Church History

Unitarian Universalist Church of Stillwaters

The UU Church of Stillwater was started in 1947 as a Unitarian Fellowship by a group of mostly OSU faculty as part of the American Unitarian Association plan to expand by starting fellowships of Unitarian minded persons and helping them grow into churches.  That Fellowship was incorporated as the Unitarian Church of Stillwater in 1960.  Upon the Unitarian merger with the Universalist church in 1963 Universalist was added to its name.

What is Unitarian Universalism?

Unitarian is the name given to those church groups which are expressly not Trinitarian, that is, do not believe in the trinity concept of God.  Otherwise, originally, they were considered Christian. Universalists believe in the universal quality of salvation open to all person regardless of religious affiliation.  Despite the common Christian heritage the organized Christian churches now refuse to recognize Unitarian Universalist churches as members of Christian denominations especially since, like Jews and Quakers, UUs do not require a member to subscribe to a creed or doctrine such as the Apostles Creed.  It is, therefore, quite common to find Buddhists, Atheists, and other persons of various faiths, including Christians, as members of the UU Church since they do not have to give up their beliefs to worship with the UUs. 

There are many famous UU's in American History (John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson and William Howard Taft to name a few). A full list can be found here.  A major mission of the UUs has been to promote equality of all persons in sight of God and the law.  This has meant activity to abolish all slavery including that of black and females.  Unitarian Universalists actively support world-wide humanitarian assistance and relief.  Local Unitarians are active in health services, physical and mental, as well as in education at all levels.

The Local Church

The UU Church of Stillwater is located at 320 North Stallard adjacent to the now vacant Highland Park Elementary School.  The Church  became located on Stallard Street when the local group built the present sanctuary in 1969 on land donated to it by a member. Membership numbers 50 with approximately an equal number of unofficial "friends" of the church. There is currently no resident pulpit minister, but former pastor, Rev. Carol Fincher, is Minister Emeritus, having served as minister for over 25 years. 

The Stillwater Church is represented on the Stillwater Ministerial Alliance, the Stillwater Interfaith Counseling Center, and was long a member of the OSU Campus Ministry.

Regular Church services are held each Sunday beginning with a discussion group call The Forum beginning at 9:00a.m.  Worship services is at 10:30a.m.  Sunday school and child care are concurrent with the service.  Various interest Covenant groups meet during the week.  All person are welcome to worship with us.