Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church
Something About Us
Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church was founded in 1966 by members of Seattle’s University Unitarian Church who wanted to build a strong and enthusiastic liberal religious community in the North Seattle/North King County area.
We are an energetic and passionate group of religious liberals who gather in community in a common search for and celebration of the values and understandings that give meaning to our lives. Our membership is a blend of families, couples and single people, from infants to retired folks.
The people here come from many walks of life and backgrounds—some of us were once members of other denominations and some were “unchurched.” There are Christians, humanists, agnostics, pagans, and other forms of spirituality among the congregation. Since we are not a “theology-based” (creedal) religion, individuals are invited to create their own belief system. We are an ethical religion, which means that our actions—the ways we live our lives—are more important than beliefs. We are a religion of “deeds, not creeds.” Amid our theological diversity, we share a devotion to freedom, a commitment to reason and a belief in the sanctity of human beings.
We continue to learn from our past and seek to build on our liberal heritage by caring for one another and expanding our spiritual quest. Our community is a place for nurturing our spiritual selves and then to discover ways to express our individual ministries among ourselves and in the world.
Our Beliefs
While acknowledging our roots in the Jewish and Christian religions, Unitarian Universalists today also draw on the wisdom of other world religions, as well as from science, literature, the arts, labor, recreation and other cultural forms, as valuable sources of truth. We view the sacred as being an inherent dimension of all life, a dimension that calls forth in us a deeper, more constant and more reverent relationship with the world and with each other.
Rather than teaching a particular set of beliefs we seek to nurture an inquiring mind, a tolerant spirit and a loving and concerned heart.
Over the years Unitarian Universalists have developed a series of principles and purposes which inform our individual and collective beliefs and activities.
Our Program
People of all ages are invited to participate in our Sunday worship services at 10 am. These are our weekly gatherings for the celebration of life and our community of faith. It is a time when search for and celebrate the significant values and meanings in our lives, a joyful time together, inclusive and welcoming of all people.
The Children’s Religious Education program is provided for all ages of children each Sunday. This superb program is graded according to interest and ability and age; it is participatory, child-centered, value enhancing and grounded in our Unitarian Universalist religious heritage. Quality nursery and toddler care is also available.
Religious Education is the lifelong process by which we develop our under-standings of and commitment toward life’s important values and meanings.
Various evening and Saturday classes and workshops on a wide range of topics are offered throughout the church year. These session also provide opportunities for the strengthening of interpersonal ties between members of the congregation.
Our popular “Chalice Circles” program offers the opportunity for folks to gather in small groups for the purpose of “intimacy and ultimacy”—to meet friends and to deepen individual’s personal spirituality.
Our Denomination
Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association of over 1,000 churches and fellowships throughout North America with continental headquarters in Boston.
Our heritage comes from liberal Protestant traditions in this country, but the seeds of our faith were planted over 400 years ago in Central Europe. The American Unitarian Association, which historically emphasized the unity of God and the goodness of human nature, and the Universalist Church of America, which emphasized the goodness of God and a belief in salvation for all persons, merged in 1961.
Today Unitarian Universalism is distinguished not so much by its opposition to other beliefs as by its affirmations of human dignity and the profound interdependence of existence.
Membership
Membership in Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church is open to anyone in sympathy with the spirit and purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Members must 18 years of age, attend a “New UU” orientation class, make a financial pledge of record, and sign our membership book.
In recognition of our affirmation of the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, and in accordance with our by-laws, our congregation “celebrates the full participation of all persons in all of its activities, including membership without regard to race, color, ethnicity, gender, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, marital status, age or national origin.”
