About
Our lively congregation of more than 500 members is a vibrant and accepting liberal religious community, celebrating diverse beliefs and supporting individual searches for truth and meaning.
We are an LGBTQ Welcoming Congregation that is passionate about social justice, promotes lifespan religious education, and supports an active campus ministry.
We are a caring community that values all individuals. Join us and experience the warmth of community.
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Contact
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Ministers and Staff
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Beliefs
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In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, your questioning mind, your expansive heart.
Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system. As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey that honors everywhere we’ve been before.
Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. We have no shared creed. Our shared covenant (our seven Principles) supports “the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Though Unitarianism and Universalism were both liberal Christian traditions, this responsible search has led us to an inclusive spirituality drawn from six sources: from scriptural wisdom to personal experience to modern day heroes.
Unitarian Universalists believe more than one thing. We think for ourselves, and reflect together, about important questions:
- The existence of a Higher Power
- Life and Death
- Sacred Texts
- Inspiration and Guidance
- Prayer and Spiritual Practices
We are united in our broad and inclusive outlook, and in our values, as expressed in our seven Principles. We are united in shared experience: our open and stirring worship services, religious education, and rites of passage; our work for social justice; our quest to include the marginalized; our expressions of love.
Learn more about Unitarian Universalists from a variety of beliefs and backgrounds: Atheist/Agnostic, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Humanist, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, and more.
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Mission and Vision
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Our Vision Statement
Seeking the Spirit, Building Community, Changing the World
Our Mission Statement
In this liberal religious community of inspiration, love and action:
- we celebrate life
- we nurture one another
- we welcome all
- we care for the earth and
- we work for the common good.
— Approved at Congregational Meeting, June 7, 2009
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Governance
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Program Teams
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Here you will find an index of the many teams who help carry out the logistics of supporting UUCB's vision statement: Seeking the Spirit, Building Community, and Changing the World.
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History
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Church Timeline
1949: Unitarians first organize in Bloomington when a small group of Indiana University faculty and students create a Fellowship under the auspices of the American Unitarian Association. Meetings are lay-led and held in members’ homes and at the Indiana Memorial Union building.
1950-2015: By 2015, our congregation grows to over 450 members. Our current property, purchased in 1964, undergoes several additions.
1999: With a capital campaign totaling nearly $1,000,000, we nearly double our square footage with the construction of our Meeting Room and additional office and classroom space.
2011-2014: Green Spaces Capital Campaign supports improved landscaping and parking, energy efficient windows and doors, better playground and drainage.
Today: We have a membership of over 500, and our staff includes ordained ministers as well as professionals in charge of religious education, church administration, membership, and music.
- Stories from the Tree of Life - The First 50 Years (1999)
- Festschrift for Reverend Bill Breeden (2014)
- UU Church of Bloomington: Our History and Our Traditions by Elof Carlson (2014)
- UU Church of Bloomington: Our History and Our Traditions, Appendices (2014)
Elof Carlson, our designated congregational historian, has written about 100 Prologue UU History for You pieces for our semimonthly newsletter since 2012. These have been compiled chronologically with five accompanying short essays as an e-book for you to download or read. The surprising effect of reading the Prologue Histories in chronological order is that they create a history of the Unitarian and Universalist movements: PROLOGUE HISTORIES by Elof Axel Carlson (June 2016)
Plus, a site of broader historical interest:
Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society
Our Ministers, Since 1958
Rev. Paul Killinger, 1958-1963
Rev. David A. Johnson, 1963-1970
Rev. John Young, 1970-1977
Rev. William R. Murry, 1977-1981
Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman, 1981-1987
Rev. Dr. Clarke Dewey Wells, 1987-1988 (interim)
Rev. Bruce Johnson, 1988-1992
Rev. Peter Weller, 1992-1993 (interim)
Rev. Barbara Carlson, 1993-2005
Rev. Mary Ann Macklin, 2002-2022
Rev. William T Breeden, 2002-2014
Rev. Emily Manvel Leite, 2005-2023
Rev. Dr. Douglas Wadkins, 2014-2016 (interim)
Rev. Scott McNeill, 2016-2020
Rev. David Clements, 2020-2021 (interim)
Rev. Connie Grant, 2022-2024 (interim)
Board Presidents 1948-present
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Building
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LGBTQ Welcoming Congregation
Read MoreWe are a Welcoming Congregation, recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association. This means we affirm and include people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer at every level of congregational life—in worship, in program, and in social occasions—welcoming them as whole people.
As a Welcoming Congregation we have pledged to:
- honor the lives of all people and equally affirm displays of caring and affection without regard for sexual orientation.
- celebrate diversity by using inclusive language and content in worship.
- incorporate an understanding of the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons throughout all of our programs, including religious education.
- affirm and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues and history.
- affirm marriage equality and conduct same-sex weddings.
- advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, promoting justice, freedom, and equality in the larger society. We speak out when the rights and dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people are at stake.
We recognize that there’s always something more to learn, and remain open to deepening our understanding about the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.
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How Do I...?
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Welcome to "How Do I...?", the new home for general-purpose procedures on how to get things done at the church.
These procedures, by design, will never be finished. This is a set of living documents, designed to help us all be more efficient and helpful in our communications. If you find something to be missing or incorrect, please email the office at office@uubloomington.org