Our Unitarian Universalist faith calls us to act for justice— in our community, in our church, and in our world. As a church committed to justice, together we are learning, growing, and acting in love and hope.
On issues like racial justice, immigrant justice, housing justice, LGBTQ rights, gender equality, and care for our environment, we live out our values every day. We are brave, curious, and compassionate thinkers and doers, aligned in our desire to make a positive difference. We have a track record of siding with love, justice, and peace on issues that are impacting our community and world.
Faithful Action is how we describe our justice ministry. Much of our service and advocacy justice work is done through our Community Partners.
Our Environmental Justice Team and Sanctuary and Resistance Team are lay-led teams that focus on specific areas of justice work.
Our racial justice work as a congregation is woven throughout the work of the church and is supported by our Racial Justice Education Team and Racial Justice Change Team.
Community Partnership Model
A Faithful Action Community Partnership is a relationship between First Universalist and an organization in the community that shares our vision of a more just and loving world. We work through Faithful Action Community Partnerships in order to leverage energy, commitment, and expertise. Learn more about our Faithful Action Community Partners here.
Racial Justice Lens
We use a racial justice lens in all our work; we engage around race explicitly, but not exclusively. We focus on the social construct of race, and recognize that race, racism, and whiteness are a fundamental component of every social, economic, and environmental justice issue. Racism is morally incompatible with our faith.
Leadership
Our Faithful Action ministry is led by the Faithful Action Council in collaboration with Rev. Arif Mamdani. The Council shares in supporting, guiding, and enabling our ministry of faithful action.
Core Beliefs
• Racism is a fundamental component of every social and environmental justice issue.
• Racism exists when a dominant group with institutional and cultural power denies and extracts resources from a non-dominant group.
• Racism is morally incompatible with our faith.
Guiding Principles
1. Racial Justice Principle: Pay attention to race, racism and whiteness; work to eliminate bias and promote equity.
2. Community Principle: Act in partnership and solidarity with other congregants and community members.
3. Lived Experience Principle: Learn from the lived experience of people of different backgrounds.
4. Spiritual Journey Principle: Root all efforts in our UU faith and explore how they connect to your spiritual journey.
5. Learning & Reflection Principle: Engage in ongoing reflection to learn from mistakes and celebrate successes.
Download a copy of the First Universalist Faithful Action Guiding Principles and Core Beliefs
Join us as we learn and serve through opportunities for education, reflection, service, and advocacy!