Path To Membership

The members of West Seattle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship invite you to explore membership in our congregation.

Who We Are as a Community:
Our caring, spiritually liberal community draws upon the wisdom of all religions, as well as science and reason, the words and deeds of prophetic women and men throughout the ages, modern day teachers, artists and poets, and our own life experience.  

We offer principles to guide our ethical lives; we have no dogma.  We celebrate life and the mystery of this amazing cosmos, of which we are a part.  We seek to nourish the spiritual, intellectual and ethical growth of our members, to provide opportunities for taking collective action to assist people in need, and to promote social justice.

Our overall goal is to help you live a truly meaningful life, and, through our comprehensive religious education program, to inspire our congregation’s children and youth as well.  

Reasons for Joining:

• To be welcomed into a caring community.
• To receive support for your spiritual, personal and ethical growth.
• To find sustenance during times of transition or be cared for during sorrow and difficulty.
• To personally support our Unitarian Universalist principles.
• To meet the most interesting, vital, and intelligent people.
• To feel a part of something bigger than yourself alone.
• To have personal opportunities to know others at a spiritual & emotionally intimate level—beyond small talk of surface relationships, sharing and learning from each other.
• To have people be happy for you in times of joy!
• To support freedom for liberal religious congregations to exist; without the structure and pledged support of people, liberal religion would be weakened in this time of great increase of fundamentalism.  We need to pass on freedom to search and belief as we choose, to the next generations.
• To delight in seeing the congregation’s children learn to love themselves, to respect others, to respect other life, and to orient their lives toward making this world a little more just and a little more peaceful.
• To access a professionally run church school for their children,--a school that does not teach dogma, but teaches clear values and principles and endeavors to make our children and youth feel that they are a vital part of our community.
• To have opportunities to join together to demonstrate for peace and justice.
• To have opportunities to join together to help people in our community and the wider community with basic life needs of food, utilities, and shelter.

How Can I Explore More About the Fellowship and Unitarian Universalism?
Fellowship Orientation  We offer a 90-minute Fellowship Orientation and Lunch.  All recent visitors are invited.  It is usually held right after a service, led by our minister and president.  We discuss how the Fellowship is organized, where it gets its authority, activities and groups, our relationship with the broader UU faith, how ministers are trained, and what membership means.  One of the joys of this meeting is meeting others who are seeking a faith community.

Candlelight and Conversation  Newcomers, our minister and several members come together for an evening of getting to know each other by sharing our faith journeys.  Were you brought up in a particular religion as a child?  What happened next in your faith journey?  How did you find Unitarian Universalism?  What are you looking for in a faith community?  These evenings are always powerful, as we hear the particulars and the similarities of our paths.

History and Ideas of Unitarian Universalism  Every quarter our minister offers a class that covers the roots of our faith tradition from the time of Jesus to current day.  We look at what holds us together as a faith without dogma.  And we view the DVD: An Heretical History. 

Internet Links on our website  On this web site you can explore all aspects of our Fellowship, including the “About Unitarian Universalism” link that will take you to many links for UU history, ideas and famous UUs. 

What are the responsibilities of membership?
We require no creedal tests and no professions of dogma or doctrine. For us, membership is a covenant to walk together in fellowship and love. We ask only for an honest desire to participate in and support the life and work of the congregation.

• Time   We hope you will come often to Sunday morning services, the one time each week we all can be together.  Your presence with us is important.  We also hope you can come to social gatherings of the Fellowship, such as picnics, potlucks, and other fun activities.
• Talent  Find a way to be involved in the life of the Fellowship, sharing your gifts and talents, maybe stretching your comfort level to learn new skills—we will encourage you!  Singing in the choir, or serving on a committee, teaching in church school, making coffee once a month, helping with a social justice project, or …
• Treasure  Support the Fellowship generously, whatever generosity means to you.  We have some guidelines.  Some of us can give thousands.  Others can hardly meet the $100 annual direct cost for a member.  Don’t let money keep you from joining. 

How do I join if I am ready? 
Let our Minister, President or our Membership Chair know that you are ready to join. 

In summary, the path to membership is:

• Attend a Fellowship Orientation--required. 
• Attend a Candlelight and Conversation event, a chance to share our spiritual journeys and get to know other newcomers, our Minister and membership folks—highly recommended.
• Sign the membership book--required.
• Turn in your pledge to our Assistant Treasurer—required.  Mail, drop in Sunday morning collection basket or hand to one of us. 
• Attend the Welcoming Ceremony held periodically at a Sunday morning service.
• Let us know how we can help you integrate into the Fellowship and feel at home.

“Becoming a Member”
by Polly Laughland Guild

The simple act of signing your name in the membership book can be a deeply significant decision. Becoming a member not only enables you to participate in congregational votes but can also express a personal commitment to participate in sharing your talents, your resources, and your energy with others in a quest that is spiritual as well as practical, personal as well as social, individual as well as institutional. Unitarian Universalism challenges you to consider how your beliefs about human nature, evolution, and divine revelation affect your attitude toward yourself and others, and how those beliefs influence what you do.

Unitarian Universalist minister Jack Mendelsohn reminds us, “Inscribing your name does not transform you into an instant or born-again Unitarian Universalist. Our religious way of life is not so much an arriving as a becoming--an ongoing process of thought and life experience. Joining for you may mean fresh steps along a familiar path. It may mean venturing in uncharted territory. In either case, the initiative is yours. You do not sign on someone else’s dotted line of spiritual development, and there is no fine print. Your signature is your affirming symbol of commitment to an open-minded, inclusive, reasoned, seasoned, compassionate and contemporary approach to life."

Unitarian Universalist societies come in a great variety of shapes and sizes with a wide range of programs and special interests. The essence of each is as unique as the people who comprise the congregation, but there are common concerns and fundamental principles that hold them together. As Marjorie Achley says, "Perhaps you have been looking for a church where:

Your doubts are not ridiculed.
Your guilts are lightened.
Your griefs are comforted.
Your joys are celebrated.
Your children are taught all religions.
Your talents are nurtured.
Your concerns are shared.
Your reason is honored.
Your friendships are deepened.
Your love of art and beauty is expanded.
Your need to serve others is fostered.
Your need to laugh is encouraged.
Your individual decision is treasured.

Then you have been looking for the Unitarian Universalist Church. These are our aspirations. If they are yours, come join and help us achieve them."

You may be new to Unitarian Universalism or to a particular congregation or you may have participated for a long time. Unitarian Universalism is gathering strength as each person who shares this religious perspective makes the commitment to become a member and to be counted for freedom and religious toleration.

Unitarian Universalist minister A. Powell Davies wrote, "When you find a church which expresses the outlook and values you yourself hold as vital, you are depriving both yourself and those values of needed strength if you fail to identify yourself with that church. Joining a church such as ours means essentially three things:

1. You are in fundamental sympathy with the principles of freedom and reason in religion and life. This is the basis for our creedless church.
2. You commit yourself to the importance of an organized religious fellowship. Ideas and ideals must have a vehicle, and embodiment in the world. People who think and work together for the values in which they believe have a better chance of achieving them than people who do not.
3. You accept the responsibilities that go with membership in any human community. Within the limits of your ability and in line with your personal choice, you are ready to give energy, time, money, and best thought to the furthering of the ideas you prize.”

By signing the membership book in a Unitarian Universalist society you offer to share your gifts, your talents, and your time as well as your own personal needs and limitations. You and other members of the congregation will nurture and support each other’s religious growth and work together to create an environment that is warm and caring.

The Unitarian Universalist society you join will not have the answers to the unanswerable questions, but you will find people there who value intellect, independence, and imagination. There you will find people who also value self-respect, beauty, and inner harmony. People who hold a firm belief in personal integrity and freedom need to join with others for the preservation of these values.

You are invited to add your name to the membership book of a Unitarian Universalist society and join with others to create an effective religious community. Here, with people of all ages and races, you will have a place where you can broaden your vision, where you can share both life’s happiest and saddest moments, and where you can work together with others to bring peace and justice to the world.