What We Believe

First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau upholds and affirms the seven Principles and six Sources. Along with our vision, mission, and covenant, they serve as an ethical compass for our congregation.

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UNBOUND BELIEFS

The Practice of Free Religion

In Unitarian Universalism, you can bring your whole self: your full identity, questioning mind, and expansive heart. By creating meaningful communities that draw from many wisdom traditions, we are embodying a vision “beyond belief:” a vision of peace, love, and understanding.

At a First Universalist Church of Wausau worship service or meeting, you are likely to find members whose positions on faith are derived from a variety of religious beliefs: Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, naturist, atheist, or agnostic. Members might tell you they are religious humanists, liberal Christians, or world religionists.

All these people, and others who label their beliefs still differently, are faithful Unitarian Universalists committed to the practice of free religion. We worship, sing, play, study, teach, and work for social justice together as congregations — all the while remaining strong in our individual convictions.

While we do not have traditional doctrines or dogma, the First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau congregation affirms and promotes seven Principles in our mission, vision, and covenant.

We have more than one way of experiencing the world and understanding the sacred. We share a “Living Tradition” of wisdom and spirituality drawn from six diverse Sources.

Together, we create a force more powerful than one person or one belief system. As Unitarian Universalists, we do not have to check our personal background and beliefs at the door: we join together on a journey that honors everywhere we’ve been before.

Our beliefs are diverse and inclusive. We have no shared creed. Our shared covenant and seven Principles support “the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Though Unitarianism and Universalism were both liberal Christian traditions, this responsible search has led us to embrace diverse teachings from Eastern and Western religions and philosophies. (source)

Outline of the UU Wausau church.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

Our Shared Unitarian Universalist Faith

First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau upholds and affirms the seven Principles and six Sources. Along with our vision, mission, and covenant, they serve as an ethical compass for our congregation.

Light shining through a stain glass window with traingles at UU Wausau.

The Seven Principles

While we do not have traditional doctrines or dogma, these seven Principles, grounded in the humanistic teachings of the world’s religions, have been democratically affirmed, forming an essential part of our congregation’s collective identity.

View Our Guiding Principles
Stain glassed windows at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Wausau.

The Sources of Our Living Tradition

Our spirituality is unbounded, drawing from scripture and science, nature and philosophy, personal experience, and ancient tradition as described in our six Sources.

Explore The Six Sources
Close up of stain glass window at UU Wausau.

Our Vision, Mission & Covenant

The First Universalist Unitarian of Wausau congregation wrote, agrees upon, and promotes the following vision, mission, and covenant.

See Our Mission

Frequently Asked Questions

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion that encompasses many faith traditions. Unlike most religions, it is not centered on specific theological beliefs. Unitarian Universalists are free to search for truth on many paths.

Unitarian Universalism is not an atheist movement but a church into which some atheists may comfortably fit. The movement proclaims the importance of individual freedom of religion, and it includes members from a wide spectrum of beliefs.

Unitarian Universalists have many ways of naming what is sacred. Some believe in a God; some don’t believe in a God. Some believe in a sacred force at work in the world, and call it “love” or “spirit of life.” We are thousands of individuals of all ages, each influenced by our cultures and life experiences to understand “the ground of our being” in our own way. Unitarian Universalists are agnostic, theist, atheist, and everything in between.

We join together not because we have a shared concept of the divine. Rather we gather knowing that life is richer in community than when we go it alone. We gather to know and be known, to comfort and be comforted, to celebrate the mystery that binds us, each to all. (source)

We welcome you in the fullness of your beliefs. Join us in exploring life’s deepest questions in a spiritually diverse, supportive, and challenging community. We are excited to meet you where you are, and see how we can all learn and grow together.

Some members of the First Universalist Church of Wausau are Christian. Personal encounter with the spirit of Jesus Christ richly informs their religious lives. Unitarian Universalists are also Christian in the sense that both Unitarian and Universalist history are part of Christian history. Our core principles, sources, and practices were first articulated and established by liberal Christians.

Other members of our congregation are not Christian. They may acknowledge the Christian history of our faith; however, Christian stories and symbols are no longer primary for them. They draw their personal faith from many diverse sources: nature, intuition, other cultures, science, civil liberation movements, and so on.

Many Unitarian Universalists honor Jesus and other master teachers of past or present generations, like Moses or the Buddha. Our honored seven Principles include a commitment to “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning”; whatever one’s views, there is likely a UU who shares them.

Unitarian Universalism is a religion that honors six primary sources, including the deeds and teachings of great teachers, the inspiring wisdom in the world’s many religions, and our Jewish and Christian heritage. As a result, mixed-tradition families may find common ground in the UU fellowship without compromising other loyalties.

The English word salvation derives from the Latin salus, meaning “health.” Unitarian Universalists are as concerned with salvation, in the sense of spiritual health or wholeness, as any other religious people.

In many Western churches, salvation has come to be associated with a specific set of beliefs or a spiritual transformation of a very limited type. Among Unitarian Universalists, you will hear of our yearning for, and our experience of, personal growth, increased wisdom, strength of character, and gifts of insight, understanding, inner and outer peace, courage, patience, and compassion. There are many ways in which these things come to change and heal us. We seek and celebrate these paths to salvation in our worship.

They will learn that all big questions have many answers, and that it is their duty to search responsibly for their own answers. But we also give children a foundation on which to build their own values. You can expect your child to learn that…

  • there are as many ideas about God as there are people;
  • we hold Jesus in the tradition of the great prophets and teachers, and we learn from the example of his life;
  • death is a mystery that is inseparable from life, and the only immortality we can know for sure is that which lives on in the hearts and minds of those whose lives we touch; therefore, how we lead our lives each day is of the utmost importance.

Learn more about our youth religious education program.

Children’s religious education classes are held during service on Sundays. Courses for children may include subjects as varied as interpersonal relations, ethical questions, the Bible, world religions, nature and ecology, heroes and heroines of social reform, Unitarian Universalist history, and holy days worldwide.

We seek to teach our children to be responsible for their own thinking and to nurture their own impulses of reverence, morality, respect for others, and self-respect.

Learn More About Youth Religious Education

In our diverse congregations, you can expect to find that you are far from alone! We are often the “right fit” for interfaith families. Our congregation honors many major religious holidays, resources, and scriptures. We know there is value in all of them.

Though practices vary in our congregations, First Universalist Church of Wausau celebrates many of the great religious holidays. Whether we gather to celebrate Christmas, Passover, or the Solstice, we do so in a universal context, recognizing and honoring religious observances and festivals as innate and needful in all human cultures. Our holiday services use the stories and traditions creatively, calling us to our deeper humanity and our commitment to the good.

This is probably the most unasked question that people quietly worry about when considering a new church. We hope you will find the answer to be yes. The UU Wausau congregation is deliberate in welcoming; we feel that diversity is a treasure that enriches us all. And many of our curricula for children encourage them to see that differences in factors like race, ethnicity, abilities, gender identity, and sexual orientation are part of the fullness of our world.

Our Minister or Director of Religious Education will be glad to meet you and your family and answer specific questions. Email or call the church office at 715-842-3697 to schedule an appointment. We welcome your inquiries as you search for a religious home for your family!

Unitarian universalism

A Living Faith

Whether in community with others or as an individual, active, tangible expressions of love, justice, and peace are what make a difference. Seven days a week, Unitarian Universalists try to live their faith by doing.

We create change: in ourselves, in the world. These are the ways we do it: