justice Project Advisory, Fundraising, and Events.

FAQ.

Working with the staff and congregation, and through many feedback sessions, the Opening Doors Team developed a Master Plan for renovating the Parish House and Grounds. The Master Plan was affirmed by the congregation in September 2025: 

  • The design centers on a light-filled "connector" with views of conservation land, that links the two halves of the building and solves challenges of welcome, access, safety, and flexibility while improving the kitchen and storage.  
  • The connector houses a flexible community room that provides space for large and small gatherings and supports the auditorium programming 
  • An accessible path through a renovated playground provides access from the south 
  • The office wing is updated with more windows and a hallway skylight 
  • Auditorium, classrooms and meeting rooms are upgraded to improve function and flexibility  
  • Accessibility, fire safety, and energy efficiency are addressed  

The Opening Doors Campaign focuses on the connector, community room, and playground, addresses access, improves energy efficiency, and upgrades finishes and storage. The next capital campaign will discern what other elements of the Master Plan to address. 

The Opening Doors Campaign Team, in partnership with the Parish Committee, has hired Maryann Thompson Architects and Michael van Valkenburgh Associates Inc. (Landscape Architects) to work with the Opening Doors team and the entire congregation.  

The Parish Committee, at the recommendation of the Facilities Committee and with the support of the Opening Doors Campaign, hired Leavitt Associates Inc. to assess the condition of all of FPL’s buildings: Sanctuary, Parish House, and Parsonage. This report informed the fundraising goal for replenishing the Capital Reserve Fund. 

Great question! Check out all the details in our Draft Space Program Requirements, which synthesizes interviews with and input from staff and key committees.

The Parish House is distinct from, and complementary to Lincoln’s Community Center. Together, these centers support a vibrant, healthy and interconnected community. To highlight key distinctions between our vision for the Parish House and the planned Community Center: 

  1. We aim to create interactive, intergenerational space while the community center is offering programming for different age groups at different hours  
  2. We are creating space focused on nurturing Spirituality; the community center is focused on recreational programming. 
  3. The community center will not have space for community performances on the intimate scale that our auditorium offers. It certainly doesn’t offer FPL space to worship in the round. 
  4. We aim to celebrate and uplift beauty and engagement with the natural world in reflection of our spiritual values. This is not a design criterion for the community center. 
  5. We aim to be a destination for people acting for social justice and the environment. This is not part of the community center’s mission. 
  6. Finally, and perhaps most important – we cannot create that sense of extended home and belonging for our young families in the town community center.

FPL leases space to Magic Garden (ground floor, Monday-Friday); the Beehive Art (second floor classrooms) and Meals on Wheels. Meals on Wheels will move to the Lincoln Community Center when that space is available. We are committed to working with our tenants during this project. 

At this point, our best estimate for the start of construction would be in the spring or summer of 2027, with construction lasting about a year. We will work to identify interim spaces for our programming.

The playground urgently needs improvements in functionality and safety. MVVA Landscape Architects have extensive experience in designing playgrounds, intergenerational outdoor rooms, and more. 

We will be looking for funding commitments in the spring of 2026. We anticipate that these funds would be payable over 3-5 years with the first payment by December 31, 2026. 

Please reach out to Sarah Andrysiak or Rosemary Lloyd, Opening Doors Campaign Team Co-Chairs, with concerns or feedback. The Capital Campaign Team is under oversight of the Parish Committee.