No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here at University Congregational United Church of Christ. Young, old, sure of your path, or still searching --- we invite you to join us in imagining love and justice - as Jesus did - in acting to change the world.
Our in-person worship service starts at 10 am and includes hymns, prayers, scripture reading and a sermon. It usually lasts about an hour. During the 10 am service we also offer live-streaming to a nearby room that offers those with compromised immune systems to be more isolated. We also offer a separate space for children, with supervised play and crafts during the 10 am service. Sections of the 10 am service are programed into the 5 pm digital service, which is offered as a "vespers."
We are an inter-generational church and strive to be family-friendly, with an active ministry for children and youth. All ages are welcome in worship. We also offer nursery and child-care, Younger children begin the 10 am service with us and usually leave after about 15 minutes. Older children have the option of leaving for a special sermon time. Junior high and high school youth meet at 9 am and then often sit together in worship. Give us a call at 206-524-2322 for more specifics.
Wheelchair Access: The front entry is wheelchair accessible as are the rest rooms. Please don't hesitate to ask for assistance.
Solar Panels on UCUCC
Submitted by Nancy Hannah for Sacred Earth Matters As a Creation Justice church, UCUCC is committed to reducing our carbon footprint. Sacred Earth Matters has been interested in what this really means in hard data relating to the solar panels we installed on the roof...
November Special Offering: Global Hunger
Our November special offering focuses on the worldwide hunger crisis which now threatens to turn into famine for many. Hunger is extreme in too many locations, and has been substantially increased by the war in Ukraine. Food, fuel, and fertilizer usually shipped to...
Asset Enhancement Task Force November 2022
Greetings from your Asset Enhancement Task Force! We are a team of members and staff, formed in the spring of 2022, working together to look into future planning for our church community. We are now diving into a deep look at our existing financial assets and are...
Land Acknowledgment Action Step for November
Do you have little ones in your life? Read books about the first Thanksgiving with a Native and historical perspective and learn the Thanksgiving Address of the Iroquois Confederacy. All are available in the church library. Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story...
November 2022 Pledge Campaign Update
The Pledge Campaign is in full swing! Thank you for joining in our Pledge Dedication Sunday on October 30th. We are excited for the dedication and enthusiasm shown for our community. If you’ve not yet turned in a pledge card — it's not too late! Online pledging is...
Pastor Search Committee: a year by the numbers
Just a bit over 1 year ago, the PSC was created and charged by Church Council to seek a candidate to fill the position that opened when Pastor Catherine Foote retired. Berta Hollowell and Royce Morrison agreed to co-chair the committee and soon we were a total of 11...
Come visit the Scheyer Library!
The library is tucked back in a quiet corner, but is open for browsing and hanging out before and after church every Sunday (even if the door is closed). We have a great collection of all kinds of books! We often receive donations and cannot always use them in the...
Council Meeting Summary September 21, 2022
University Congregational United Church of Christ Council Meeting Summary September 21, 2022 This was a hybrid meeting (in person and via Zoom). The UCUCC Council met on September 21, 2022. This meeting was a hybrid meeting with in-person and Zoom attendees. Council...
Offering of Gifts: Sunday, December 11, 2022
It’s time for our annual Offering of Gifts! Nine local agencies will receive Christmas gifts from our congregation. Some agencies prefer to receive gift cards only, while others are accepting actual presents. Below, you will find information about the agencies, their...
Thank you from Green Buildings Now!
Green Buildings Now is very grateful to UCUCC for the generous August special offering of $3200. These funds will be very helpful for providing engineering support and supplies for creating a fossil-free South Beacon Hill Resilience Hub at the Bethany UCC campus. You...
Afghan Immigrant Initiative: Seamstress Needs Work
Suddenly, summer is in its last days while fall, with its shorter daylight hours, crisper air, and glorious foliage, is upon us. For the Hamidi family, this means their school-aged children are at last in a reliable school routine. At the same time, many of the...
Mwanzo – Hope has a home here!
Submitted by Lily Lahiri What does Hope has a home here! Look like in practice? This, from Country Manager, Jonathan Aluoka: Madam Careen Owino’s heart is full of joy and gratitude for how Mwanzo has shaped her life. She can’t believe that she is now a fully trained...
Mining is Hazardous for the Environment
The abandoned John Henry coal mine in Black Diamond has never been cleaned up, and it continues to pollute streams which flow into the Green and Duwamish rivers and ultimately Puget Sound. West Virginia has thousands of miles of waterways contaminated by coal-mining...
Budgeting for Love & Justice
Budgeting for Love & Justice A significant portion of the money we pledge each year goes to the Love & Justice Ministry. What happens to it? In alignment with our covenant to "live responsibly within Your creation" and "to promote Your reign of justice and...
Mix-Sups Are Coming
For those of you who have not participated before, Mix-Sups are an opportunity to share an evening of conversation and make new connections, as well as strengthen connections with folks you might know. The goal for these gatherings is to provide an opportunity for...
Service of Memory & Hope
Rev. Traci Blackmon (she/her), Associate General Minister of Justice and Local Church Ministries for the United Church of Christ, will preach for our service of Memory and Hope and Rev....
Welcoming Rev. Dr. Courtney Stange-Tregear
Please join me in welcoming the Rev. Dr. Courtney Stange-Tregear as our Acting Conference Minister! Courtney has served in the Pacific Northwest Conference for the past six years as Minister for Church Vitality, and previously served as Acting Conference Minister...
An Ubuntu Story
A reflection after the death of Patrinell (Pat) Wright in September 2022, by Mary E. Maltman One sunny afternoon years ago at the Emergency Feeding Program, Rev. O.J. Moore, the Director at the time stopped by my desk and said, "Mary, please come over to my office for...
Spiritual Practice – journaling our journeys
Each day of their travels, Pastor Amy and Benjamin will be journaling as a spiritual practice. Some of their journal prompts cultivate curiosity and reflection, and some prompts keep them rooted in somatic practices of experiencing how their bodies are part of their...
Annual Pledge Campaign Launching October 9th!
Greetings! Our annual pledge campaign is in full swing this month. “I am, because we are,” the African idea of Ubuntu, is central to our idea of our church community and how we are asked to work together to risk something big for the sake of something good. Pledges...
October Worship Series: Ubuntu
About our Ubuntu worship series: Ubuntu, commonly translated as "I am because we are," is a worldview of African Bantu (Central, Southeast, and Southern Africa) peoples. It is a philosophy of the "greater whole," as Archbishop Desmond Tutu described it, in which each...
Asset Enhancement Task Force Update October 2022
Greetings from your Asset Enhancement Task Force. We are a team of members and staff, working together to look into future planning for our church community. This spring and summer we took action on wage justice for our new and existing staff. We are now diving into a...
October Special Offering – Neighbors in Need
Our October Special Offering benefits the United Church of Christ's Neighbors in Need offering. In 2022, the Neighbors in Need (NIN) offering focuses on economic justice. The NIN offering to Just Love Church in 2021 enabled 24 high school students from an...
Sacred Earth Matters: Inflation Reduction Act Is a HUGE Win
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which Congress approved in August is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% below 2005 levels. It’s the strongest effort in US history to address the climate crisis. And it raises the bar and will encourage states, other...
Mwanzo Updates – October 2022
This summer has been a busy time in Rabuor! In early summer, because they had qualified in March, our scouting boys and girls competed with 1500 scouts, and scooped up the second-place position at the sub-county competitions, propelling them to the Kisumu County...
Children, Youth, and Families Ministry October 2022
October 1st – Family Pizza Night 5pm – 7pm Families are invited to come to the church for some food and time for activities and connection! We will likely have time for parents to have a breakout session to have some parent-specific discussion and sharing. Friends are...
Book Review: The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit
The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit By Evan D. Bernick and Randy Barnett 2021 Harvard University Press 489 pp. After the US Civil War the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the US Constitution to abolish most slavery in the United...
The Harvest Shared!
This year’s table, supplied by the gardens of members and friends, brought in an amazing $893 for our Hunger Outreach Program. Our Share the Harvest project was coordinated by Joy Sumner who recruited helpers and organized our table to make it beautiful each Sunday...
Meals for people in our UCUCC community
One of the ministries the Parish Care Committee coordinates is finding people who would like to help provide a meal for someone or a family who may be experiencing a trial of the spirit or time of joy as we say in our covenant together. This is one way to give a...
Welcome to three new staff members
We are so happy to welcome our new Evening Custodian, Videographer, and Office Admin! Solomon Embaya is our new evening custodian who started at the beginning of August. Solomon is a familiar face to some of us who have been around the church for several years –...
Music in September
We have a great lineup of guest musicians for the month of September, including some names that might be familiar to you! September 4 – LaDonna Bowers September 11 – Jeannie Rak, Homecoming Celebration – Music by Rainbow City Performing Arts Marching Band September 18...
Chancel Choir Returns!
We are looking for singers interested in joining the UCUCC Chancel Choir this fall! There are no requirements to join – if you have a love of singing, you are welcome in our space. While a formal audition is not required, it is helpful to meet with Benjamin before...
Chancel Choir – Choral Intern Program!
A two-year pilot program for a choral intern program is beginning at UCUCC this fall. UCUCC has a strong history of exemplary music being shared in our church, and this tradition will be enhanced with the creation of a choral intern program. In September, four...
John G. Lewis Endowment Fund for Social Justice
Do you feel called by the work of a non-profit committed to social justice? Have you served on a non-profit board or volunteered in support of an organization doing the important work of creating a more just world? Please consider completing an application for funding...
September Children’s Ministry
Great things are happening in the Children’s Ministry! Sunday, September 11 Hope Coming Sunday 10am Worship & Blessing of the Backpacks Join us for worship and at the end of the service, students, teachers and other education professionals are invited to the front...
Asset Enhancement Task Force Update
Greetings from your Asset Enhancement Task Force! In keeping with our goal of full congregational awareness of our processes and activities, going forward we will have a note in Church & Home each month about our current and upcoming work. Upon the conclusion of...
2022 Pledge Campaign Launching Soon!
Greetings! Our annual pledge campaign is starting soon. It will coincide with our fall worship series, during which we will be reflecting together about the African idea of Ubuntu, “I am, because we are.” We will recall times we have summoned our courage and risked...
Afghan Immigrant Initiative September 2022
The world can be a troubling place. International crisis after crisis flood the media, which can rapidly move our attention from one situation to the next, pushing previous concerns to back page status. Our congregation (and our partners) have maintained steadfast...
Seabeck Book Club Reading The Seed Keeper
Seabeck Book Club is committed to the UCUCC covenant including this part: "To live responsibly within Your creation, sharing with gratitude the gifts we are given". To further explore and develop our ideas of ourselves in relation to the gifts of Sacred Earth we will...
Book Review: Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains
Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains By Cassie Chambers 2020 Thorndike Press Owsley County, Kentucky - the author’s home county - is one of the counties hit by devastating floods in August. Please pray for them and think how we...