Our Community

Our Spoken Affirmation

Love is the doctrine of this church, the quest of truth is its sacrament, and service is its prayer. To dwell together in peace, to seek knowledge in freedom, to serve humanity in fellowship, to the end that all souls shall grow into harmony with the divine, thus do we covenant with one another.

Our Mission

We are a religious and spiritual community celebrating our Unitarian Universalist principles. We are committed to caring for each other with acceptance and respect. We pledge to sustain a sacred space where, together, we seek personal growth, life’s meaning and justice. We serve as a catalyst for social change through our actions.

Our Vision

A powerful, spirit-filled community, building bridges of love and justice.

Objectives for 2000-2001

• Expand diversity of religious services
• Develop opportunities to explore meaning and purpose in life across the life span
• Hire a full-time Director of Religious Growth and Learning
• Provide appropriate childcare to facilitate family involvement in Church activities
• Help new members find a home in our community
• Complete the Welcoming Congregation program
• Begin the Journey Toward Wholeness anti-racism program
• Begin the process to develop a congregational vision of social action
• Improve the appearance of our entrance and parking lot
• Develop the Memorial Garden
• Maintain and nurture the beauty of our pond and grounds
• Continue the restoration of our building

 Our Minister

Our By-Laws and Board actions state that: “the Senior Minister shall be the religious and administrative head of the Church. He/she shall perform such duties as are usually performed by ministers and authorized by law. He/she shall consult and advise the Board as to the management of the affairs of the Church and shall supervise all of the paid staff of the Church.”

Our Minister is John Young. He grew up in Kansas, did graduate work in political science, was an activist in the civil rights and disarmament movements. He received his doctorate in Ministry from the Meadville/Lombard UU Seminary at the University of Chicago and has been a Merrill Fellow at Harvard University. John has served churches in Chicago, New York City, Bloomington, IN, Paramus, NJ, and Sacramento, CA, before becoming our minister in August of 1999. John is married to Kathleen Moran, a technical writer. He has two grown children who reside in California. John has been a leader in nonprofit organizations serving the homeless, building affordable housing for the poor, serving the mentally ill, supporting disarmament, the United Nations, and ecumenical understanding. He has traveled widely, is a published author and poet, and enjoys the outdoors and music. He is teaching a course on Gandhi at the University of North Florida this autumn.

The History of UUCJThere have always been people who believed that one Creation embraced all people, that life should be a unity, rather than warring factions of sacred and profane, and there have always been people who believed that life was good, death was peaceful, and hell and devil were mistaken superstitions. The early Christian Church contained both Unitarians, arguing for the unity of God and the humanity of Jesus, and Universalists, arguing that a good God and a loving Jesus would save all people, but these beliefs became heresies. At the beginning of the Reformation, in the 1500s, individuals and small movements throughout Europe began again to proclaim Unitarian and Universalist beliefs. The first edict of religious toleration in the Western world was made in 1568 by Transylvania’s King John Sigismund, who was a Unitarian. He declared that each community should elect their own religious leaders and agree upon their shared doctrines in love. Joseph Priestley, who discovered oxygen and hydrogen, was an 18th Century Unitarian minister in England. Unitarian and Universalist ideas came early to the American colonies, and many prominent Americans were members of our faiths: 5 Presidents, a multitude of famous authors and politicians, philosophers and inventors, and, particularly, women and men social reformers. In 1961, the two denominations joined together. There are presently more than 1000 Unitarian Universalist congregations, and more than 200,000 Unitarian Universalists in North America.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville [UUCJ] was founded in 1906, significantly by Duncan Fletcher, who served as Mayor of Jacksonville, and who became one of Florida’s U.S. Senators. After hard times during the depression and war years, the congregation was renewed in the 1950s by strong lay-leadership, led by Dorcas and Francis Alberti. The congregation, by 1958, had a home on St. John’s Avenue in Riverside. In 1960, a new minister, the Rev. McGehee was hired. With many from our congregation, he became an active leader in the civil rights movement. In 1966, our present building was dedicated. The architect was Robert C. Broward, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, and still himself a leader in the congregation and community. We share a boundary with the Nature Center, and our buildings have received significant architectural awards. We are, at present, a congregation of more than 275 adults and more than 60 children and youth.Top of PageGovernance and Financial Support We Are Self-governing
We rule ourselves democratically. We elect our minister, and we elect an Executive Board and Officers who make our policies and support our programs, volunteers, and staff between congregational meetings. We have a congregational meeting in December to consider nominations for elected offices, in March to decide upon our church’s budget, and in June to elect our Board and Officers, hear annual reports, and consider any other appropriate business. The Board meets monthly, and members are welcome at those meetings, and at the meetings of the congregation’s standing Committees. All members may vote, serve on Committees, and hold elected offices.Our Executive Board consists of a President, President-elect, First Vice President, Secretary, Finance Chair, Treasurer, Building and Grounds Chair, Membership Chair, Public Relations Chair, Religious Education Chair and two Members-at-Large.Your Financial Support is Important
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville is a financially autonomous church. This means that we raise our own funds and prepare a budget each year that allocates how much will be spent for each church activity. The budget is reviewed, modified and adopted by the congregation during the church's annual meeting. Since we have minimal endowment or outside financial support, all of us contribute to the expense of running the church. We expect of each other a reasonable level of financial giving. We do not set fixed amounts for individual or family giving. The By-laws of the church, however, establish requirements for maintaining "active voting membership" in order to participate in church business meetings. Upon request, the Minister or President of the Congregation can grant voting status to a person with hardship circumstances.Some guidelines for you to consider when deciding your annual pledge to the church are as follows:Studies show that most religious fundamentalists donate 10% of their annual income to their church. A majority of the traditional Protestant sects give anywhere from 6% to 10%. The average Presbyterian, Disciple of Christ and Jew give 4% of their income.As persons of conscience and action, we know that Unitarian Universalists give often to many causes. Depending on your personal circumstances, we feel that a gift of 2% to 4% provides a reasonable guideline for your pledge. Those who give more than 4% annually consider their church and liberal religion to be an utmost priority for them and to society.Pledging enables the finance committee to establish budgets responsibly, just as you set priorities based on personal resources. Your pledge to your church is a moral contract. By willingly pledging and by being prompt in payment, you help your church to remain strong.Your decision about what to pledge is intimately connected with your values--those intangible qualities that enhance mental and spiritual growth and, ultimately, the quality of our lives. In pledging and contributing, as with so many aspects of your church, you are not buying a package complete and wrapped with ribbon. You are actively supporting the ongoing flow of ideas, inspiration for living and the special place in which to keep this alive. A truly free church is one of the most unique and precious institutions in a community and in the world. Join us in keeping our church a vital force in Jacksonville.