The History of our Fellowship
A voice for reason and liberal religion in Elkhart since 1961
50th Anniversary Video
The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Elkhart (UUFE) is a vibrant, enthusiastic, welcoming community of people who have come together to pursue an alternative to conventional religion. Our dedication to each other is summed up in this covenant:
Love is the spirit of this church
And service is its law.
To dwell together in peace,
To seek the truth in love,
And to help one another,
This is our covenant.
Our founders, first gathering in 1959, wished to establish a liberal religious presence locally, including an educational program that would provide an atmosphere of intellectual freedom rather than indoctrination for their children. In 1961, these pioneers formally organized UUFE and obtained a charter from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) -- an event that came soon after the historic merger of the Unitarian and Universalist denominations, both very progressive in religious thought and practice.
Then in 1962 one of our chief founders, Dorothy Greenleaf Boynton, donated three parcels of land on Garden Street, just south of Woodlawn. Dr. John Ivy and his wife, Shirley, provided leadership in designing and raising funds for our Fellowship House, dedicated in 1963. For several years, we invited student ministers from the UUA's Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago to provide services twice monthly, with guest speakers on alternate Sundays.
Since1968 we have supported a full-time minister, the longest ministries having been by the Rev. Robert T. Dick (1976-1984) and the Rev. Dr. Gordon D. Gibson (1985-2005). Our current minister, the Rev. Amy K. DeBeck, has been with us since 2008.
For the UUFE congregation, these have been 48 years of questing, learning, growing, worshiping, working together, knowing joys and sorrows, and above all, loving and sharing in community. Over the years we have become a seasoned, diverse group representing about 100 households , including members and supportive friends, living within a considerable radius of Elkhart, and reflecting a wide spectrum of education, life experience, occupation, economic status, and theological perspective.
We are self-governing, with a board of trustees, congregational meetings, numerous committees, and volunteer efforts contributed by a large proportion of the congregation. Volunteering has always made our organization "work," and many of us extend our efforts into the community.
A high point of our life as a congregation was the enlargement of our building to about twice its original size (1988), with everyone contributing work, ideas and/or money. UUFE's pulpit, worship table, screen and stands, hand-carved by Mike Slaski from kiln dried poplar, were dedicated in 1991. We acquired parking lots and a nearby building for office and religious education in the 1980s and 1990s, and added a children's play area, again through volunteer effort, in 2000.
In addition to our 9:00 am and 10:45 am weekly services and education classes, an adult forum discussion at 9:30 is popular with many of us, as is the coffee hour after service. We also enjoy a potluck lunch on the third Sunday of the month, and other special events that provide social, learning and creative opportunities.
The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:
- Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life
- Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love
- Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life
- Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves
- Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit
- Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature
From the Archives (from the Sept. 2011 Focus)
By Kevin DeBeck
There are certain events in our American history where large blocks of people recall where they were during a singular event. For the World War II generation, it would be the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the death of Franklin Roosevelt. For my parents' generation, it would be the assassination of John Kennedy. For my generation, we may have two such occasions—the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, and the attacks on New York, Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. It's hard to believe that 10 years have passed since that awful day. In the October newsletter from 2001, here were some of the words from Gordon Gibson that tried to make sense of it all:
"Even those of us who knew no one on the planes or the buildings have been affected by these attacks. We are physically intact, and yet we feel hurt, shaken and off balance, conflicted. Our perception is correct. We are hurt.
"These events did shake us up and throw us off balance. We are conflicted about our individual responses and our national response. It is important to recognize these realities on the one hand, and not get mired in them on the other. If we simply wallow in bad feelings, the terrorists will have won. (So far I do not see much of that happening in our congregation and our country.) But without letting these feelings take us over, we still need to acknowledge their reality and strength so that we can respond to them appropriately."
On the 11th, it's important to memorialize those who died that day, but also remember those bad feelings and what we as a congregation and as a country have done about those feelings since then. Perhaps we can regain some of the balance that was lost on that day.
