At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia, we believe truths are hard-won. Life is messy. Community and friendship matters. Our free and responsible search for truth and meaning is grounded and guided by our congregation’s mission & values, our Unitarian Universalist shared values, and our commitment to co-creating Beloved Community.
UUCC’s Mission, Values, Ends
“Mission is found in the answer to the question: “Why must this congregation exist?” This question brings very different answers from the question: “Why does this church exist.” Mission speaks to the congregation’s calling, the source of its integrity and its central reason for being. What are we called to be and do? Mission transcends the present members and friends of the congregation.”
— Douglas Zelinsk
At the UU Congregation of Columbia’s Annual Meeting in June 2023, the congregation voted to adopt the following mission statement and set of values. At the following Board meeting in June 2023, UUCC’s Board of Trustees adopted our current congregational ends.
Mission statement:
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia embodies love in action. We:
Nurture spirits 🔥
Build community ❤️
Act for justice 🌏
Statement of values:
The people of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia share these core values:
Awe & wonder ✨
Compassion ❤️
Growth & transformation 🌱
Interdependence & interconnection 🕸️
Congregational ends (aka goals):
Access congregational ends 📍
What is Unitarian Universalism?
Unitarian Universalism is a religion that keeps an open mind and heart to the spiritual questions people have struggled with in all times and places. We believe that personal experience, conscience, and reason should be the final authorities in faith, and that spiritual authority lies not in a single book, person, or institution, but in ourselves, in friendship, and in community.
We are a non-creedal faith — we do not ask anyone to subscribe to a set of beliefs. Rather, each congregant is encouraged to embark on a conscientious, life-long quest for spiritual meaning in which they come to believe deeply.
Our Shared Values
As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our association, to support and assist one another in our ministries. We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage, building on the foundation of love.
❤️ Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love. Inseparable from one another, these shared values are:
- Interdependence
- Pluralism
- Justice
- Transformation
- Generosity
- Equity
Beloved Community Resolution
Adopted June 7, 2020 | The voting Members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia voted to endorse the following resolution as an expression of our commitment to building a diverse, multicultural, Beloved Community at UUCC’s 2020 Annual Meeting. With this resolution, UUCC reasserts our commitment to this work in ourselves, our congregation, and our community.
Resolved:
We, the members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia, Maryland, covenant to affirm and promote the building of a diverse, multicultural Beloved Community where BIPOC*, LGBTQ+**, and other marginalized communities find respite from racism and other oppressions. We commit to educating ourselves and to taking actions that dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves, our institutions, and the broader community working in accordance with each person’s unique abilities and approaches.
*BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, People of Color ** LGBTQ+ = lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning + other sexualities and non-binary genders
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