El Montecito Presbyterian Church is a congregation which seeks to glorify God the Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth, to affirm the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's only divine Son, our Lord, and to acknowledge the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

The history of El Montecito Presbyterian Church began in 1870, when a few families banded together and conducted Sunday School and church services every two weeks at Montecito Union School.

On November 13, 1887, twenty-five charter members officially organized the First Presbyterian Church of Montecito. Those original founders met, prayed a lot, and contributed their tithes, offerings, time, and talents.

The church grew and the congregation constructed a spacious new building at 1455 East Valley Road at a cost of $2,000. The building, described as a "typical country church," was dedicated December 30 1888. The church's bell was purchased in 1893 from a firm in Ohio.