First Unitarian Church of Baltimore

Corner of Charles and Franklin Streets in Downtown Baltimore

Mailing address:
1 West Hamilton Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
P: 410-685-2330
Fax: 410-685-4133
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Mission and Vision

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Our Mission

First Unitarian Church of Baltimore is the spiritual home of a diverse and mutually supportive community of people who strive to build on our deep historical roots as a congregation to be a beacon of hope, social justice, and liberal religious values in Baltimore and in the world.

Our Vision

As the spiritual home for Unitarian Universalists in Baltimore, we challenge each other to grow spiritually and support each other in our spiritual journeys. We strive to provide a safe place in which to explore a variety of meaningful worship experiences.

Diversity plays an important role in our religious and congregational lives. We welcome people of all races, genders, classes, sexual orientations, abilities, and nationalities. We respect and reference many religious traditions. Our worship, programs and religious education endeavor to be appropriate for all and support the individual spiritual development of members as we seek common ground.

At the core of our faith is a profound belief in the possibility of good. When faced with doubt or darkness, we strive to nurture the seeds of hope. We seek to bring forth and cultivate the positive aspects of our community, rather than merely criticizing its faults. We commit ourselves to looking for the good in all people, including those who are least like us.

The Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism challenge members to work for a just world. We seek opportunities for activism and service in our church and in the larger community. Our programs, sermons, and religious education nurture these commitments.

Unitarian-Universalism is a free faith; we do not ask our members to subscribe to a particular religious creed. Instead, we draw inspiration from many faith traditions and value the contributions of members walking diverse spiritual paths. We support each other?s search for religious meaning, recognizing that the search may lead each of us in different directions. We stand against religious intolerance in all its forms, and oppose the imposition of religion on the unwilling.

We speak our values proudly, and communicate what our church has to offer both to prospective members and to the larger community. We ensure that every potential member has the opportunity to discover us, and to learn whether our church might be their spiritual home. We extend a welcoming hand to all our visitors, seekers, and neighbors.

As members of a mutually supportive community we care for and comfort each other. We are respectful of our differences and celebrate each individual?s gifts. We sustain each other in grief and loss and find joy in each other?s successes.

We recognize our responsibility to support the church with our abilities, our labor, and our money. We work to develop clear policies and organizational structures to facilitate the church?s work and development. We encourage all members to play an active role in the ministry and governance of the church. We foster leadership skills among our members through training and mentorship and conduct regular comprehensive evaluations of our progress as a congregation. We re-envision our mission as needed to reflect our needs and priorities.

Our congregation values and explores its unique position in Unitarian and Baltimore history. Our home in an historic building is a constant reminder of our past and of the many theologians and members who have carried our heritage forward. We work to preserve our architecturally significant edifice. We are good stewards of the congregation?s financial inheritance and resources and work to develop them for the benefit of our programs and the sharing of our faith.

(Vision Continued)

We have a strong commitment to Baltimore City and its downtown. We aim to provide a consistent and audible liberal voice within this community. Both as an institution and as individuals, we support community structures, including housing, education and libraries.

As a congregation, we support Unitarian Universalist initiatives on philosophical, political, and legislative agendas. We provide information and education to the congregation on international issues of caring and diversity and advocate on the State level on diversity issues and City concerns. We encourage individual members of the congregation to participate in the organizations and programs of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Joseph Priestley District.

Position Statement

The Position Statement of the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore is intended as a companion piece to its Mission and Vision. The Postition Statement outlines the historical and current contexts of the Church. The Church's fate has always been deeply interwoven with the social, political and economic environment of Baltimore City and major national events. The Position statement focuses on this interrelationship as a means of informing our understanding of where we are now and how to plan for our future. It includes an assessment of current opportunities and challenges.

Long Range Plan

The Long-Range Plan for First Unitarian Church was presented to the congregation at the Annual Meeting on April 30, 2006. This mission-based plan, based on extensive input from the congregation, is the culmination of two years of work. The plan supports the seven UU principles; responds to the implications of being a mid-size church in the plateau phase of growth; makes recommendations for the specific objectives for the first year of the plan; and makes recommendations of the major goals for the next five years. The three top priorities are the creation of stronger organizational structures within the church; an examination of the spiritual life of the church; and a capital campaign. The church?s long-range plan is intended to be a living document. Goals will be added, deleted and modified as the needs of the church change. Ideally, the planning process will be extended to include truly long-term goals, with the process extending to describe goals ten and twenty years in the future. An annual review process will be put into place.
Long Range Plan Executive Summary

Raising the Roof

The Raising the Roof Study Group grew out of a workshop sponsored by the Joseph Priestley District for churches in the plateau zone between pastoral- and program size. The Raising the Roof Learning Team met for a year to explore the unique character of First Unitarian Church of Baltimore and its context. The report contains an assessment of First Unitarian?s size, its culture and history, and information and graphics on characteristics of its immediate environment. Also included in the report is an abstract of Understanding Ourselves; A Report on the Faith Community Today Survey for Unitarian Universalist Congregations and detailed information from the PERCEPT study, Ministry Area Profile, created for First Unitarian in 2002. The First Unitarian Church is on the threshold of positive change and development and has a wonderful opportunity to make itself a hub of community (and spiritual) life for downtown Baltimoreans. The Raising the Roof Report provides the recommendations and tools to achieve this goal. Raising the Roof Executive Summary