The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley (UUCLV) was started in 1948 when a group of nine interested people held a meeting at the Americus Hotel in Allentown. They decided to meet weekly and called themselves "The First Unitarian Fellowship of the Lehigh Valley". After meeting at various locations over the next few years, an old carriage house on Steinman Street was rented. The building and the street no longer exist; the Bethlehem City Hall Complex is now located there. In 1957 the Steinman Street building became too small. It was kept for the religious education program for children, and the adults, one hundred of them, moved to the Hotel Bethlehem.
In 1959 we purchased a small church on Lechauweki Avenue in Fountain Hill, built in 1875 as a summer chapel for the Episcopal Cathedral. While there, we built a Religious Education Building on the property and renovated the church interior several times.
By 1961 we had 109 members. We changed our designation from a fellowship to a church, becoming The Unitarian Church of the Lehigh Valley, and decided to call our first minister,
| Howard Waterhouse |
1961-1965 followed by |
| John Burciago |
1965-1969 |
| Robert Karnan |
1970-1974 |
| George A. Williams |
1975-1983 |
| Lawrence McGinty (interim) |
1983-1984 |
| Howell Lind |
1984-1987 |
| Judith G. Mannheim |
1988-1992 |
| Beverly A. Bumbaugh (interim) |
1992-1993 |
| Laine Hawxhurst |
1993-2000 |
| Sue M. Turner (interim) |
2000-2002 |
| Len DeRoche |
2002-
2007 |
We changed our name to The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley in March 1987.
In the early 1990s our church attendance and RE enrollment had grown to the point that we were "bursting at the seams". To deal with our growth, we started double Sunday services as a short term measure until we could expand our facility or relocate. In December of 1995, expecting continued growth, we moved to our present location in Bethlehem 's Historic District. We went back to single Sunday services; however instead of the continued growth that we expected, our numbers actually decreased. We currently have 238 members, many "friends", and about 50 young people in our religious education program.
Unitarian Universalist churches are non-creedal and individual congregations vary considerably in style and type of services. There are currently over 1,000 churches, with more than 300,000 members in the United States , Canada and other countries. Individual members hold a wide spectrum of religious philosophies, from theist to Christian , agnostic, humanist, pagan and atheist. We share a strong belief in the value of life, the worth and dignity of all people, the need to improve the quality of life for all, the need for justice in the world, and preservation of our natural resources. We believe that the "now" is more important than a possible "hereafter".
Our church and UU churches in general have always been active in social causes. We often work through our Social Concerns Council as a church in total or as groups of individuals. We also have an affiliated international organization, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), involved in national and international projects, which stress helping people to help themselves.
Some of our achievements and activities over the years include: a joint project with the Society of Friends to establish a mental health rehabilitation program called Fountain House. It became part of the Lehigh Valley Mental Health Association and went through name changes to Horizon House and Haven House. It served people in need for thirty years, and an offshoot of the project still exists.
Working with the NAACP, we provided help to migrant farm workers in the form of day care for children, housing, clothing and legislation. We formed the Lehigh Valley Memorial Society, which encouraged low-cost funerals, worked on legislation to control funeral cost abuses, and provided information on death and dying, living wills, right-to-die issues, etc.
We supported the South Terrace Housing project, collected books for southern universities, supported a Montessori school, and formed a Zero Population Growth group, which provided information on birth control and problems associated with over-population.
We established a bail bond project, which provided bail for people who could not afford it. This was a highly successful project involving both Lehigh and Northampton counties. The project worked closely with various police departments and courts. Our church building and many of our members' homes were pledged as security for bail for "good risk" prisoners. We provided draft counseling for young men during the Vietnam War, and sponsored and supervised a conscientious objector who was doing alternative service in police/youth activities.
We have provided meeting space and support for Lehigh Valley NOW, Turning Point for battered women, Le-Hi-Ho for gay and lesbian people, National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), a support group for families of persons with AIDS, and more. We have worked on prison reform and prison counseling, and supported an ecumenical food bank. We declared the church a sanctuary for Central American refugees and have supported relief to refugees and returnees.
More recently, our members have been working with community agencies such as Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army soup kitchen, and the Interfaith Coalition on Poverty. At its 2000 Annual Meeting, the congregation voted to become a "Welcoming Congregation", pledging itself to work toward becoming a safe and welcoming space for homosexual, bisexual or transgender people, and to offer understanding and acceptance in accordance with our principles of equality, human dignity, and openness to differences.
The work continues, and this congregation continues to be connected to the local community and to the wider organizations and concerns.
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