Our Mission:

Unitarian Universalism embraces freedom of creed in the areas unprovable, and promotes creedal beliefs in love, hope and freedom in the area of human living and being.  We provide and a supportive community on our individual and shared searches for truth and meaning in our lives.  We seek both to live our beliefs, and to create them in the world around us.

Our Vision:

Today

Unitarianism and Universalism both have a long and glorious history of fighting for their right to believe in their own creedal versions of Christianity.  In the past 175 years, Unitarianism and Universalism both have moved away from Christianity and a belief in god as the central identifying tenet, propelled by Emerson and many other thinkers towards a humanistic theology that values freedom of belief.  Now, with the two denominations having merged in 1961, Unitarian Universalism has continued to shift away from a theological focus on Christianity, and towards a truly non-creedal system of belief.  This freedom of choice in belief is our greatest strength; it has also become one of our greatest weaknesses.  In trying to appeal to and include everyone, we often end up including no one. In trying to be everything to everyone, we come perilously close to being nothing to no one.  In a culture that has overemphasized individualism at the expense of community, we have overemphasized freedom of creed at the expense of identity.

Tomorrow

Unitarian Universalism in the twenty-first century will be a vibrant religion with a strong and clear sense of identity.  When asked, all members will be able to describe Unitarian Universalism as religion that believes in love, hope and freedom.  When asked, members will be able to provide their own individual opinions on these core beliefs, as well as a statement of the rest of their creed, atheist, agnostic or theist, as one example of a key component.  All members will also be able to talk about the practice of being Unitarian Universalist, that as UUs, we are encouraged to have a personal spiritual practice, an intimate group practice, and/or large group practice.  All members will also be able to speak the ministry that we share, whether it be relating to others in a loving manner, performing acts of community service, or working on social justice projects.  There will be a strong sense of national UU identity.

Our churches will have or will be on the path to having a strong sense of individual identity and mission.  They will know who they have been, who they are, and where they want to go.  They will know whether they are a sanctuary church, designed to be a safe-haven for members, or whether theirs is an activist church, performing works of community service and social justice.  They will know the demographics they are trying to serve.  They will be healthy communities, where members relate to each other in a kind of loving manner, and where individuals have healthy boundaries.  They will help those in need of healing heal, and will share the times of joy and sadness that are a regular part of the flow of everyone’s life.

Each individual Unitarian Universalist, as well, will be on a continued journey of discovering, creating, and re-creating their identities.  Holding core beliefs in love, hope, and freedom as a foundation, they will each be in the process of building and re-building their own houses of creed, with varying beliefs about god, about what happens after death, and about the nature of humanity and life.  They will practice their Unitarian Universalism on a daily basis, by living their core beliefs, continually learning to love themselves and others, to hold hope in their hearts, to work for their own and others freedoms.  They will practice UUism via personal practice, shared intimate group practice, and/or large group practice, or less formally by living and practicing UU beliefs in their life on a day-by-day basis.

Reflecting our core value of equality, our congregations will be filled with people of all ages, races, genders, gender identities and sexual orientations.  Our worship will be vibrant and meaningful, suited to the needs of the present, always keeping an eye on the future.  Our congregations will also be technologically savvy, with modern, inviting and helpful websites that help people connect to our communities and beliefs.  We will have programs and activities that have helped us to build strong, intimate and meaningful communities.

The vibrancy throughout our denomination, the clarity and strength of our identity, our commitment to living our values, and the welcoming and loving theology and communities we offer will be extremely attractive to people, and our churches and faith will grow in numbers.

Unitarian Universalism will become well known nationwide as the place where you are accepted and loved for who you are, as communities of loving, hopeful and caring people.  Unitarian Universalist congregations will be known within their individual communities for their commitment to loving community, community service, and social justice.  Unitarian Universalists will be known for being caring, loving, hopeful people, people who while certainly not claiming to have all the answers, or even the right answer, have or are searching for their own answers.