About Us
Welcome to the UUUC
Our beliefs
Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. Our shared covenant supports “The free and responsible search for truth and meaning and is grounded in the humanistic teachings of the world’s religions”.
Though Unitarianism and Universalism were both liberal Christian traditions, this responsible search has led us to embrace diverse teachings from Eastern and Western religions and philosophies. Our spirituality is unbounded, drawing from scripture and science, nature and philosophy, personal experience and ancient tradition as described in the **Six Sources** we embrace:
Our Six Sources
Things That Inspire Us
1) Direct Experience
2) Words and deeds from prophetic women and men
3) Wisdom from the world’s religions
4) Jewish and Christian teachings
5) Humanistic teachings
6) Spiritual teachings of earth-centered religions
Our Seven Principles
The 7 Principles That We Live By
Welcoming You To The Belief System of Love and Helping others.
Our Living Faith
Our Unitarian Universalist faith is based on deeds, not creeds, we try to live it on a daily basis. Our Sunday service messages call us to put our faith into action. Together and individually, we reach out and work together to fulfill our mission:
• Nurture spiritual growth
• Embrace diversity
• Work for justice and
• Strive for a loving world.
Learning Opportunities
Learning Unitarian Universalists love the opportunity to explore, reflect and learn in a nurturing Spiritual community. Our learning education programs offer inspiring opportunities for:
• Ethical Growth – Exploring enduring values like justice, equity, and compassion, and gaining tools to act on them in everyday life.
• Social Growth – Connecting with peers and people of all ages on a deeper level. Finding acceptance among people who see beyond the superficial.
• Spiritual Growth – Feeling a connection with the sacred within, among and beyond us.
Adults may participate in discussion panels, covenant/affinity groups, workshops, special events or other informal gatherings. Children’s programs occur at various times during the year and on Sunday mornings.
Who We Are and What We Worship
The Umpqua Unitarian Universalist Congregation (UUUC) of Roseburg Oregon welcomes all who seek a religious home free of creeds and dogma and guided by love, reason, and conscience.
Our lives are enriched through mutual respect, deepened through the exchange of ideas, and nourished through the support of a caring congregation. Each person is important.
Unitarian Universalists gather around the values of love, freedom, and dignity--and common vision for a just world.
In this Congregation, there are people who pray, people who meditate, people who write, people who make art, people who practice rituals, people who read mindfully, and people who have no active spiritual practice at all. People can be surprised to learn that Christians, Jews, Atheists, Mystics, Scientists, Pagans, and Buddhists are capable of all being members of the same religious community.
Within our diversity, there are some things that unite us. We believe in the importance of the individual’s free search for truth and meaning. We believe in every person’s inherent worth and dignity. And we believe deeply in the importance of work for justice in this world.
So we are people of all ages, people of many backgrounds, and people of many beliefs. We explore spirituality beyond boundaries; we work for more justice and more love in our own lives and in the world. We come together in discussion for the joy of dialogue and the treasures found in each other’s thoughts and hearts.
Join us on this journey!
Our Mission
To Act With Love
The Mission of the Umpqua Unitarian Universalist Congregation is to create and maintain a diverse, caring community that encourages ethical, intellectual and that encourages ethical, intellectual and Spiritual growth. To accomplish this mission, we covenant: To welcome individuals and families; To share the joys and sorrows of life’s passages; To educate children and adults in our UU principles, values, and heritage; and to act personally and collectively on our UU Principles and Values in the larger world.
Through the Practice of our faith, we promote social, economic, environmental justice while continuing our legacy of respect and acceptance of each other and the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part of. This Congregation is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUS) and of it’s Pacific Northwest District (PNWD).
The UU History
The Origins of our Faith
Origins of Our Faith The core of Unitarian Universalist theology has its source in two parallel philosophies: Unitarianism and Universalism. It is known that many of the early Christian sects were Universalist. That is, they believed in a loving, forgiving god that would accept all good people, regardless of their religious philosophies, into the kingdom of heaven. George de Benneville is often credited with being the first to introduce Universalism to America with his arrival in 1741.
Unitarianism, surfaced in Europe as part of the Reformation in the early to mid-16th century. Unitarianism rejected the concept of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) that had been conceived by the leaders of the Holy Roman Empire in CE 325. Instead, early proponents of Unitarian theology, such as Michael Servetus, declared that there is but one god.
Unitarianism and Universalism existed as separate traditions in the US from colonial times until the mid-twentieth century. In 1961 the two churches combined to form the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and many (but not all) congregations also consolidated. Our own congregation was initially formed in the 1960’s. While our tradition has its roots in early Christian theology, modern UUs draw inspiration from many religious traditions and sources. We do not require our members to accept any particular creed or belief. However, most UUs would agree that how we live our lives is more important than what we believe, and that social justice is the ideal toward which we strive.
Our faith tradition is diverse and inclusive. Today, Unitarian Universalists include people of many beliefs who share UU values of peace, love, and understanding. We are creators of positive change in people and in the world.
Early UUUC History in the Roseburg Area
Why We Love Roseburg
In the 1960’s the Umpqua Unitarian Universalist Congregation began as a Fellowship—a lay led group of families looking to become a socially active and spiritually based community. The group followed guidance from the Unitarian Universalist Alliance , a world-wide church that historically supported progressive understanding of how people could best live lives among the diverse cultures of the world. Among the families gathered there were children of all ages for whom the parents wanted an open spiritual experience. They met Sunday mornings, while the adults gathered in the evening to consider their new direction. We met in various available places—“over the bar..” in the house of mirrors, at the Confidence Clinic, and the little house on Lookinglass Road. We learned that each place was sacred to our purpose, especially once we had received Ted Gordon’s beautiful chalice that held our hopes and intentions for us in its live flame reflecting the filled and open spaces as the things we knew and believed and the things were learning together. The intention of the Fellowship was to develop ways to act effectively amid he issues of the day in this place where we lived: actions that put our belief into practice.
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