Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Southwest Michigan

I became a member of the UUCC for a few reasons. First, I was looking for a place of community during a difficult time in my life – dealing with a job I deeply disliked, family pressures, and more existential worries. The members were very friendly and welcoming, and happily helped me to move past those problems. I also felt (and still feel) that it’s been getting harder to find community-oriented socialization here in the USA, and this was a good way to explore the options that are out there. 

Second, it helped me to heal the emotional wounds I was still carrying from growing up in a very rigid, literalist, fundamentalist church that had taught me to distrust religious institutions in general. I was able to, for the first time in my life, have honest and open discussions about my thoughts and doubts about spiritual topics without having to fear an angry backlash. 

Finally, because this is a group of people who care to think about and discuss many important topics – religion, politics, history, science, philosophy – in a way that invites free thought and open communication. I have enjoyed many of the sermons and guest speakers and left with interesting new knowledge and perspectives that I hadn’t seen before.