Our Mission

We will establish programs of excellence that honor all paths of mind and spirit, that foster acceptance, provide care, and pursue growth.

Our services, and our educational, intergenerational, and outreach programs will encompass our religious pluralism, enhance our inner lives, and move us and the world we touch toward a model of justice and harmony.

Our Vision

Our Community:

• Inspires and supports the search for personal truth and meaning;
• Joyfully welcomes and nurtures people of all backgrounds, ages, and perspectives;
• Provides enriching lifelong religious education and a thriving fellowship; and
• Engages in democratic leadership for peace, social justice, and environmental stewardship, both within and beyond our doors.

When are the services?

Services are on Sundays. Services start at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday during the year and last about an hour. In addition, from September through June an adult education forum, "Sunday Morning Dialog" begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 10:00 a.m. Breakfast foods and coffee are provided at 8:45 a.m. All are welcome!

What should I wear to the Meetinghouse?

Some people dress casual and some more formal. Children should dress comfortably in clothes welcoming to movement and art and outdoors.

Where do I park?

There is some parking in the front of the building, but lots more in the back. If both lots are full you can also park on the street.

What should I do the first time I come?

Come a little early and let a Greeter know you are new. They will give you a nametag if you would like, help you fill out a visitor card, provide you with a visitor packet of information and show you the Sanctuary and religious education classrooms for your children. After the service please join us for refreshments in the Community Room.

What about children?

Please contact our Director of Religious Education, Michelle McKenzie-Creech at (732) 741-8016 the week before so that she knows you are coming. Come a little early so that the children can see their classrooms first and then the entire family can be seated in the Sanctuary. The children join us for the first part of the service and then go to classes.

What about babies?

We have a wonderful, safe nursery for infants and toddlers. Alicia Jenks is our childcare coordinator. She is there nearly every Sunday to meet you and introduce you to our childcare volunteers. You might want to come one Sunday and stay in the nursery with your child to acclimate them and get comfortable yourself. In general we prefer that babies go to the nursery during services. However if your baby is very young and you wish to bring them please sit in the back seats so that your possible movement will be less disturbing during the service. You can also hear services in the East Room just to the left of the Sanctuary if your baby is unhappy.

Where can I learn more about Unitarian Universalism?

We offer Path to Membership classes in the Fall and Spring for newcomers. Our Adult Religious Education courses, Covenant Circles and other offerings are open to all. Joining a small group and coming regularly to services is the best way to learn about us. Please visit Unitarian Universalist Association Of Congregations for additional information.

How do I get to the Meetinghouse?

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County is located in Lincroft, New Jersey. Click here to go to the where we are page.

What do I do if I have other questions?

Call us at the Meetinghouse 732-747-0707

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County achieved Green Sanctuary Certification at the Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly in June of 2006. At UUCMC, Green Sanctuary is a responsibility of our Social Action Committee.

The Green Sanctuary Program seeks to reduce the use of carbon (energy) by members and friends of the Congregation through the Seventh Generation Project, which makes available tools to help monitor reductions in use of electricity and fossil fuels for heating and driving, as a means of living our values and addressing our concern about global warming/climate change.

As part of our Green Sanctuary program, and as an expression of our concern for greater social and economic justice in our community, our Congregation sponsors an organic "Community Garden" in which we raise vegetables to be used at The Kitchen at St. Marks, in nearby Keansburg, where free, nutritious meals are served to the needy.

If you would like to volunteer to work on the Community Garden project, contact Irene Gibson or Elaine Held through the Meetinghouse office. If you would like to participate in the preparation and serving of food at St. Marks, contact Barbara Vallin.

Social Action Green Sanctuary Highlights

• Solar panels on our Congregation's roof generate clean electricity 365 days a year.
• Addition of insulation to both the Community Room (during a remodeling project) and to a recently-replaced section of roof of the old wing of the Meetinghouse.
• Upgrading appliances and lights to more energy efficient models.
• Replacement of all cleaners with products that contain no harmful ingredients.
• A chart in our monthly Congregational Newsletter where we keep track of the functioning of our solar panels and the energy savings they bring.
• Notices on our Community Bulletin Board about ways to save energy.
• A Community Organic Garden that provides plots for Congregational members that makes it possible to grow vegetables for a lunch program for the poor that is supported by our Congregation.
• An Earth Sunday service near Earth Day each spring, to honor Planet Earth, our home, and to learn what we can do to help keep it habitable.

Religious Education

Our Religious Education classes have been actively involved in our Green Sanctuary program. Their accomplishments include:

• Creating a certified "Pesticide Free Zone."
• Learning about and participating in our recycling and composting activities.
• Organizing the sale of compact fluorescent light bulbs that save energy.

Share-the-Plate Program

Our "Share-the-Plate Program", which represents funds collected during Sunday service offertories, contributes to GreenFaith, a national inter-faith environmental initiative based here in NJ. GreenFaith has received a contribution from us almost every year since 2005, totaling almost $3,800.

Regina Knowlton serves as champion of the Green Sanctuary program for our Congregation, serves on the Social Action Committee, and convenes the Green Sanctuary committee as needed.

Members of our Green Sanctuary committee participate in a Cool Cities Coalition in our county, which brings together the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, and the local Catholic Church and Friends ("Quaker") Meeting, to encourage municipalities to implement projects that will help decrease global warming.

7th Generation Project

Within the Green Sanctuary program, our Congregation initiated the Seventh Generation Project in 2007. The purpose of this project is to:

• create awareness of climate change within the membership of our Congregation;
• identify measures people can take at home to reduce emissions of CO2, the main cause of global warming;
• identify families within our community willing to reduce CO2 emissions;
• quantify emission reductions; and
• achieve significant reductions in CO2 emissions above and beyond those accomplished at our place of worship (numeric goals will be established as the project progresses).

We gather and analyze data for about twenty households, in addition to the Meetinghouse. To date, the members of this pilot group have seen a reduction of more than 138 tons of CO2, from base year data. We will continue tracking data from these locations, and are actively looking for more members to participate in this project. Steve Knowlton serves as Champion for the the 7th Generation Project.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County is a Welcoming Congregation

Our congregation extends a warm welcome to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their families. We are a caring, open-minded spiritual community that encourages you to seek your own spiritual path.

We believe that our first principle,

Respecting the inherent worth and dignity of every person

applies equally to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

What does it mean to be a Welcoming Congregation?

Congregations who publicly and successfully welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have the following qualities:

• Includes and address the needs of l/g/b/t persons at every level of congregational life in worship, in programs, in social occasions, and in rites of passage welcoming not only their presence, but the gifts and particularities of their lives as well.
• Assumes the presence of l/g/b/t people and celebrates this diversity by having inclusive language and content in their worship.
• Fully incorporates the experiences of l/g/b/t persons throughout all programs, including religious education.
• Includes an affirmation and nondiscrimination clause in our by-laws and other official documents affecting all dimensions of congregational life, including membership, hiring practices, and the calling of religious professionals.
• Engages in outreach into the l/g/b/t community in its advertising and by actively supporting l/g/b/t affirmative groups.
• Offers congregational and ministerial support for union and memorial services for l/g/b/t persons, and for celebrations of family definitions.
• Celebrates the lives of all people and welcomes same-sex couples, recognizing their committed relationships, and equally affirms displays of caring and affections without regard to sexual orientation.
• Seeks to nurture ongoing dialog between lesbian,gay,bisexual and transgenderand heterosexual persons and to create deeper trust and sharing.
• Encourages the presence of a chapter of Interweave.
• Affirms and celebrates l/g/b/t issues and history during the church year.
• Attends to legislative developments and works to promote justice, freedom, and equality in the larger society.
• Speaks out when the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are at stake.
• Celebrates the lives of all people and their ways of expressing their love for each other.

The links listed below will take you away from the UUCMC website.

• Unitarian Universalist Association Of Congregations
Unitarian Universalist Association is the national organization located in Boston. The website provides facts and information about Unitarian Universalism. http://www.uua.org/

• Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a nonsectarian organization that advances human rights and social justice in the United States and around the world. http://www.uusc.org/

• Murray Grove
The Murray Grove Association: A retreat and conference center,historic landmark and bold vision of impact on the world. http://www.murraygrove.org/

• UU World
The UUA publishes the quarterly UU World magazine in behalf of its member congregations, which provide free subscriptions as a benefit to their voting members. (Others may also purchase a subscription.) The magazine descends from a long line of Unitarian and Universalist publications going back almost two centuries: Universalist Magazine was founded in 1819 and the Unitarian Christian Register in 1821. http://www.uuworld.org/

• Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office
The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office promotes the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all, as reflected in the United Nations Charter. Through targeted education, advocacy and outreach, we engage Unitarian Universalists in support of international cooperation and the work of the United Nations. http://uu-uno.org/

• Unitarian Universalist District of Metropolitan New York
  The Unitarian Universalist District of Metropolitan New York exists to be a source of connection and transformation for our congregations and our larger world. http://uumetrony.org/

Back in the 80's, as the plans for our great room were being developed, Harold Dean, our minister for 30 years, said that he wanted the front of the room to have a big window showing the planet Earth as seen from outer space. He thought we might be able to get a photograph enlarged for that purpose. Discussion with the research department at Eastman Kodak revealed that no photographic process could produce a transparency that would last longer than a year or two, very much less if subjected to sunshine. The possibility of painting on glass was then investigated. A talented local artist, Stanto Pezzutti, was approached and asked whether he would consider doing the painting. He said he might consider it, but only if the window would be surrounded by a dark blue or black wall. He suggested we check on the durability of painted glass.

Firms that deal in glass paints, for those making small stained glass designs, said that the paint would have to be baked in an oven after being applied, and this would be impossible for a window six feet in diameter. They said stained glass was the only possible choice. Up to this point, we had resisted stained glass, thinking that the lead boundaries of the necessarily small pieces of glass would ruin the picture. Then a friend suggested that we visit Bihler Stained Glass in Lincroft.

Gary Bihler is not only competent in stained glass technology, he is an artist with a sense of responsibility for the quality of his finished work. He immediately took an interest in producing the window. Over a period of many weeks, his work involved various steps. Photographs obtained from NASA and the Geological Society of America showed only views of Africa and Arabia or almost completely cloud-covered views of North and South America. We took photographs of a globe showing North and South America and gave them to Gary, but he pointed out that in his studio, he had a globe that he was studying as he worked. The NASA photographs were helpful in suggesting cloud forms. Stained glass artists have available to them a very large selection of colors and types of glass from the glass manufacturers.

Gary began to study the various colors that would be appropriate for different parts of the continents. The central part of the United States should be green, he decided, to represent the fertile fields there, but the infertile regions near the Arctic Ocean should be brown. Greenland should be white because it is ice-covered, but how could it be distinguished from the white clouds surrounding it? Gary decided to use a pebbled white glass that might represent the rough ice surface. A circular area six feet in diameter on the wall of his studio was devoted to planning the window. Pieces of paper that would be the patterns for cutting the pieces of glass were arranged within the circle as the glass pieces would be in the window.

Some of these had to be narrow for streaks of clouds, some broad for patches of open ocean. Notice these shapes and colors as you look at the window. Note also such special places as the Mississippi delta.

When all had been approved (and greatly admired) by a group from our congregation, the many pieces of glass had to be cut with great precision so that they would fit perfectly together. The only painting Gary did was at the boundaries of the continents where he thought the lead boundary did not look the way he wanted it to there. This paint work was then fired in his furnace. He told us that a six-foot-diameter window could not be hung without a couple of supporting bars across it. This was a disappointment. The thought of straight bars across the globe was distressing. Then Gary suggested curved parallels of latitude, selected so that they divided the window into three sections. Rather than choosing the equator and some other parallel at random, he agreed that he could use the bounding parallels for the tropics: the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer. It seemed to us incredibly difficult to make supporting bars that were curved along their lengths with the right curvature for the parallels around the globe as seen from space. Also, it would be difficult to fit against those curved bars the many small pieces of glass that formed the pattern of the Earth's surface. But we learned the Gary Bihler is capable of doing incredible things.

Finally, on August 13, 1993, the time came for installing the window. Gary had engaged a firm with whom he had worked before. They came with a dolly-mounted elevator with a platform at the top of where two men stood to put the window in place. When the elevator was at ground level Gary handed them the part below the Tropic of Capricorn. The men went up and fitted it gently into the great circular frame. They came down to get the part between the two parallels. It fitted perfectly as it was lowered onto the Tropic of Capricorn. Finally, they took the last piece from Gary and fitted it between the Tropic of Cancer and the top of the frame. The restrained rim of the frame was pressed into place, and the installation of the window was complete. Harold Dean was present at the installation, and it gave him a great sense of satisfaction. "After all", he said, "isn't that what it's all about? Our interconnectedness with the whole world."

{Artist Gary Bihler, above right, readies a section of the window for installation.}