Connect With Us at the Unitarian Univeralist Congregation of Santa Monica

Connect with Us

In addition to Sunday morning worship, you are welcome to activities and opportunities for service and connection throughout the week. Seekers, sufferers, contemplatives, and activists for social justice all find their homes here.

Worship

Adult Groups

Families, Children, and Youth

Come as You Are to Worship

10:30 am Sunday Services, in-person and online

Enjoy music-filled Sunday worship, both in-person at our historic Sanctuary and online via Facebook and YouTube. For a preview, videos and audio recordings of past services can be found on our Sermons page.

Visitor Meetup

First-time visitors and frequent guests gather for the Visitor Meetup after Sunday services on the first Sunday of the month. This brief, get-to-know-us session will answer your questions about Unitarian Universalism, our church community, and the many opportunities for growth, connection, and service. All are welcome. Stop by or contact us for more info.

Faith Forward

For members and friends, old and new, we present Faith Forward. This series deep-dives into all things UU Santa Moncia: from membership and faith development for children and youth to UU principles and our social justice and environmental work. The campus tour and Q&A with the minister are always well attended. Check out the Events page for upcoming sessions.

Drop in for one session or attend many, as the nine-week course repeats in spring and fall.

We are located in the heart of Santa Monica at 18th and Arizona.

Adult Groups

Lifelong questioning and learning are fundamental to our faith, and UUSM offers many programs to educate, enrich, support, and build community. Adults of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to the recurring programs listed here, and special programs found on our Events page.

Music-filled Sunday services with the choir

Social Justice

Chalice Circles

Men's Group

Nonfiction Book Group

Wellsprings Open Meditation

UU Santa Monica Choir

Humanists

Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists and Secularists (AAHS) have actively embraced Unitarian Universalist values for more than a hundred years. At UU Santa Monica, non-theists and other curious seekers connect with fellowship, big questions, and lively discussion.

All are welcome to join our monthly Freethinker Forums on a range of topics related to science, philosophy, culture, and politics. We are affiliated with the UU Humanist Association. Contact AAHS.

Pastoral Care

Camp de Benneville Pines

Intergenerational In addition to the annual UU Santa Monica camp weekend in September, our rustic home in the San Bernardinos offers week-long camps for men, women, young adults, artists, yoga enthusiasts, and more. Expect excellent workshops under the pines, along with cabins, showers, and great food. Youth summer and winter camp sessions among the towering pines are back! Contact the UUSM Camp volunteers for more info.

Leadership Development

Opportunities to Serve with UUSM

We come together for more than ourselves. We work for peace, justice, human rights, and sustainability in our local community and wider world. Our Faith in Action Commission (FIA) enables awareness, volunteerism, and direct action in several ways. We advocate with local and national movements and support individual passion projects. UUs traditionally say that social action is “praying with your feet,” and we are on the march.

Intergenerational: Many families put their UU values into practice through wholehearted living, service, and activism.

Green Living

The Green Living Committee promotes sustainable, responsible stewardship of Earth's natural resources. We work toward greener personal living and climate justice worldwide. Some of that work has transformed the UUSM campus to be more environmentally sustainable.

We’re collaborating with local non-profits on urban food security and education, and with the City of Santa Monica on their Climate Action Plan. Working with Citizens' Climate Lobby and Sunrise Movement LA, we organize and host training, programs, and occasional film screenings. Come discover information and tools for greener living and many service opportunities for adults and youth.

VISIT THE CLIMATE JUSTICE RESOURCES PAGE

For more info, click the "Contact us..." button below and select Green Living.

Hunger Task Force

LGBTQ+ Advocacy

We are a certified Welcoming Congregation, extending support and advocacy to LGBTQIA individuals, families, and allies. UUSM famously began blessing same-sex unions in the late 1950s and has long supported gay, lesbian, and transgender rights.

Current activities may include social and discussion groups, our annual Coming Out Day worship service, and leading our congregation’s intergenerational contingent to LA Pride every year.

For more info, click the "Contact us..." button below and select LGBTQ+ Advocacy.

Peace & Social Justice

The Peace & Social Justice Committee facilitates putting our UU values into action. Our calling includes workers’ rights; anti-racism, police reform, and mass incarceration; immigration and immigrant detention; and resisting war. Check out the News and Events pages for uplifting speakers, marches, and documentary film screenings.

PSJ partners with organizations like CLUE (Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice), the Sunrise Movement, #HealthyLA, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, and Reclaim Our Vote, among others. We also collaborate with the UUSM Green Living Committee on issues relating to environmental justice and the climate crisis. Since 2020 we are helping to #UUtheVote!

PSJ activates UUSM members and nonmembers alike, and we look forward to your participation, ideas, and creativity. For more info, click the "Contact us..." button below and select Peace & Social Justice Activism. Be sure to follow the team’s dedicated Facebook page.

Generous Congregation

Our practice here at UUSM is to dedicate half of our non-pledge Sunday offerings to organizations doing work in the world that advances our Unitarian Universalist principles; the other 50% of the offering is used to support the life of our church. Together, we uplift the reach and impact of vital organizations doing work we could not do on our own.

Listen for the announcement during the service or visit our News feed to learn about this month’s Generous Congregation recipient and how to donate.

Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression

As awareness grows in our society of the reality and urgency of systemic racism, we are increasingly intentional about the way anti-racism intersects with congregational activities. We seek to expand our hearts, minds, and institutions as a religious movement.

UUSM's Intersectional Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Commission (IAROC) informs discussions, book groups, youth programming, lectures, screenings, and activism throughout the year. A number of our members are currently participating in an online educational program, Beloved Conversations.

If you have an interest in intersectional anti-racism and anti-oppression work, throughout the life of the congregation, For more info, click the "Contact us..." button below and select Peace and Social Justice Activism.

Families, Children, and Youth

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We invite families and youth to join an exciting journey of questioning, searching, challenging, and wondering about the meaning of life with all its mysteries, great and small. UUSM hosts in-person programs that foster the personal and spiritual development of children and youth, within the context of Unitarian Universalism.

Soulful Sundown is our newest come-as-you-are addition to our lineup of programming. Potluck dinner and live music, fun for the whole family. It's a great opportunity to get to know other families in the congregation. Our Whole Lives sexuality education programs (Grades K-1, 5-6, 7-9 and 10-12), along with Coming of Age (for 7th-9th graders) and YRUU (Young Religious UUs, 9-12 grades) happen at different times throughout the year. In Spring 2023 we are running OWL for 7th-9th graders. In Fall 2023, we plan to run OWL for 5th-6th graders and Coming of Age for our youth 7-10th grades. YRUU social activities will also reboot in Fall 2023.

Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

Babies and tots are kept safe and happy in the nursery, located in the Cottage next door to the sanctuary. Volunteer caregivers provide an engaging environment and loving, professional care. Parents should provide food or snacks and be sure their baby is freshly changed. For safety reasons, our volunteers do not change diapers.

Parents and guardians are requested to register children once per season. If you have a nursing infant or toddler, they are equally welcome in our service.

Grades K through 6

Volunteer leaders encourage children’s awareness of their own identities and the identities of persons in our community. Through personal stories, music, and hands-on activities, each lesson connects to the 7 Principles. Young children are welcome to join the tots for supervised play in the play yard.

Children begin their time in the service and head out to Religious Exploration after the Story for All Ages. The Tapestry of Faith Curriculum incorporates service projects and creativity to form a picture of "home" and belonging to a larger community.

Coming of Age

As youth leave childhood and enter their teen years, we honor and inform this leap forward with the Coming of Age program. The Coming of Age curriculum helps teens to culminate their knowledge of Unitarian Universalism to-date, and articulate their own beliefs.

Our program is sensitive to culture, race, class, gender and theological/philosophical diversity. The program concludes with a ceremony that features the youth sharing their statements of personal belief (credo statements) with the congregation during Sunday morning worship.

Coming of Age is starting now. Contact the team for more details.

OWL Lifespan Sexuality Education

The Our Whole Lives sexuality education series helps youth make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health, relationships, and behavior. Participants receive accurate, age-appropriate information about their development; healthy relationships, consent, and safety; and social media and cultural messages. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, OWL helps participants clarify their values; build interpersonal skills; and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality.

Developed and used in Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ churches across North America, curricula for five age groups (K-1, 5-6, 8-9, 10-12, and adults) now include a special education approach, as well. The UUSM OWL programs rotate through the age groups year-to-year and always involve a parent education component.

OWL for 7th, 8th, and 9th graders starts in January with parent orientation in December. Contact Youth RE to reserve you spot(s).

Safety Protocols

Camps at de Benneville

Every summer, UU youth from across the Southwest flock to Camp deBenneville Pines, a rustic, mountain paradise 2 hours east of Santa Monica. One-week sleepaway camps (cabins, showers, and great food) include elementary, junior high, and senior high as well as counselor-in-training opportunities. Scholarships are often available.

Some winter camps are also planned. Think sledding and icicles!
Additional opportunities include a 1-week summer Family Camp and the annual UUSM Intergenerational Camp weekend in September. Visit the Camp de Benneville Pines https://www.uucamp.org/ website for more about our home in the mountains. Contact uucamp@uusm.org.

Youth RE News Feed

Our children and youth are important members of our faith community.

Whatever your religious background—even if you have never participated in a faith community before—there is room in our church for your family. For generations, Unitarian Universalism has welcomed and guided interfaith families, exiles, and seekers. We are enriched by each others’ faith journeys and our liberal religious values. We invite you to join us as we celebrate “being you and being UU” on Sundays and every day.